Listen to the episode
A Conversation About Upcycling – The Asian Sewist Collective Podcast
Patterns and Designers mentioned
Forget Me Knot Bag by Pattern Division
Blair Skirt by True Bias
The Unicorn Hoax by Producer Mariko @marikoabecreative
Barb @estrelladelaluna
Ella @handmademillenial
Tina Tse @tina.say.knits
Josie @coffeebreakwithjosie
Dr. Emilia @making_and_candor
Allison @allisonmakerspace
Regina @reginaa.espino
Resources
Basahan Fashion: The sustainable practice of retaso
Restyling Japan: Revival of the “Mottainai” Spirit
Changing Perspectives: Upcycling in Eastern Asia | Stain
5 trending upcycling ideas in Japan | Sustainability from Japan
A $200 do-it-yourself upcycled piece resembles a “basahan”, and Filipinos are angry
Upcycled Clothing by Sarah Tyau Gives New Life to Old Garments
Show transcript
Ada
Welcome to the Asian Sewist Collective podcast. The Asian Sewist Collective is a group of Asian people from around the world brought together by our shared appreciation for fiber and textile arts, and our desire to see more Asian representation in the sewing community.
Nicole
In this podcast, we explore the intersection of our identities and our shared sewing practice as we create a space for Asian sewists and our allies.
Ada
I’m your co host, Ada Chen, and I’m recording from Denver, Colorado, Denver is a traditional territory of the US, Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples. I’m a Taiwanese American marketer turned entrepreneur and these days you’ll find me running my own natural skincare business called Chuan’s promise. That’s C H U A N apostrophe s promise in sharing my marketing tips on my blog. Most importantly, for this podcast, you can find my sewing@i.hope.so on Instagram.
Nicole
And I’m your co-host, Nicole, I’m based outside of Chicago, the original homelands of the Council of the three fires, the Ojibwe, the Potawatomi, and the Odawa people. I’m a Philippine-American woman, a lawyer by day and a sewing enthusiast the rest of the time, you can find me on Instagram @NicoleAngelineSews.
Ada
Okay, this week’s episode is going to be about upcycling, and we’re going to give you some context about the practice. And then talk a little bit about what you all told us that you do in terms of upcycling or your own sewing practice. So it’s kind of like a one-take listener mailbag episode, we will not be going back for the edits, sorry in advance.
Nicole
And there are a lot of resources out there already on how to upcycle lots of different things into lots of new things. And while we’re super interested in the topic, and a lot of us in you know, in some way or another practice upcycling, we couldn’t really promise that we would blow your mind with any new ideas, like new upcycling projects. So instead, we just wanted to give voice to people’s perspectives on the practice of upcycling.
Ada
Yeah, if you want something that you could pin to a board, go to Pinterest. But before we dive into this week’s episode, Nicole, can you tell us about your current sewing project?
Nicole
I just wrapped up my last sewing project so I can talk about that. TBD on what’s next. But actually, today, my grandma’s celebrated her 93rd birthday. Whoo. Whoo, grandma. She’s really cute. We were we had the luncheon at a restaurant and she was wearing like a super sparkly shirt and like a sparkly headband. And I was like, remarkable. The Sublime stuff. She’s wonderful. She’s a wonderful human being been through a lot. And my mom has, I can’t remember if I talked about this on a previous episode. She is retired and bored.
Oh, I think we do. Yeah, I think we’ve talked about the board on when we talked about Zizou’s birthday party. And I was thinking of a way like, How can I can how can I contribute to this party that my auntie is paying for? Like lunches? Okay, we’ll do favors. And I was talking to my mom. And she decided, well, I suggested and she’s like, Oh, intriguing, that she’d make candles. That was never something that we that I ever thought that I’d want to do. She’s like, Oh, yeah, sure, let me try it. And so she made 30 candles for all the guests. And my sister and I made the gift bags for the candles. And season one, I believe it was during season one I had or maybe it was season two, I made 34 Forget Me Knot Bags from Pattern Division. They were the ones that—it’s a rectangular shaped bag, and with two handles, but it’s like a stick handles the only way I could describe it like a single handle but you tie it and it’s really really cute. I made a bunch for my work Halloween party and I’m not doing that again. But um, I…Forget Me Not minis is a separate pattern. It’s the same pattern as the other one. But the designer at Pattern Division scaled it down to being like the size of maybe a little bit bigger than my fist. So you could probably fit a standard can of soda in it. So it’s pretty—maybe, it might stick out the top. But what’s cool about this pattern, I didn’t use it for this project, but the designer included PDF Printable designs, so it’s small enough to fit on an letter size or A4 piece of paper. And if you buy the sheets of printable fabric, you can just print them out. And that would be the outer and then you just get a lining fabric and use the same thing. It’s really cute.
That’s genius, then you don’t even have to bother with the like lining up and the tracing and the cutting and the…
Mhmm..But I have lots of fabric to use. And so I gave some to my sister and she made several and I made several. And together, we made 30. And I hope someone took a picture of the table because they were super cute. Just all sitting there. My idea was that I would just use whatever, white patterned fabric that we have for the inside and the outside. So they weren’t all exactly the same. But, But then I made—my mom said, can you make one special for your grandma, like because I made her a slightly bigger candle? And I was like, Yeah, sure. So I grabbed leftover fabric that I had. And so this is in keeping with the theme of the episode, you know, the fabric that I had thrfted, that I had just made my True Bias Winnie skirt, now called Blair after release. And I made a bag from that extra jacquard, poly jacquard rosette fabric, and I wear the skirt to the party. And I was like, here’s your here’s your special one grandma and like I put it next to my skirt. So that was my project. What’s nice is that you can really batch sew easily. So I did it in stages, like I cut everything and then I sewed one seam. Li ke, how do you chain stitching? Is that what it’s called? Where it’s like you just keep going?
