We receive fabulous stories on a regular basis from people who have made our 4KT Elephants and gifted them to friends and loved ones.

Those who make elephants for us to donate to local children's charities can also feel that they are making a difference now that the first collection of elephants have been recently delivered to Tedz 4 Kidz!

Here's the wonderful letter we received in response:

We will be continuing to run workshops, and encouraging home sewists, to keep the pachyderms coming, as we head towards our goal of four thousand! It is heart warming to think of all the homes and hearts these will help to brighten. 

We are always delighted to have people pop in to Stitch Kitchen and access our amazing 'pantry' of fabrics, notions, patterns and assorted textile-related oddments!  At our first major FABRIC SALE back in May, we realised there was fun to be had in pulling out ALL the boxes which usually get tucked away in the day-to-day running of the studio, and giving people the full Aladdin-esque experience of our own cave of wonders.

Beside the fun had last time, we have two serious reasons to hold another Studio Sale now:

The first being the abundance of amazing donations we have been receiving; including vintage patterns, wool samplers woven at Roslyn Mill, merino wool knit fabrics, and velvet galore... all of which is taking up room where there wasn't room available to take up (fabricaholics among you will know exactly what I mean)! Plus, there's nothing like inviting people to visit to motivate spring cleaning and getting things in order.

The second reason is an invitation we received to share about our work at this year's Costume and Textile Association of New Zealand national conference,  in Nelson, and the need for funds to get there.

Last year's conference was held in Dunedin, and Fiona (Clements), Desi, and I (Fiona Jenkin) greatly enjoyed awakening our inner academics; learning about wide ranging topics of past research and future development; and most of all, meeting and sharing discussions with the other delegates and presenters.

When we learned that the theme for this year's conference was "A Common Thread", we put forward an abstract to present our work: 'Stitch Kitchen: recipe for building community', about our projects, and our vision for enhancing community, through creative textile projects that help to build resilience and reduce waste.  It was a great honor to have our abstract accepted, to add our story to the wider discussion on fashion, history, and culture.

Now we just need to book accommodation, and register for the rest of the conference, and get there. A small matter of finding $2000 ish and traveling 1400km.

I imagine it will take us slightly longer than 9 1/2hrs through, as the lure of galleries and op-shops diverts us. We will have to be disciplined, however, so we don't end up coming back with too much found treasure. But then again, we know some good ways to share it.

One of our great inspirations, Jane Milburn, will be returning to Dunedin for a brief visit later this month!

Jane is a Sustainability Consultant, Slow Clothing pioneer, TEDx speaker, upcycler, and agricultural scientist. Many of you will remember her fabulous talk and upcycling workshop from when she was here during Fashion Revolution Week and ID Fashion Week in 2017 (see our blog post on her previous visit here).

Jane will be at Stitch Kitchen for our open afternoon on Friday 23rd August.  This will be a perfect afternoon for you to bring in your upcycling projects to get inspired.

We will also be hosting a social evening of sharing inspiration for natural fibres and upcycling at the studio, from 5-7pm.

This is a chance for everyone to discus ways to ..."slow down, take stock and consider the substance, not just the style, of the clothes you choose to wear. Become conscious of your wardrobe: buy less, choose natural fibres, mend what you have, value story, love second-hand and vintage, refuse cheap fashion, avoid toxic dyes, read labels, restyle what you have, share and swap, or buy ethical brands. If it suits you to do so, be empowered to sew, restyle and refashion clothing already in circulation. The slow clothing philosophy is summarised in a manifesto of actions and choices: think, natural, quality, local, few, care, make, revive, adapt and salvage" (from Jane's website Textile Beat)

While visiting NZ, Jane is looking forwarding to gathering a range of new material for another book and her website, including stories of favorite upcycling techniques and what inspires you, particularly around wellbeing and sustainability. 

For those who haven't yet read her wonderful first book, 'Slow Clothing: Finding meaning in what we wear', you're welcome to pop in and read our copy, or you can now purchase a copy of your own from us!

We held our first major Studio Sale in May, to showcase our treasure trove of donated items and clear space for new items.

