#insideout Fashion Revolution Day: handmade dress by Ivy Arch

Today is one year since the Rana Plaza clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed killing over 1000 people. They lost their lives while working in appalling conditions to produce the cheap and accessible clothing that fills stores in every high street in Britain. This horrific event motivated me to stop buying clothes and attempt to make or make do with what I already have, so last May I embarked on a year of sewing my own clothes, a journey that has led me into the wonderful world of dressmakers who blog.

Three of them, Abby (Things for Boys), Celina (Petit à Petit and Family) and Laura (Behind the Hedgerow) have invited fellow blogging sewists to join in with a handmade take on Fashion Revolution Day's #insideout campaign. This global fashion movement marks the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster by encouraging us all to start asking "Who made my clothes?". With mass production and the desire for increasingly cheap clothing we have lost connection with the clothes we wear. The gesture of wearing one garment inside out will encourage conversation and hopefully raise awareness that the fashion industry needs to continue a process of change.

My #handmadeinsideout garment is a favourite sew – Anna Maria Horner's Painted Portrait Dress. This is a sleeveless version made in three different Carolyn Gavin cotton fabrics from the Gorgeous Village collection. I've lined the front skirt and entire back panel with a grey floral print lightweight cotton as it makes the dress hang better and crumple less (this one had barely a crease in it after a two and a half hours of train travel during the Easter holiday). Painted Portrait dresses always have a lined front and back yoke which has to be slip stitch finished by hand, so the dress combines modern overlocking finishing techniques and good old hand sewing. The armhole under seam is finished with homemade bias binding. I'm wearing an old well worn striped blue top inside out underneath.

Painted Portrait dress worn #insideout

Homemade bias binding finishes the armhole

I actually quite like the look of this dress worn #insideout...

#insideout Back view, lined with grey floral cotton

Painted Portrait dress in Carolyn Gavin fabric - right side out at last. With pockets!

Visit Fashion Revolution for more information on the campaign and search Twitter #insideout and #handmadeinsideout to find more handmade insideout makes.