Ada
A little different, I think because there are a chain stitching machines and like you can kind of like embroidery.
Nicole
I’m just thinking like you don’t cut the thread. You just sew a piece, put another piece in, sew a piece…
Ada
Oh, you just Yeah, you don’t cut in the middle. Yeah. Batch sew.
Nicole
Batch sewing. Yes. So that is really what I just wrapped up last night and the party was today. And again, TBD on what’s next for me? What are you working on?
Ada
That is very cute. Also, I commend your mom and your aunt for making candles because temperature control on that is very crucial. And it’s harder than people think. Because I definitely tried to do this for my friends for Christmas gifts last year and some of them are a little wonky. They are still I’ve gone to my friend’s places and they do have them out and they are using them. But I also then tried to do candles with another friend who was trying to like save money and do beeswax candles at home. And it was oh man the wonkiness of how it sets was real, so…
Nicole
I don’t know if they smell like anything.
Ada
Well, honestly, it’s not even the scent. That’s like the hard part. It’s definitely just the temperature control of one year when they’re setting like as wax. So I commend them and you and your sister for making the pouches I too and making bags in batch.
So I guess for the past two is a two or three years, I’ve been one of the I guess artists that participates in green gifts at art parts creative reuse up in Boulder. And so they’re one of my local creative use stores. They are nonprofit. And the executive director Megan is super great, super friendly, been super supportive. In the past, we’ve had just excess of the scrunchies and headbands I had for my you know, day job as part of the accessories that I have on my website available to purchase at the shop. And this year, we are doing scrunchies because those are like always popular, but I was like, I want to like do something else that’s not necessarily like work related. And it’s like more sewing things that I enjoy sewing or is at least something I could do in a batch and like not get super bored of and why not throw a zipper in there. Make my life difficult.
So I’m doing zipper pouches because at the creative reuse store, they sell a lot of pencils, pens, paint brushes, like bits and bobs. And people are always buying them and they need something to hold them in. And currently, they also get a lot of plastic bag donations. So that’s how they get rid of like bags of scraps or bags of like fill a bag of beads or stuff like that. But like what if you could buy some paint brushes, for example, or pencils, sketching, materials, markers, and then just pop them in a bag for somebody that you are thinking about. So yeah, I’m making a batch of zip pouches. The proceeds get split between the creative use center and me to compensate me for my time and the materials but I’m trying to be very diligent about using it as almost like a scrap buster project because I have so many scraps that are like the right size for that and zippers are like 25 cents at the creative use store so it’s not a bad batch project or batch gift I think Think not that by the time this comes out, I don’t know if it will be high holiday season yet or not. But yeah, that is what we’re making,
Nicole
Are you using a pattern?
I’m not, I’m literally just kind of free handing it. Like I freehanded a sample that I had to send for a photo. And I just chopped a scrap into a rectangle and sewed up the side seams or added the zipper and the sort of the side seams and I was like, boom, we’re done. And I kind of get the pricing flexible, because they asked us to do the pricing for them to make sure it’s like reasonable for your time and the materials and you know, their cut of the sales. And I gave them like, kind of a variety of prices, depending on like how big it is. And you know, what’s the color scheme and all that stuff?
Nicole
Oh, that sounds exciting. Very cool. What a great idea. And that it’s cool, because you could get the zippers, creative reuse, and then it’s all very much like a circular thing until it gets to the person who is ultimately going to keep it and that’s cool. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I’m working on another project. It’s not a sewing project, though.
Ada
What?
Nicole
Okay, I know, you know, I we just haven’t talked about it in a while, we finally have our new label collection in. So all of for the listeners, we, if you don’t know already, we have a ko-fi page where you can purchase our version one of our sew-in sewing labels. And I found myself making a few things over the summer with bedsheets or with upcycled materials either previously, you know owned clothing, or ones that I’ve made and like just redid it so that I could use it for something else. And I remember messaging you and Marico and saying, why don’t why did I not have cool tags that talk about how this is like upcycled from bedsheet I have so many labels I love I like buying things, but we don’t really have anything. There’s nothing out there that’s just like, specific to people who are this type of sustainably minded. And so my project is: I’m bagging up the labels baby. Whoo,
Ada
Welcome to the world of e-commerce and mailing things to people who buy them online.
Nicole
It’s a it’s a lot.
