The joys of grandparenting mean I get invited to school nativity plays, ballet performances, concerts and plays. This month was a new one: a vintage & recycled fashion show. It was inspiring. The girls paraded confidently - even my shy g'daughter - displaying their creativity and sewing skills. Several used newspapers - and one had origamied a tutu of a skirt that wrapped round her like a big black and white ball. Another girl had used natural dyes to reuse and old dress, and another had beautiful flowers made of recycled material sewn down the split seam.
One outfit brought back memories when they announced that it was patch work. Yet it was patchwork of a metallic material and I remember patchworks of cotton fabrics. Natural fabrics mattered. We used to use cheese cloth and lots of lace and bought kaftans in Petticoat Lane, London. I've dug out my suitcase from the attic with my favourite 1970 dresses that I couldn't bear to give away or throw out and I shall share them with this grand daughter.
And there's the beautiful blue velvet cocktail dresses with swinging side panels that I inherited from my own aunty who'd worn it in the late 1940s-1950s.
