A long time ago, I worked at Reverse Garbage with the irrepressible Belinda M. She was sassy, totally adorable and had her own unique view of the world. I remember the morning she came in and declared that she was no longer a vegetarian – she’d watched David Attenborough’s “Life of Plants” and decided that they were living things with feelings too. So, true to her Italian roots, she went back to eating bolognese and lasagne.
Belinda also taught me my most valuable “fashion” lesson and over the past twenty years, I’ve rarely wavered from it. She always wore stripes (and only stripes) until one day, when she came in furious because stripes were the hot look for that season. “Dammit, now I’ll have to stop wearing them until they go out again!” she said.
She was right too. Why on earth would we want to dress like everyone else?
However, it wasn’t until I discovered thrift shopping (driven by a new found awareness of sustainability) that I found my “style”. I know I’m using a lot of quotation marks in this post, but if you ever met me and saw what I actually wear, you’d understand.
This year, we made a concerted effort to source as much of our winter wardrobe as possible secondhand. Pete, bless him, is always supportive, so he’s allowed himself to be dragged to numerous Salvos Stores and opshops. We’ve found some wonderful treasures, but they all needed tinkering with to make them our own.
Let me show you what we’ve been playing with! But first, please allow me to introduce you to Blue Rhonda, my latest eBay find and named after her original owner…
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Pete fell in love with the cut and heavy duty fabric of this old US Air Force shirt. The entire garment is contoured for movement – the sleeves are shaped rather than a single piece, and the body is slightly tapered in at the waist. It fits him like a glove, but we needed to demilitarise it so that he wouldn’t have people asking him where he’d served.
I started by taking off all the patches…
We then soaked it in a half-strength black dye (which cost more than the shirt) to remove the khaki greens and browns, while keeping the pattern. Pete’s worn it almost constantly since, as it’s the perfect layering weight for early winter. He posed somewhat reluctantly for these photos…
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I needed a new winter coat that wasn’t black, so I was pretty chuffed to find this vintage Edward Kazas Italian wool/cashmere swing coat at Anglicare for just $25. Apart from a bit of cat hair, it was in almost perfect condition. I paid our fabulous local dry cleaners $20 to make it like new again…
Many vintage lovers insist that you shouldn’t mess with original features, but the shiny gold buttons really weren’t me, so I switched them out for funky purple ones that I found at Reverse Garbage for ten cents each. A couple of friends have commented that they look like lollies, which makes me love them even more!
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A second jacket, this time an old denim chore coat which I bought at Uturn in Marrickville for $6.70 (they were selling three items for $20, so I picked this up with Pete’s air force shirt and the jeans below). The chore coat is an American classic, but I’m bad at leaving things alone…
…so I added a panel of the Japanese print that my young friend Luca gave me when he went off to Paris to study fashion…
…and a tiny bird patch on the collar…
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The third piece in our three for $20 purchase were these too short Diesel jeans. I let the hems down and celebrated the fade line as part of the ongoing story of the jeans, then darned the holes with purple 4ply cotton (picked up for $2 from the Salvos) and added octopus patches (as one does)…
The patches were a gift from my lovely friend Moo, who bought them at WOMAD earlier this year. They were hand stitched in Indonesia on old Singer sewing machines…
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I turned a pair of too big linen pants and Pete’s old linen shirt into a couple of lightweight shawls…
…and a scrap of kantha quilting into a reversible poncho…
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No winter wardrobe is complete without accessories! I was pretty happy with this one carrot ring that I picked up at the Salvos for a dollar…
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Finally, let me leave you with some wise words from the always stylish Emma Watson and the folks at Fashion Revolution…
I suspect my clothes say I’m a bit of a nutter, but you know what? I’m ok with that.
Are you a sustainable fashion shopper? We’re quite new at this, so I’d love any tips you have to share. And for more information and inspiration, check out the fabulous Fashion Revolution resources page. You can also read all their fanzines online for free at Issuu – here’s the link. ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Love this! Reverse Garbage is a wonderful place.
I totally love your blog, it like a breath of fresh air, and I come back time and time to browse and check recipes (your sourdough sandwich loaf) is our firm favourite. I digress though, the octopus patches are absolutely amazing, they looked funky on your jeans, but when you showed them up close, it was like wow. :-) I think I have octopus envy.
You are an inspiration to me Celia! Brilliant!
I was having a quick trawl through my wardrobe the other day and realised that half the shirts hanging there are at least 10 years old, and one linen shirt is more than 30 years old. Clearly, I don’t follow fashion at all! For the most part, I live in pure cotton and linen as my home is in the tropics, and when I wear a garment out and it’s past repair, the remaining fabric goes straight into my quilting stash. I do sometimes envy people who have summer and winter wardrobes, as I miss the cosiness of rugging up in coats, jumpers and jackets, but my arthritis disagrees, and prefers the sunshine…
You are just amazing. Love your purple coat with the matching buttons. Perfection! And the jean jacket is beautiful. Love the jeans too. You are so resourceful! Love the blog!