During the week before, we also found a new purpose for holding the studio sale, as both of our overlockers (which were donated to us some time ago) broke down, and we urgently needed to find the money to replace them.

To support our sale, Fi and Desi, our two board members who are also amazing designers, joined us with samples of their work. We also had Lucy from Fabric Drop with a selection of her remnants and notions.

Preparation for the sale was a lot of work, taking over a week to fast-track sorting; pull out items usually buried in the back of cupboards; and pack away our usual studio machines and equipment to make room to display everything.

We had well over 60 people attend, and all left with smiling faces and fresh ideas for projects they wanted to make.

Exciting that after the dust settled, we found we had raised just over $1,300 towards replacing our overlockers!

After researching options, we purchased 2 new singer  overlockers from spotlight (yay of 50% off sales!).

We also had enough money to have some of our donated sewing machines fully serviced and repaired - just in time for our pop-up shop where we needed every machine we had in top working order!

To everyone who came and contributed (volunteers and customers), a huge THANK YOU!

Already these machines have been used by many, and will keep being enjoyed for many years to come.

Our 4KT Elephants project had a fantastic launch with our Environment Envoy pop-up... but that's just the beginning! We still have over 3,000 elephants to go to reach our goal.

We have also been contacted by many people and businesses offering fabrics and stuffing (to the point that our storage space is overflowing into every nook and cranny we can find!) .

Our regular group of volunteers on Thursday mornings, who for the last 2 years have been making our amazing Bags For Good bags, are now helping us use this abundance to prepare and sew elephants. It's slightly different (no straight lines for one thing!), but we have new people joining us nearly every week. Everyone chooses what they are comfortable with, and we have some volunteers who don't sew, and some who don't cut out, and it works very well. If you are available any Thursday between 10am-1pm, do pop into our studio and see what we're up to.

As the funding we received from the DCC for the pop-up has now been exhausted, we are thinking of new ways to cover our ongoing costs to complete our 4000 goal. We are also offering to take on commissions for elephants for anyone unable to make them for themselves. We can make them from fabrics or items you have, or you can let us know colour preferences. These are $20 each.

Our patterns for the three sizes of elephants are available to download from our website, and we will happily send out our instructions and labels to anyone who would like them. If you would like to make elephants, for yourself or for us, do contact us and we can arrange for all the necessary bits and bobs to get to you. 

These have been accessed by many people so far, locally in Dunedin, but also from throughout NZ, as individuals, teachers and community groups pick up on the popularity of our elephants.  These are being made as keepsakes from special garments or fabrics; gifts for family and friends; and many are making their way back to us to add to our collection being donated to Tedz4Kidz.

 We started believing the elephants represented our hope that waste can be seen as a resource; that everyone in the community can become involved in change; and to bring love and encouragement to those who have been through tough times.  The elephants are taking on more significance as we hear many stories of them being given to new parents; to children in hospital; to elderly friends going into care; and to friends going through the loss of a family member; as auction items to raise money for breast cancer... and so many more!

We look forward to sharing more stories with you as the project continues!

Join us
Thursday mornings, 10am-1pm
@Stitch Kitchen, 88 Vogel Street

Or you're welcome to drop in and collect labels, and anything else you may need to make them at home.

Please feel free contact us if you have any questions

The response we've had to our 4KT Elephants environment envoy pop-up project has been  amazing!

We had over 350 people through on the 10 days we opened our pop-up space, from May 31st - June 16th.  From opening to closing (and often after our official closing time!) we had roughly 20 people in the space, including all ages, all backgrounds; all enjoying the chance to get creative and work together in a warm, bright space we created from a long dis-used retail space.

It was fabulous seeing parents bringing in their children and helping them with their very first sewing project. (Elephants are quite challenging for beginners, but the attraction of making their own elephant was so strong that they persevered and achieved their goal!)

Many people came back each weekend to make more elephants as gifts for friends and family or to donate to Tedz4Kidz. We also had people requesting our special individually numbered labels, to take home to add to elephants they were making from their own scrap fabrics.