Ada
It is yes, I mean, I you know, because we have previously—I don’t think we’ve talked about it on the pod but basically, on our first batch of labels, which you can still buy on our ko-fi page ko-fi.com/asiansewistcollective. Those labels, we still have a couple packs left a couple dozen packs. So get on it, we are not doing another run as far as I know. But those got shipped to me I sat down and watched Netflix while I was packaging them individually and then stapling them shut and then they lived in the warehouse where I work out of for my day job right make all the skincare ship all this care. And then after that, they were getting mailed out and I was like, I can’t handle like two sets though and also my own inventory because something inevitably is going to get lost in here. I have boxes and like things all over the place. And I didn’t want them to get misplaced. And also I think because we knew that I would be in and out of Denver for the past few months and upcoming months. You volunteer to take it over so I ship those all over to you and then the new set all gets or all got sent to you. Yeah and so now you’re taking over and it’s been very interesting because I think you bring like uh this is like cool and interesting like a fresh.. where I’m like “oh my god not shipping another”
Nicole
I figured it made sense to get that off of your plate and… 2022 was rough for me personally and I’m feeling like 2023 is brought more energy and calm to my life. I was like I could do a little bit more and just so listeners know if by the time this comes out the website should be live for these new ones but we’ve got sayings five different labels and they say saved from the landfill, sustainably made, Not a bedsheets snob, which is an homage to one of our past guests Ella from @handmademillennial, lovingly rescued fibers, and the last one every time I see it, It just makes me laugh and it’s it’s very on brand for my humor and the song is 13-years old at this point probably but there’s one that says “I’m thrifty and I know it is.” No? Nobody else, does anybody, no?
Ada
It’s pretty good. When did you look at the little like it’s a little moneybags with the peace sign. It’s very cute.
Nicole
It’s really good. Absolutely. And our producer Mariko and also artists who is @theunicornhoax that is her comic strip
Ada
Yeah, the unicorn hoax which is like a web comic strip about hilarious workplace. I shouldn’t say hilarious… workplace trauma thing it and it is objectively hilarious because she pulls from people’s real life experiences
Nicole
And you could also find her other work at @MarikaAbeCreative and of course, we’ll do put all that in the show notes for you. But yeah, that’s something else I’m working on. It’s like sewing related but not sewing related- not actual sewing project related, but definitely podcasts related. So I just wanted to sneak that in there.
Today’s episode was produced by Shilyn Joy, researched by Cindy Chan, and edited by me so I hope everyone’s ears are okay still! Doing more editing this season. And this week, we are talking about upcycling, and asked our listeners to be involved in this conversation. So we posted a few questions about upcycling on our Instagram for listener submissions, which we’ll talk about throughout this episode. So Ada, what is upcycling?
Ada
Upcycling is the process of making something new or better from used or waste materials. And it’s different from recycling because recycling requires one to break down an item into parts for raw material before making it into something new. And in textiles, recycled material is often considered inferior, for example, because recycling fibers will inevitably shorten them, which means they’re just not as strong. And in a process called downcycling, some recycled fibers can only be turned into like insulation or stuffing, batting, that kind of stuff. But besides or rather than new fabric that you could use. Upcycling, on the other hand takes an item as is and adds to it or reimagines it into something that is quote unquote, better.
Nicole
I have a question for you, Ada
Ada
Yes.
Nicole
As you were talking about upcycling, downcycling, and recycling, where would upcycling fall on the Reduce Reuse Recycle triangle that they teach us about in America? In elementary school
Ada
I would assume that it kind of falls under reuse, because you are not necessarily recycling it. Right? You’re not taking apart and using those base materials, although you might be you, if you’re reusing it as something else that is perhaps a different use then or not necessarily a downstream use from the original, like product or material that it came from.
Nicole
Ok, that makes sense. I just, we said the word cycling a lot [laughing] like, where does that fall in? I don’t know. Do you remember I’m talking about do you remember the like, yeah, reduce triangle.
Ada
Yeah.
Nicole
And the older I get, the more I realized that like recycling has to be the last like the the last resort and like reusing, reducing, and then reusing and recycling. It’s like an order of importance really, which I think is not always considered when people are thinking about how they use their materials and how they acquire things. So anyway, people…we’re going with it. We’re going with it today.
And people upcycle for a lot of different reasons. So for some of our listeners, upcycling as a way to save money by either using things they already own or thrifting for material. So for others, upcycling was a way to get back into sewing by mending or altering garments to fit or to fit themselves or their style. And similarly, some of you upcycle to reduce waste.
So one of our listeners, Barbara who is @estrelladelaluna, on Instagram shared, “I started upcycling more recently because I bought a sewing machine to learn to make clothes that fit me well, and to get the look that I wanted. A lot of things aren’t made for a body like mine, and are very impersonal. When I upcycle I can change things to fit both me and my personality. I will eventually learn to make clothes for myself. But for now, changing ready made pieces is more simple.” And she’s my bestie so that out there, come through Barb!
Ada
We love you. We love you, Barb.
Nicole
And for other people, upcycling came before sewing like Barb so it felt natural to continue not letting things go to waste.
Ada
I love that. And I love hearing about you and Barb offline when we’re not recording the podcast, talking about sewing. And in addition to the cost savings and sustainability, a lot of people upcycle to resist consumerism and capitalism. By purposefully not buying new items to make a statement, other statements for upcycling or from upcycling are by means of creating a completely unique item. by either using different items. Upcyclers get a chance to hone in on their creativity and make functional art or get a change, or get a chance to give new life to either a possession that they inherited or somehow acquired to maybe connect themselves to their family history or, you know, traditions. So for example, turning other garments or old garments into a quilt, or turning a broken dish set into a mosaic. This can give upcycle every social cred to by being able to flex their uniquely made pieces. And I don’t know about you, Nicole, but this is basically half of my TikTok feed right now.
Nicole
No, I don’t TikTok. I’m a millennial who waits on Instagram reels until the TikTok becomes popular weeks later, and I see it on Instagram.
Ada
It’s about two weeks, yeah
Nicole
Yeah, that’s fine. But yeah, I hear you. And upcycling can also reduce energy usage. So it takes energy not only to dispose of items, but also to recycle them. And there’s transportation, labor processing, that goes into recycling. And to recycle those materials. Breaking down the materials, turning it into raw materials to reuse can be more costly than just checking it and throwing it away. So by upcycling an item where it was originally used, many of these additional costs are eliminated.