I love this so much! Upcycling for the win. Hugs, Maz
These clothes are priceless! This makes me so happy. Hugs, Maz
That was a treat! SO clever. Thanks for the encouragement.
Blue Rhonda…. ha ha ha. Goodness I love you! xxx
Celia, I loved this post for so many things. Great repurposing ideas! Octopus patches – how did I live this long without knowing they were a thing?! Also – carrot ring!!!
I love the idea of our clothes having history and telling a story – and that you ‘celebrated the fade line as part of the ongoing story of the jeans’!
While I have a fear of sewing machines, I’m getting into repairing by handsewing. I’ve been patching up holes in The Kid’s trackpants with patches made from old t-shirts in cute shapes and contrasting colours.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about a sustainable wardrobe, and ended up writing a Wardrobe Manifesto for myself. I wrote a blog post about it here: https://onefamilyoneplanetblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/25/conscious-clothing-wardrobe-manifesto/
Cheers, Sally at One Family, One Planet blog
Smiling about “cat hairs”, Celia. (Pardon my quotation marks, too, but I brought home several things from the thrift store this week with evidence of former “feline love” and totally understood what you meant — nothing a good washing can’t fix!) LOVED how you recycled and/or re-purposed goodies. You’re such an inspiration and a fun read! Love you, xo.
I’ve been into op shop clothes since my student days, in the late 60s, but as I no longer have or can use a sewing machine, I tend to find stuff that is wearable. Am now often searching for large buttons on old garments, pure wool things to upcycle, patching fabric, discarded yarns, crafting tools and scarves in good fabric. A week without a trip to Savers is a sad week.
Pete looks stunning in that jacket… reluctant star.
You are amazing!!!!! I love everything about this post especially Pete’s shirt jacket. Wish I was as skilled as you are on a sewing machine. I love finding stylish clothes and giving them another life. Mix and match is a good motto for me. Thanks for the inspirations. Best wishes! 😀
I have a friend who makes the most amazing clothes out of upcycled pieces, even jewellery – but a lot of people would consider them really ‘out there’. One day I was admiring a necklace she was wearing, and suddenly realised the sparkling gold ‘beads’ were garden hose cut up – you know how some garden hose has the metallic pattern on the side? It honestly looked really good. My foray into sustainable fashion consists of me learning to apply my sewing skills into converting my fabrics into ‘proper’ garments and I am looking to repurpose other items in my other creative pursuits. I love nature and the earth around me so much, it’s where my creativity and inspiration comes from so I want to find a way of creating that is more in harmony with that. Here’s my post that I wrote about sewing my own clothes http://blueskiesandapplepie.blogspot.com/2019/04/tips-for-sewing-your-own-clothes.html
All looking a million times better than anything you could buy at any of the high street clothes vendors. I applaud your imagination – and would dispute that you look like a nutter 😂
Keep it up. And for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting C in person I can confirm she’s one of the nicest people you could meet 😇
I love upcycling and refashioning clothes. We’re lucky in our little town, it’s famous for its charity shops so we have so much to choose from, and all going to good causes and less clothes to landfill!
I think your fashion sense is awesome! But then, like you, I tend to set a rather ‘unique’ style sense, especially now that I’m living back home in a quite conservative area. I buy almost entirely thrifted clothes. But although I use to add patches etc to my clothing as a teen, I haven’t done it since then. I love what you’ve done; and I hope you don’t mind that I’ll take up the gauntlet once again and begin embelishing aka ME!
I absolutely love my morning visits with you carry on thrifting girl..
You had me at the first army shirt what a brilliant idea to dye it and love the buttons on the coat…I only have one wardrobe as its tropical here but all my dresses are what people donate from their holiday and with a bit of alteration…They suit me fine all I buy new is undies…
Strangely enough a second hand clothes shop in Portsmouth UK where I was a student inspired me to name my daughter. Us students were all buying collarless mens shirts, old waist coats and beautiful cotton and silk blouses for a few pounds. This was in 1975 and the shop was called Chloe. I still have a few items from then. To be fair I love the name and she does too!
Absolutely loved this post. I will be scouring the op shops to see if I can come up with some finds. You have given me inspiration to look at things in a different way.
I looooove that denim coat. You have some very clever ideas.
Long time devotee of own style and op-shops… you have given me some fresh inspiration ♡
Love the article Celia. I love up-cycling/recycling clothes and everything else too.
Inspiring, Celia! x
Oh man! I love that Lollie Coat and your Jeans jacket and the Kantha poncho! What great ideas! Very inspiring and since I;m in the US maybe I’ll have time to do some scouting around for similar solutions!