Groups from Otago Girls and Dunedin City Council also joined us, as a team building volunteer activity.

Over 300 elephants we made in store (with another 200 labels taken or sent away for elephants to be made),  using approximately 90kgs of textile 'waste'. 

We also had a huge number of people stop and look at our amazing window display, created by Fiona Clements (Senorita Awesumo), showcasing what 85kgs of textiles (the equivalent weight of textiles thrown out each year per household) looks like - giving some idea of how enormous the issue of textile waste in Dunedin is.
 
Posters we had commissioned by Jess Newton of Dust and Dandelions, also helped to inform everyone who visited how this waste is created and what impact it has - not 'somewhere far away', but right here where we live. 

Posters also shared our top 5 tips for reducing textile waste:

1. Wash gently, following care labels instructions.
2. Mend & upcycle
3. Shop your wardrobe
4. Shop second-hand
5. Choose natural fibres when you need to buy new

Many visitors took photos of our posters as reminders of simple things they can keep doing on a regular basis to help us cut our landfill waste and carbon emissions.

Although not found in NZ, elephants are known for helping the biodiversity and ecosystems of the areas they live. They are also renowned for their long lives, long memories and strong social bonds. We have developed an idea that we hope will bring these special benefits to Dunedin.

This is work we are thrilled to have the support of the Dunedin City Council with Dunedin Dream Brokerage, as part of Te Ao Tūroa - Dunedin’s Environment Strategy.

4KT Elephants Project is a unique creative project to engage the Dunedin community in practical solutions to re-purpose textile waste, reduce landfill, build resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Dunedin waste management review reports that Dunedin’s textile waste to landfill has doubled in the last year, with over 4 thousand tons of textiles added to our green island landfill.  

As well as putting pressure on landfill capacity and speeding the need for additional land to be converted from natural landscape or productive purposes to industrial waste storage. Textile waste also contributes significantly to Dunedin’s carbon footprint, as slowly degrading synthetic and natural fibres contribute 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions from our current landfill, which will continue long after the landfill has been decommissioned (200-700 years according to estimates based on the breakdown time for synthetic fibres!).

This textile waste presents an ‘elephant in the room’. The 4KT Elephant Projects will create a positive, empowering way to engage the community in discussion and demonstrate how textile waste can not only be reduced, but used to enrich our lives.

We have designed a unique soft toy elephant, which can be made by anyone in our community from (clean) worn clothing, curtains, bedding and other textiles, along with commercial waste stuffing materials.

(We will ultimately make four thousand elephants - one for every ton of waste, each with it's own numbered tag.)

For the Environmental Envoy, we will create a fun, accessible workshop space in a vacant shop in the central city  to engage the public in collecting materials and developing skills to make the elephants; including sewing, problem solving, and teamwork.

The resulting elephants can be adopted by participants; donated to local children's projects such as Tedz4Kidz, Te Whare Pounamu Dunedin Women's Refuge; or sold to raise money to support the ongoing costs of the project as we continue towards our goal to make four thousand soft toy elephants: one for each ton of textile waste.

In additional the practical work space and making of the elephants, there will be educational resources and information about the context of textile waste and its impact on our community and environment here in Dunedin, and more importantly, how each person in our community can show their love of our environment by taking an active part in reducing textile waste through our everyday choices.

Keep your eyes open for where and when you can get involved!

A skirt made from shirts... a dress made from table cloths... a cardigan made from two jerseys... and luxurious nightgown from a sentimental souvenir... a coat made for walking Canada's cold streets in in the 1980's, now re-tailored for city life in Dunedin for winter 2019.

These are some of the projects we worked on at the top of Dunedin Public Library last month during ID Fashion Week.

Desi and I were joined by four attendees with a wide range of background sewing experience, all keen for ideas on how to re-imagine items which had been stashed away (in several cases for years).

Treasured items made from silk, cashmere, organic linen and denim (from days before Lycra and polyester were added).  Items that were hand-made by them decades ago, or by family members, or 'the tiny gentleman who worked in a cupboard-sized workshop just off the street in Bangkok' ...

