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Swap

2008
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It always amazes me how difficult it is to make that first snip into an old shirt…

I went to a clothing swap on Friday, not knowing what to expect, except that my bag of clothing brought from my own closet would not be coming home with me.  That was difficult for me as well.

I suppose I become attached to clothes – more than I may realize.  I do not have a vast closet full of a lifetime of collected garments.  Nor do I shop for clothes more than a couple times a year.  Yet somehow I treat clothing as precious, even when I no longer feel that a piece of it belongs in my life.  I said goodbye to old clothes that I once wore on a daily basis.  They used to be so “me”.  I am a different me now.

In their stead, I brought home from the clothing swap a bag of things more suited to the me I am now.  And already they make me feel like my inside and outside match a little bit more than before.  New shapes, new fabrics, and new things to cut up and remold into forms that were never intended by their manufacturer.  All new things that are made out of old stuff.  These are objects that are given a second chance.  They all deserve one.

Today was a day of scarves and cuffs fashioned from sweaters I found in my friend’s kitchen during the clothing swap, shirts I have had for years, and pieces of fabric someone was giving away in my boyfriend’s old apartment building.  Funny that every piece would come from such a different trajectory in time and merge on my kitchen floor where I cut them up.  That first cut is so hard to make because the piece of clothing I am trying to resurrect has come such a very long way.  I would hate to make an irreversible mistake.

But it’s hard to make a mistake if you swap old patterns for new ones.


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Filed Under: Business Topics Tagged With: clothing, kitchen, recycle, renew, sewing, shirt, swap, upcycle

About jennymadethis
My name is Jenny Bisch. I currently live in Winnipeg (and plan on staying here after years of moving across Canada) and spend every free moment I have making stuff. I sew, knit, cook, draw, paint, take photos, make films, and have even given ceramics a go. I have a Master's degree in Anthropology, which is a discipline that values the multiplicity of people's histories and cultures, so perhaps this explains my scattered and varied interests in the world of arts and crafts. However, all of my creative behaviour falls under one simple rule: I must make things. I was overjoyed when I came across Etsy as an inexpensive venue for my creations and set myself up on www.jennymadethis.etsy.com. I hope to put more work into the shop over the next year because my sales are very low. But thanks to the internet, more posting within the site and promotion outside should pay off eventually! I'm also planning on doing more craft shows this holiday season. They are a great way to make you and your work relevant to the community in which you live. Currently I can't stop knitting. I haven't yet sold any knitted items -- everything so far has been for me to keep or to give away at Christmas. My sewing, however, has largely replaced painting as a creative outlet. I approach my bags like collages by mixing materials and assembling them geometrically. I work with the restrictions of the material (not the requirements of a pattern) to reduce waste. I use only recycled and second-hand material, which is a bit of a political and ecological statement on my part. We throw so much away in our culture. I think this tendency will be our biggest regret some day in the near future. My biggest inspiration for my work is my compulsion to turn the ugliness of our wasteful behaviour into things that are beautiful and worth keeping.

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