Recycling fashion with under 11s

So late last week I scooted back to the West Country (Bristol, to be precise) to catch up with family and friends for a few days, hence the break in updates. Not that Bristol is a fashion wasteland, you understand, just that, well, everybody needs a holiday every now and then.
/////recycled fashion workshop:
So while there, my nine year-old sister roped me into assisting on a recycled fashion workshop at her school. I was faced with 30 8-10 year-olds, all dead keen to get stuck into garment creation using recycled everything - from tee-shirts and leggings, to carrier bags and cardboard, to off-cuts of ripstop nylon (courtesy of Cameron Balloons, no doubt) and bubblewrap. It reminded me very much of art foundation, and was thoroughly enjoyable. I was able to tell the class that some of the best designers were creating fashion on the catwalk from unusual materials - Gareth Pugh sprang to mind - and that they were dead on trend.
The kids got stuck in and was impressed by the potential garb that could be created, given that the only tools were three staplers, and reels and reels of sellotape. I myself fashioned a lantern skirt dress from a black bin liner, with a gold cigarette paper bow, topped of with a yellow carrier bag hood (cut up the sides of the bag, arms through the handles et voila!). We finished the day with a shambolic attempt at catwalk style stomping to White Stripes...
////Charlotte's Threads:
On subject of recycled fashion, while in Bristol I caught up with a lovely young designer called Charlie, who has her own, predominantly children's, fashion company, making clothes entirely from other people's cast-offs. While the idea of taking a garment and reworking it with applique and cut work isn't obviously new, her clothes are really fresh and fun. She uses a lot of denim as the basis, and then cuts up bright jersey and cotton materials to create bold animal shapes on the garments.
//// Dressmaking:
And finally, was tramping the charity shops of south Bristol and very excited to find a 1970s pattern for a fab pussy bow blouse; am looking forward to making that one up.