These are common themes we experience with Upcycling: items where the provenance is personal, the fabric of a quality that seems undervalued in the current form, or simply the desire to make something more practical for our contemporary taste and lifestyle.

It is hugely rewarding to take inspiration for what something already is, and consider what form it could be to become more than what it was - more practical, more appreciated, more beautiful, and much more personal.

In our Mend & Make Awesome workshops, we see this on a small scale. People repairing or altering items to improve them. Upcycling however, is a much bigger (and often trickier) enterprise, involving many hours work, and often facing challenges when the previous shape resists your efforts and you have to think again. It's easy to become disheartened and stuck, and end up with grand plans put indefinitely on hold.

This is where having some outside advice is so valuable. Having another person to bounce ideas with, suggest alternatives techniques, or to make the tea!

This workshop was a delight on all levels, and we hope to organise more in the near future!

Her latest research project aims to investigate current textile practitioners utilizing clothing upcycling as a component of their practice. It will shed light on issues such as:
 

• What motivates people to upcycle, and how does their upcycling relates to the wider fashion industry?

 

• What methods of upcycling they use?

 

• Why upcycling clothing important is important to these individuals?

 

• And how economics feature in their practice (i.e. working conditions, arrangement of business/practice, having time, economic sustainability)?

From her own experience, Kirsten believes practitioners may upcycle for a variety of interrelated reasons such as enriching their and others lives, DIY, sustainability, affordability, beauty, politics, aesthetics, experimentation, and self-differentiation.

As part of the study, Kirsten will be organising a public forum, where participants in the study will share with the wider community, their inspiration and creations. The role of upcycling within the wider context of the fashion industry will also be highlighted in this forum to be held on Wednesday 24th April, coinciding with international Fashion Revolution Day. This forum is open the public, and will be a fascinating insight into this increasingly popular practice. For more information about the seminar, please email Kirsten: kocki817@student.otago.ac.nz

We are each looking forward to taking part in this fantastic research, and seeing how it will highlight the value of repurposing clothing, not only personally, but in understanding and enriching our ever changing culture of fashion.

In November (2018) we were excited to see that the DCC and Dunedin Dream Brokerage (formerly known as Urban Dream Brokerage) were promoting Te Ao Tūroa - Dunedin’s Environment Strategy by inviting applicants for  'Environment Envoy' projects.

 At Stitch Kitchen, we're always cooking up ideas for ways to inspire people to look at things in new, creative ways - especially when those ways lead us as a community towards healthier, happier, more resilient and sustainable future.

One project we've had on the back burner for a wee while was to help address an issue we're very much aware of, but which no one seems to know how to solve, and so the whole issue is ignored:

Dunedin waste management review reports that Dunedin’s textile waste to landfill has doubled in the last year, with over 4 thousand tons of textiles added to our green island landfill.  

As well as putting pressure on landfill capacity and speeding the need for additional land to be converted from natural landscape or productive purposes to industrial waste storage. Textile waste also contributes significantly to Dunedin’s carbon footprint, as slowly degrading synthetic and natural fibres contribute 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions from our current landfill, which will continue long after the landfill has been decommissioned.

This textile waste comes from a range of sources; from commercial industry and manufacturing (yes, we still do have some textile companies here!), and from 'households' (i.e. us).  While commercial waste in being reduced, thanks to waste minimization practices, the concerning thing is that household waste that is climbing, with traditional 'recycling' options being reduced. 

As we keep buying cheap, low quality garments, it's no surprise that they do not last multiple wears let alone multiple owners, and many of the garments given to op shops are not good enough quality to go anywhere but the skip... to be buried in Green Island.

This is all very gloomy grey and serious!

How can we create a positive, empowering way to engage the community in discussion and demonstrate how textile waste can not only be reduced, but used to enrich our lives?

We have an idea... and the Environment Envoy selection committee think it's a goodie too!

....


(That's right, I'm going to keep you hanging out for the details! But thanks to the DCC and Dunedin Dream Brokerage, we will certainly be letting you know the where, what and when very soon :) )