Upcycled Jewellery

           Making jewellery with a year 3 class at a primary school

The props used in high street shop window displays are changed frequently and often discarded after use. The beads, bangles, ribbons, pom poms, lace and other such decorations I used in this jewellery workshop had been saved from Monsoon/Accessorize by my friend who works there. The company invest in many props frequently to decorate their visually enticing window displays. After the season ends however, these decorations become 'waste' and are thrown away unless staff or the public save them from landfill. Fortunately my friend could not let these wonderful gems and beads to go waste and took around 5 huge bags of decorations home. I was lucky enough to be able to take a couple of bags from her to use for a jewellery making workshop at  a primary school. The children loved the beads, bangles and gems and when I told them the story of the materials, and that they had been saved from landfill it raised many questions regarding other waste from shops, other things that are unnecessarily thrown away. This is such a waste of materials that have plenty of life left in them and so much potential to support creative projects!

TRAID: Primary School Workshops

Working in primary schools with the Recycle Fashion workshops with TRAID, I have been volunteering to help young people gain hands on experience with textiles and learning techniques to change the shape of the garments. I have included some photographs of the drawings from the workshops here as I find them appealing and quite funny sketches of clothing seen from a  childs point of view.

  

Sustainable Fashion: A Student Guide

Cover Page

Contents Page

Chapter Two heading

Sample Pages - Retail

Education Workshops - In Schools

A few images from my MA research - working with young people in schools to promote the values of sustainable fashion and the importance of learning where our clothing and accessories come from. Focusing on the end-of-life scenarios for clothing enables young people to gain hands on experience of upcycling. Encouraging young people to explore the ways in which clothing can be transformed and manipulated into other shapes provides skills that are transferable to other clothing items and can be passed on to friends and family.