When I was a little girl, my mother used to take me out to buy brand new clothes, because for her it was a big deal to get something new. I always dreaded those shopping trips and the fact that I had to try stuff on. I found the whole process tedious and claustrophobic.
We all like a little novelty with the clothes we put on each morning, but most people spend a tremendous amount of time and money on buying stuff. I often wonder why people don’t challenge what the definition of ‘new’ should mean or take into consideration how their purchases may affect the planet.
I’ve never understood people’s fascination with changing fashion. Over the years, I've met many people who felt they were somehow stale or boring if they didn’t go out and buy a new fall outfit or new summer shirts… I don’t know where that mindset comes from or why I don’t have it.
It’s a mystery to me why people do that regularly. There are so many second-hand stores and transfer stations that are filled with good, serviceable clothing that just need a little love to become something special again.
I like shopping at Goodwill Buy the Pound, where donated items deemed unfit for store shelves are sold to the public extremely cheaply.
Sweaters may have holes in them, shirts may have stains on them and everything there is either damaged or simply didn’t sell at the retail store. But it doesn’t matter to me, because all I need is some fabric to make my own clothes.
In my line of work, I can have something new to wear whenever I want without paying for more materials to be extracted from the environment or sent back out into the environment when they are used up.
I’m not a seamstress by any means, so I use a serger, which cuts out all the hard work associated with the process. I don’t take apart the parts that have to fit you. I just add to the bottoms and tops to make them longer or to add different fabrics onto a piece of clothing.
For example, if I were to find a shirt where the sleeves are worn out at the ends I would probably just cut them off and add on different fabric with my machine. It’s really that simple. And it’s honestly quite fun.
I’m almost 77 years old, but I seem to be flunking retirement. I still work to repurpose old clothing by choice because I love doing it. I owned a small handbag company for 43 years until 2013, but once I sold it I missed making stuff.
This time around I’m trying to keep my company, Rags 2 Riches, a bit more simple. I don’t want to scale it up and feel too pressured to spend hours at a sewing machine, I just want to have fun.
— Patti Dowse, Maine Marketplace Area Coordinator and Maine Artisan Bread Fair Vendor Wrangler