Ada
So how do you actually weigh the sustainability benefits? You kind of alluded to it earlier, Nicole, there’s kind of the…there are a few themes, I think that I’ve seen, at least in not only the upcycling, like social media space of people who do upcycling as part of their sewing practice, or just are like, you know, that’s what they’re known for. And there’s the like, use-what-you-have principles. So like using what you have is better than going out and buying something new or even getting something that’s new to you. And then there’s also the progress over perfection kind of mantra that comes up a lot, which, you know, I kind of agree with both of those takes, just thinking about my own personal sewing and sustainability practices.
And I think it’s kind of up to each individual to not only consider the material that you’re using, and you’re making with, but also like the time and energy that you’re putting into it to right? like, is it actually more sustainable to use something or cut something up and redo it, if you’re going to have to go out and like buy a whole, let’s say, set of new sequence that you want to put onto it, like those sequins are plastic, they can’t be easily disposed of, et cetera, et cetera. So I think it’s all like personal preference, and like what you’re comfortable with, like, I’m not telling everybody to go out and immediately ditch all their plastic jars and jugs and whatnot. And switch to refills only or, you know, apply something similar and only go to re- creative reuse stores for your fabric. Like I think that would be actually really difficult to pursue as your upcycling journey or your sewing journey goes. But yeah, definitely worth considering how much time and energy is also going into any of those processes that you’re doing as well.
Nicole
We asked you our listeners on Instagram to tell us if your culture and or societal background has influenced your approach to upcycling clothing.
Friend of the pod and past guest Ella @handmademillennial said quote, “growing up my aunties were big into saving everything. Plastic yogurt containers were washed out and reused to hold things they composted made DIY bread and didn’t waste any scraps of fabric like a quilter or anything else. And I viewed the resource one as as cheap and unrefined. At the time, they were immigrants from the Philippines who were used to being resourceful and making the most out of everything that they had. Coming from a small village where it was less easy to buy everything you could ever think of the way that we do now. I find myself doing all of the same things and realizing that they were the OG upside colors, realizing how cool it is to multipurpose and make things out of what others view as trash. Now I celebrate them and just feel regret that I ever looked down on it. It was in my DNA all along to be resourceful in this way.”
And [laughs] so I laugh so my family is also from the Philippines and we grew up with my grandma, my grandparents in the house, my mom’s parents in the house. And I definitely relate to this whole, you know, margarine tub full of soup. But the interesting part of that this for me is that with my mom, we weren’t as good I focused on thrifting and upcycling, I think my grandma really pushed it. But perhaps because my mom was a 21 year old woman single when she came to the US, making enough money to provide for her family and her grandpa and her parents and shopping was like a hobby, you know, and so thrifting and upcycling didn’t enter my world until I was an adult. So I had both, you know, Ella had the same, you know, ethos of, you know, we’re using all sorts of things. But then, when it came to new materials, like clothing, or bags, or whatever, like, it was important to buy the new things. And I wonder if that’s maybe an immigrant thing, or someone who didn’t have as much money growing up having it now and wanting the finer things in life. So I don’t know either of you. That any of that resonates with you.
Ada
I do think part of that, especially the like, margarine tub full of soup is almost a universal immigrant child or immigrant parent kind of experience. And I was literally talking about this with somebody at work the other day, and they are, they identify as Latina, and they were saying, like, Oh, my God, my mom, like you would open something in the fridge and you didn’t know what it was. And yeah, so I think that might be a little bit more of a universal experience. But I do think parts of this are unique in terms of fabric.
For example, another friend of the pod and past guests, Tina, say, who is at Tina dot, say S-A-Y dot knits (@tina.say.knits) said, quote, “I’m a child of Chinese immigrants who came from rural parts of China. They knew poverty and starvation, I grew up learning from them that everything you have should not be wasted, because you never know when you won’t have anything. The family I grew up with, we’re all makers of some kind. My paternal grandfather was a chef slash cook. My paternal grandmother was a New York City garment worker and made jewelry on the side and taught me knitting. My mother crocheted and sewed. My dad was a watchmaker and carpenter and pretty much built anything we needed. On with his, on his own with whatever material he could scavenge. So in a way, they taught me the importance of nothing going to waste and to find value in anything that can be salvaged and find use for it. I think that’s what upcycling is all about.”
End quote, and I love that. Tina has such this, like multi generational kind of layered experience with it, where each person had a different skill set that they brought in. And personally, I like dabbled a little bit into the carpentry world of the summer. And it was…it there’s a lot. I had a friend also tells me that she did something similar where she disassembled wooden pallets. And that was how she made her first like backyard set.
Nicole
Wow.
Ada
And she did it because she was a broke college recent college grad. And we were all like, so impressed that she had even done anything with wood because the rest of us like suburban and city kids are like, What do you mean, You need a planer? What’s the point? The answer is to smooth out planks or boards. But yeah, I kind of I love that Tina’s experience is multi generational. And it does kind of draw into different hard skills that maybe we don’t necessarily appreciate as much as we can today.
Nicole
I have no hard skills
Ada
Sewing’s a hard skill.
