Patterns of Wear. Wardrobe Research and Self-Care through a Daily Hand Sewing Practice.

I am researching enduring use in clothing through wearer’s connections with their clothes. My starting point being that in order to keep garments for longer, and look after and dispose of them responsibly, we must first care about them. I have developed a creative practice-based method of exploring my connections with, and care for, my own clothes. Each day that a garment is worn I hand sew a stitch directly onto it to create a visual marker of wear, a kind of ‘Wearing Tally’. The practice has become an autoethnographic response to my research and is a reflective, mindful space that not only “allows” me time to do something I enjoy (hand sewing), but grounds me in my own habits, giving the subject a tangible reality. These daily stitches also allow me to channel my frustration at the dysfunctional nature of the current fashion system into a positive, caring activity.