The Fara Workshop |

When I decided to change my blog – well, start (yet another) new one – I had a few posts that I knew I wanted to write, when I was just going to focus on crafting and clothes. And one of those was about the Fara Workshop. The Fara Workshop is linked to the Fara Charity, which has lots of charity shops around London and works to transform the lives of some of Romania’s poorest and most vulnerable children and young people.

Their mission says: ” A contemporary hand crafted collection of entirely one off clothing and accessories will be designed and made in store at our onsite workshop. Our mission is to transform clothing and fabrics that have been generously donated to FARA charity shops, incorporating a variety of processes and techniques reworking them into a fabulous collection of wearable delights.” (from their facebook page)

I discovered them by accident, wandering around Islington when I was doing practice walks for a marathon walk I did back in September (yes, I walked 26 miles around London!). I immediately fell in love with their reworked fashions. As someone who enjoys a refashion or two, I found the way they reuse fabric and clothes donated to Fara to make new, modern, fashionable garments.

(source)

The way they colour block and use the fabrics is amazing – I hope I can one day learn to use fabric in the same way!

One of my favourite things they have made is the Susan Coat – all the patterns were designed and made in the workshop.

(source)

Aren’t they amazing!? I definitely want to make a coat like this – especially the mustard one.

Every month on a Thursday evening, they run a sale night – I guess to clear out some of the stock they can’t transform.

After months of trying to make it to one of their sale nights, I finally made it to one. I decided to only spend £10 on the smaller bag – I could easily have got the larger bag, but I felt like I would have been taking things for the sake of filling the bag, and that’s not really the ethos of the workshop – it’s more about being mindful of our clothing consumption. I got 4 garments in my £10 bag, including a coat!

A blue and gold skirt, with a lining in electric blue. It’s a few sizes too big.

A wooly tartan skirt, mainly green. This has a broken zip and is several sizes too big.

I picked up this large…..interestingly shaped blue and white stripey dress mostly for the lolz. And to see if I can make it into something even vaguely wearable!

And I got this coat! It has ugly faux fur cuffs which are falling off and the lining is definitely past its best. I’m thinking of making this into a Susan-style coat, possibly with contrast sleeves. And a new lining.

Last week sadly The Fara Workshop announced that they are closing at the end of February. Their profits all go back to the Fara charity, but the workshop isn’t financially viable any more. They do say they will be producing a clothing line – so fingers crossed the clothes will still be available, just not from a concrete shop.