Nicole
Okay, okay, good. Listening to Tina’s story, think about how well I don’t see my mom as someone who had these types of skills. She was too busy. She was busy working and providing but my grandpa was a was a creator and that and he was a self taught carpenter for for many, many years and ever and he taught his his children had to do that. And so we never had to hire anyone because there’s always an uncle. And you know, I remember things like waking up to the awful noise of tile being cut and like what is this and they’re just like redoing the floors. And you know, it speaks to the ethos of that’s what you everyone having hard skills was more normal where my family came from at the time that they came from it.
And yeah, besides sewing, I’m pretty useless. So that could be why also that you know, the upcycling is not something that comes naturally to me, but it’s definitely something that I aspire to.
And listener Josie who is @coffeebreakwithjosie on Instagram says quote, “I am first generation Mexican American. I was always at yard sales as a kid and as a teen thought to taught to thrift and learn to scope out brands and the racks that so I could be cool in school. Were what the cool kids were wearing, so to speak. I couldn’t afford Delia catalogs Lux or Wet Seal Miller’s outpost but dang grateful my cousins and mom made me feel cool by upcycling clothes and hand sewing fun patches to Levi’s and my mom would even sew in men clothes I found at yard sales. I still love yard sales and drifting to this day embarrassed as a kid when my friends would see me at their yard sales but looking back now I always had a blast being creative with items I would find.”
End quote. I did not yard sale growing up the same same reason like I think it was there was something with the way that my mom wanted to buy things she couldn’t have before but she were all coming around as we get older.
Ada
I think I I don’t remember going to any when I was young but we definitely tried to have one and it didn’t really work because we were so far into our like little neighborhood that no amount of like you had to know where you were going and where to find it and so yeah, I don’t really I see a few like around here and there I more see estate sales now nowadays, right. And I think people are just like so into that idea of just consumption and like tossing things or donating it to Goodwill versus doing a yard sale nowadays, but listeners if their yard sales in your area or boot sales, I think is what they call them in the UK.
Nicole
Car boot sales
Ada
Car boot sales. let us know. Another friend of the pod, Dr. Amelia who is at making underscore and underscore candor (@making_and_candor) says, “I feel like upcycling or in any case making do of what one has is a quintessential part of the diasporic experience, not just when it comes to sewing, but also any aspect of life. So naturally, a person from an immigrant background would be already more primed to upcycling or refashioning. At least that was the case for me to a point where it doesn’t feel like upcycling but rather becomes the norm. Now that I live in Asia, my own propensity for not wasting anything has grown into also cultivating gratitude for the items I use, utilizing items until they are unusable. And conversely, using everything to completion is deeply ingrained into traditional Japanese culture. Just look at anything from cooking to kimono remaking. And I find myself very attuned to this philosophy.”
Thanks, Amelia. Amelia is always a great person to kind of look out for style, in my opinion, they have fantastic choices and also a similar color palette. [laughs] So it’s not a hard stretch for my brain. I do kind of agree, though, that some of the consumerism that we see is rooted in the fact that like you and I both live in the States, and have lived here for the majority of our lives, and it’s just very, like, buy it and replace it. And next one, and I think it’s only been over the last like five to 10 years that I’ve seen rewear men recycle upcycle kind of come into the mainstream, if you will, like for example, all the brands that are doing like secondhand markets for their clothing or doing take back, or even doing like consignment of pieces like REI has consignment now, apparently, yeah, we will take back certain brands. And yeah, I think it’s interesting to kind of compare and contrast because we get more of a lens of like, what is happening outside of just here. Whereas, like, I’m really not sure if this is like a discussion or even something that crosses the mind of, you know, a white friend, for example, like some people yes, definitely gonna give them the credit for being sustainably minded. But I also wonder if like, kind of the angle that we come at it with, like both tradition that Amelia is talking about and where we come from and culturally and then like getting here and like shifting and what does that all mean?
Nicole
Yeah, I think for me, I see a correlation between being descendent of recent immigrants is like, a big thing in terms of upcycling, and you’d said that, you know, 10, five to 10 years now it’s it’s semi mainstream. And I was thinking, I do see a lot of it, but it’s in my own self selected curated feed and what I read, so I am still surprised by how she in and other fast fashion just continue to destroy the planet. And how it just doesn’t seem like the message of sustainability. And upcycling is potentially as broad like, again, surrounded myself with people who understand it and you know everyone that’s giving their feedback back on our podcast today, understand it and then adjust. I’m not sure how widespread it is. And again, I think it’s tied to potentially like immigrant recent immigrant in backgrounds, which I think is really interesting. And who knows, like everyone’s different and people upcycle for lots of different reasons. And like we’re illustrating today
And Alison @Alisonmakerspace says, “growing up my dad, an immigrant from Cuba was very conservative with his money. My mom coming from a low income household was very good at being scrappy. I think this led me to reusing and repurposing everything. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to purchase what I wanted. And if what I had was a solid substitutes. And that was good enough. It also helped spark my creativity when I was younger, nothing really felt out of reach. But it was more of a challenge of how to use what I had to get slash make what I wanted. When I started sewing, I had the same mindset. I didn’t want to, “quote, waste, the leftover fabric I had or throw out clothes I loved because they didn’t fit had holes, etc. It was, you know, how can I keep this and make something new?”
