Gaye Naismith, the Ethical Fashionista
October 13, 2016
Footscray-based textile artist, designer and sewing teacher Gaye Naismith combines her passion for sewing and sustainability to create ethical fashion.
Gaye sees the beauty and potential in fabrics that many of us would overlook; a jumper shrunk beyond recognition or a much-loved piece that’s been worn to death, she has the ability to resurrect and reimagine, to breathe new life into old fabrics and transform them into bespoke accessories and homewares.
Her use of upcycled fabrics - existing materials that once spent life as another garment - sits at the heart of her ethos to kick fast fashion and go against the tide of rampant consumerism.
Gaye spoke to West Art Now about how she got started and what inspires her work.
What influences your work?
The potential of preloved materials and leftovers; random beauty in the everyday; abstract painting and photography; artisanship, detritus, landscapes and cityscapes.
Which material/s do you love working with?
I love exploring the possibilities of second hand fabrics, knits and clothing made from natural fibres.
Even though I'm not using it as much anymore, wool has to be my absolute favourite material, especially when it’s an old jumper or piece of fabric that has been shrunk intentionally or by accident so it has turned to felt. It’s very malleable and each piece has different textural qualities.
At what point did sustainability become the focus of your practice?
I've always loved vintage, secondhand, pre-loved and gleaned things so it pleases me to use these as materials in my work.
However, it was when I started making arm warmers and other accessories from felted upcycled wool knitwear, in partnership with a market buddy, that I really took on sustainability as a wholistic business approach.
Along with using recycled materials, we tried to be as sustainable as possible in every aspect of the business from using green energy for production to creating minimal waste (passing on scraps to others who could use them) and making our own packing from old books.
Vivienne Westwood has a quote: “Buy Less, Choose Well, Make it Last” and I believe this applies as much to the choices we make as sewists as it does about buying finished garments.
What drew you to sewing and design?
It just seemed the natural thing to do. As a teenager growing up in New Zealand in the seventies, every household had a sewing machine.
There were lots of fabric stores and making your own clothes was just what you did (if you were female of course!). All my friends sewed as well.
I think I started sewing around 10-years old.
My Mum sewed dresses for me and my two sisters when we were really young and I mucked about on her machine making bits and pieces but I really got into it when I started home economics at school.
The first piece of clothing I made (apart from the pre-requisite nightie) was a very short a-line dress in red seersucker with an elephant print trim – so seventies!
Creatively what brings you the most joy? What causes the most pain?
I find the most joy when I can suspend judgement and just be in the process of making.
I’ve been really enjoying playing with hand stitching to create abstract work on fabrics and just seeing where it goes.
On the other hand, I get a lot of pleasure from achieving perfection in an advanced sewing technique such as setting in a pocket.
As for pain — unpicking is the bain of all sewists! It always takes ten times as long as the sewing itself.
What are some common misconceptions about sewing?
That you can whip up something of quality in an hour or two.
Because of the way labour has been exploited to mass produce clothing for developed countries at a ridiculously cheap price, we have lost any notion of how long the construction process takes and how many steps are involved.
When you make something yourself, especially a piece of clothing or craft that requires lots of fiddly fitting and finishing, it really brings home how much time you need to invest. That said, of course there are lots of fun easy and satisfying beginner projects out there.
In addition to your design and art practice you also teach, what piece of advice do you most often give your students?
Buy a good quality, reconditioned, second-hand sewing machine rather than a new cheap plastic one.
The older ones are solid and reliable and will run forever if you look after them and get them serviced regularly.
The new ones can't easily be fixed when they break and you'll only get a couple of years use out of them if you're lucky.
What do you love about teaching sewing?
I find it very rewarding to pass on the skills I have learnt over many, many years of sewing to people who are just finding their way especially when I see the delight of students in learning and practicing their new found skills.
I feel that if you have expertise in life skills such as sewing that have often skipped a generation and got a little lost, especially in our current fast fashion frenzy, you have a responsibility to pass on your knowledge.
I also get to learn a lot both about teaching and about the creative and technical sides of stitching.
I hope that by learning how to sew their own clothes, accessories and homewares, my students will buy less and make more.
There is no doubt that you cherish things you've made yourself and tend to hang onto them for much longer than a piece of cheap mass produced clothing made from inferior materials.
For more of Gaye's work or find out about sewing lessons visit the Gaye Abandon School of Sewing and Upcycling
words + pictures jessica dean