Which, yeah, I think in the in the realm of clothing and sewing as a personal expression, I think, if you had if I had, so 10 years ago, I might not have been as mindful when it came to these decisions, because I would prioritize sort of my own joy, which would I still do, and you should still do, but my own joy and just grabbing whatever I wanted. And you know, the instant sort of gratification. And you and I joke. I know, we’ve joked before that I’m like, I don’t, I’m not a it’s the process person. I’m like, I want the final thing. And I want to love it’s like, oh, enjoy the process. And I’m like, Yeah, but the final thing. So I think inherently I’m that type of impatient, but sewing and learning more about, you know, where fabric comes from, and what goes into making it who’s making it, what I like, has really refined, you know, my ability to stop buying stuff, even if it’s thrifted. That is just not something that I’m necessarily going to use. So it is just really cool how all these stories have similar threads. So you want people from all different types of backgrounds.
Ada
I so deeply relate to what Allison said about like not wanting to waste leftover fabric because I had such problems. I think cutting out patterns at the beginning and being like what would I do with this like weird oval shape that’s left from a neckline? Wow, that’s still fabric and so deeply that deeply resonates with me. But also Yeah, like it’s it’s kind of a balance of how much is too much. And even if I thrifted if it just sits here like it’s not being used. That’s also not good to go.
Going back to Barb, who we mentioned at the top of the episode @estrelladelaluna. Barb said, I do think my culture and societal background influences my approach to upcycling, I am a child of Mexican immigrant parents. She also noted not sure if that’s the right way to say it. Since they’re citizens now who are very much working class, sometimes my parents had multiple jobs, and we made sacrifices to make ends, we tried to make things last as long as possible. And one way was to upcycle everything but especially clothing. My parents didn’t have money to spend on trendy new clothes or new clothes often, then I learned to make do with the clothes I had and to make it my own. And I still do. There’s also a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from creating something or turning something that other people would dismiss into something you get compliments on. And it’s not solely about the compliments, but they’re nice. Which I love that like it’s not about pleasing others with what you made for yourself, it’s about making sure that you’re happy with what you mean. And it you know is something that you are going to actually wear right like that’s part of the reuse kind of ethos, right? Like you are still going to be using it in some form or another. And so I really love kind of hearing that and I do think that if you kind of track the trend of upcyclers in social media, for example or YouTube, like a lot of them did start from a very similar place of like, well I can’t afford to make a whole new outfit costume whatever out of brand new material or materials and fabric even if you go to Joanne’s with like an 80% off coupon or something right like what you use and is already in your house is essentially free like you did pay for it originally but like the material is doesn’t cost you extra to go get or make so I love that.
Nicole
Yeah, I think it’s really you still do need to be intentional about what ends up getting used and why. And I wonder, this is why I love hearing these snippets from our listeners lives because we’re taught, we’ve said a few times, you know, upcyclers on Tik Tok, but if they’re upcycling things, and then never wearing them again, like, what’s is was, was there value? And there is value in that, of course. But is that a true sort of, does it fully align with the ethos of upcycling where you just do it? And it’s like, Hey, this is cool. I upcycle this thing, but I don’t know what you do with it after the 22nd reel, you know, but here, we’re talking about, you know, how people keep the cycle going from when they upcycle their stuff and what it means to them. So I think that’s why, you know, it’s it’s great to hear from folks who aren’t doing this for the, for the cred, which no shame doing it for the cred, but this is why I love to hear these stories.
Ada
Okay, listeners, you also heard us talk about labels at the beginning of this episode. But here’s a shameless plug. Check out our new labels that talk all about sustainability and upcycling and thrifting at ko-fi.com/asiansewistcollective so it’s K O dash F I dot com slash asian sewist collective and you can pick up a five pack of labels created by our very own Mariko, a producer of the podcast and they feature really cute illustrations for five different things which are Thrifty and I know it; not a bed sheets snob; lovingly rescued fibres; saved from the landfill; and sustainably made. You can get a five pack for $6 us plus shipping so we do ship internationally it just might take a little bit longer. So if you’re thinking about using these on holiday projects, or you want to order them to arrive in time, I don’t know that’s like a gift for yourself. Get those orders in K O dash F I dot com slash asian sewist collective (ko-fi.com/asiansewistcollective).
Nicole
And last but not least, we have Regina who is @regina.espino on Instagram. “I don’t really connect upcycling and refashioning clothes with my ethnic heritage as much as just my own upbringing not to waste things. Containers get washed and reused. clothes get passed on to younger relatives or changed to fit as we grow. Broken appliances were fixed with parts from other things like a sawed off pipe becomes a leg for a busted table. And when I was in high school in the Philippines, we went on a school trip to Smoky Mountain, which is a huge trash dump and that has stuck with me.”
So Regina, I am I’m aware of Smoky Mountain and the Philippines. It’s just an oftentimes there are the countries that suffer the most from the excesses of the richest countries are the ones who who are least equipped to manage this waste. That’s not theirs.
Ada
Yeah, it’s like, if you read any of the books that are out there, the research and the articles, it’s like the global north, collectively, with our consumption of fast fashion has essentially created a waste problem for the Global South. Yeah, it’s I haven’t heard of Smokey Mountain, but I did look it up once we got this comment and I was like, Whoa, definitely look it up. If you haven’t heard about it, there are similar landfills around the world, which is really a shame. I guess, with upcycling, I didn’t really realize that it was normal to throw stuff away. Kind of as some of our listeners have pointed out here, I didn’t realize it was normal to just throw stuff away or conventional. I guess until I moved out of the house. It kind of felt like a… I lived in a hoarder mentality, a little bit of like scarcity mindset, immigrant family experience, like pretty deep.
And we actually watched Pixar, oh, What was it called? Elemental yesterday. And the story. I don’t know if you’ve watched it, like deeply, it deeply resonated. And at the end, I was like, this was definitely written and/or directed by an Asian American person who is same same second generation. And it was the directors name is Peter Sohn, he’s Korean American. He was born in the Bronx in the I think 70s or 80s. So we watched also the 42 minute documentary about his own experience that kind of influenced the story. I think the story like most Pixar stories, it’s very universal, but like there were some parts where you like where which, like some of it is like reusing and recycling in ways that like aren’t necessarily like, the sexiest I guess, right? Like there was recently that Saturday Night Live sketch with Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny. Protective Mom 2, if anyone hasn’t seen it. We are all big fans here. In partway through I’m going to spoil it for you partway through the the mom played by Pedro Pascal takes a cookie tin. You know, you know the cookie tin?
Nicole
Oh yeah, yeah.
Ada
But the Dutch shortbread cookie blue tin, opens it. I don’t know where they got this tin—By the way, I was like, “oh my god, they got the real they got the real one.”—Yeah, literally opens it and just pours the cookies into the trash—which in my household we would be eating them first.—And then shovels like all the sewing notions and scissors into the tin like one arm scoops. Yeah. And I was like, “Oh, this is, this is me.” And every time I post my collection of tins, because I do have a collection of gins now to hold my notions. Everybody’s like, me too. And I think it’s funny how we kind of carry those habits through and like Ella said, you know, they become just part of who we are as well.
And you know, like, I don’t know if you upcycle things when you were growing up, but that was more of like an arts and crafts vibe, I think at the time. Like technically, I think I sewed a t shirt and girlscouts into a pillow. Um, it was definitely not done by hand. Like we definitely had a machine. But also like, thinking back to when I got my my own machine for the first time a few years ago, right like, that was also technically an upcycle I was turning very old. Like we’re talking 80s owned pillowcases into basic facemasks, and I was like handsewing is just not going to cut it. We need a machine. And so I guess all of that is to say even though I am personally very sustainability focused, right like I’ve made that a differentiator in my day job and what I do in making skincare and also like in my own sewing practice, I still struggle with upcycling, too, like I am much more someone who defaults to mending or replacing something, right like if I have busted a t shirt, I’m just going to make a new one because I have enough fabric in my stash and turn that existing t shirt and probably down cycle it to be honest, unless there’s enough fabric for me to make it something new or just trim off you know where the belt has hit it and made holes or something like that.
Nicole
I definitely again did not upcycle or reuse things more around the house but with regard to sewing or creating even arts and crafts, it was just a you get you get new stuff and you go with it. And I again now as an adult I still buy new stuff like that I’m not gonna pretend like I don’t I do I have the same struggles as you though Ada in terms of upcycling, I think it’s something it requires a measure of creativity and patience to really take something and create something new and usable. And I don’t I don’t think it is innate to me. But I do think about it a lot. And it’s more not necessarily within my sewing but stuff like I’m going to make this into a rag and you know, use it to wipe counters and we’ve got a bucket for rags and they get hot washed. I will say my husband doesn’t do that loves loves his paper towel loves his paper towel. Drives me crazy. I’m only two. Why just can we just just wash this? But but it’s not upcycling or down cycling? No. That might be down cycling.
Ada
Technically think. Yeah, technically, I think it’s down cycling.
Nicole
Did I say downsizing? Yeah. Okay.
Ada
You were like, which which way does it go? I guess technically it’s down in cycling. But I would argue that you might use a t shirt rag more than you were gonna wear that T shirt depending on how many T shirts you have in rotation, you know?
Nicole
True, true, but maybe taking a t shirt that’s too…taking a shirt that’s too large and then cutting it into a new shirt that you would wear more often that’s upcycling, okay. See, I’m still learning. This is what I’m saying. It’s not innate to me via and that that we should be splitting hairs about what is upcycling? It was downs like that. It’s just something that I still have to be intentional about thinking about. And I think if perhaps my parents were more like my grandparents, I think it would be more natural to me. But you know, there’s all those additional factors about my upbringing, and perspectives towards upcycling shifts, depending on current trends. So, Asian people in the Asian diaspora often engage in upcycling as a matter of necessity. So some people have viewed upcycling as a task that’s done when you can’t afford something new. So if you think about it in historical conditions, like war, famine and mass emigration And in Asia have made the scarcity mindset common amongst certain populations of Asians in the Asian diaspora. And this results in cultural upcycling practices in order to get as much use as possible out of an item. So for example, making a basahan, which is a Filipino braided rug, made from old textiles. And there’s also the historical Japanese culture philosophy of avoiding waste, mottainai, which has been experiencing a revival in the last couple of decades as people have grown in awareness of the amount of waste generated by our modern lifestyle.
Ada
Our researcher Cindy also observed that there seems to be a general trend of it’s trendy when white people do it kind of that comes along with upcycling, though, you know, white people haven’t always appreciated upcycling, either. So let’s take for example, Dolly Parton’s Coat of many colors which is a song in which she thinks about a coat that her mom sewed for her out of rags, I’m getting made fun of for wearing it. Although let’s let’s be honest, if somebody made a coat like that now, like they, they would call it like high fashion or something. So chic right. And it would be like it took me this many hours and I saved this many things. But at the time it was she got made fun of and versus Macklemore song thrift shop from 2012 which basically glorified thrifting, and a little bit of shoplifting. Gonna pop some tags, which brings us to now so there are a ton of content creators that we’ve kind of alluded to who’ve made careers and livelihoods out of upcycling, thrifted garments.
Nicole
Popping tags means literally popping tags?
Ada
I want to… That was my interpretation of it. I think that’s what it means.
Nicole
That was the long pause. I was like, Wait a minute. The song is 11 years old. And I just thought it was a fancy way to say check. I don’t know. Okay, anyway, blowing my mind here.
Ada
Wait, oh, well, this one’s about—that’s not about the right song. I’m like googling it now. And, oh. In the song, there’s somebody else that says in the song poppin tags means buying lots of clothing and accessories, taking the tags off after purchase for wearing.
Nicole
Ah, okay,
Ada
so then somebody else explained, pop some tags, and he explained means to steal.
Nicole
I think I guess it just depends on where you’re at, in the process of acquiring. I don’t know, this is the second Mac—Oh, no. I was gonna say it’s a second Macklemore reference today, but it’s not I am confusing Macklemore with LMFAO with our new labels. Anyway. [laughing] Let’s bring the train in the station here. And talk about content creators who make livelihoods out of the thrifted garments. And when content creators do this, it raises the status of upcycling as a practice so it’s everywhere. Now there’s upcycled clothing, food, like when a brand or company uses materials that would have otherwise been discarded to create a new snack food or treat it as upcycle art made from materials that would have been discarded, the list goes on and on. And I mean, we’re even talking about you know, upcycling in our on our main topic today, so must have reached our team somehow.
Ada
And we all know that when something is trendy, there can also be some problems like cultural appropriation, you knew it was coming here. If you clicked on this episode, you knew we were gonna get here.
A big glaring example that we see a lot in the sewing community is sashiko, which is a form of embroidery that originates from Japan. And historically was used as a way for laborers to extend the life of their clothing. And now it’s a trendy thing in the sewing community. We’ve talked about it a bit, I think in the past in past episodes, and there are a lot of people practicing and allowed. Now a lot of white women profiting off of the practice without necessarily paying the culture that it came from. And so you can go back to episodes one in six to learn more about cultural appropriation and why it’s not okay.
Nicole
So where does that leave us with upcycling? And I think, you know, is it good? Is it bad? Is it virtual virtue signaling? I land on, you know, generally it’s a good thing. I think one of the things that stands out for me again, is not necessarily the act of upcycling, but the continued use of that upcycled garment so you so yourcontent creators, your TikTokers, creating all these sorts of things, to make something new but then not necessarily wearing them, or getting additional use out of them apart from whatever exposure that they get from the act of making the garment so I think overall, it’s good like we should be using what is currently on Earth instead of creating new given the state of the wave that our environment is being harmed by a lot of different aspects of production earlier, you know, we talked about labor, we talked about transportation, there’s, you know, harvesting of even natural fibers. But if working, if we can use what we have already, then I think it’s a good thing, keeping in mind that, you know, there are things to consider, like continued use and potential, you know, cultural appropriation and turning something that is a historical practice and is something that’s trendy. Agreed,
Ada
I kind of feel like on the whole, it’s a great practice, if we can use more of what we already have. Like I love, we love to see it, I love to see it. I do agree with you like what happens to those garments? Do they become part of your normal wear? Are you just doing it for the video like that kind of gets into the whole content creator hamster wheel? If, if we may, like you know, you need to make no more content for the algorithm. We know it, we have a podcast we have instagram. Right, like you see it all the time, I think, some of that discussion of like, how fast are people making, just to post it has come up before and I do kind of agree like, I would much rather see that someone has upcycled something and then has worn it like five more times and styled it in these five other ways or two, three other ways to keep it part of their wardrobe, then to see them make five new things that like maybe I’m not going to relate to whatsoever.
I do think there is a bit of a virtual virtue signaling going on kind of in the upcycling world for some street cred, and whatnot, social media cred and likes. But I do know that most of the content creators who put out content like that are working very hard, not only on what they’re making, but on creating the content for us to consume. And so I kind of gotta give him some props anyways, even if it is just for the clicks and the likes. But yeah, I don’t know if I’m, I’m able to, you know, not necessarily change my creativity, but like, be creative in a way that would help me incorporate this into my own sewing practice extremely regularly. But it is definitely something you know, I’m putting together this episode that got me thinking about like, “Okay, well, what else can I do with my existing stash of fabric and my existing wardrobe?” Which, you know, there’s plenty of clothing and fabric in there to last me a lifetime. Yeah.
Ada
Thank you so much for joining us on this week’s episode of the Asian service collective podcast. If you like our show, please consider supporting us on coffee by becoming a one time or monthly supporter, or by buying our stickers and selling labels. That’s right, we have merch by the labels, they are hilarious. Your financial support helps us with overhead expenses and will allow us to give back to our all volunteer team who work so hard to provide you with new content each week. The link to our coffee page is ko-fi.com/asiansewistcollective and you can find the link in our show notes on our website and on our Instagram account. Check us out on Instagram @AsianSewistCollection. That’s one word Asian Sewist Collective. And you can also help us out by spreading the word and telling your friends. We would appreciate it if you could rate review and subscribe to this podcast on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Nicole
All of the links and resources mentioned in today’s episode will be in the show notes on our website. That’s asiansewistcollective.com And we’d love to hear from you. Email us with your questions, comments or even voice messages if you want to be featured on future episodes at asiansewistcollective@gmail.com This episode was brought to you by your co hosts Ada Chen and Nicole Angeline. Thank you so much to the other members of our collective who made this week’s episode a reality. This is the Asian Sewist Collective podcast and we’ll see you next week.