Strutting My Stitches on the Timaru Sewing Centre catwalk

When you think of fashion parades, your mind might go to Paris or New York—but for one memorable day, my hometown, Timaru, New Zealand, became the style capital of the country’s South Island. The Timaru Sewing Centre celebrated its 20th anniversary under the current owner with a fabulous community fashion parade, and I was lucky enough to take part.

The Event

The celebration marked 20 years since the current owner took over the Timaru Sewing Centre, though the store itself has been part of the community much longer. To mark the milestone, customers who had created garments using fabric or yarn purchased from the store were invited to participate in a special fashion parade. The audience could vote for their favourite—one fabric-based and one yarn-based creation.

Why I Took Part

The prize for first place for sewn garments was a brand new sewing machine—tempting even for me.  I already own two machines and an overlocker (all bought from the Timaru Sewing Centre, of course).  The prize for knitted or crochet garment was a gorgeous basket of goodies curated from the store’s suppliers.

I do enjoy a bit of healthy competition but my real reasons for joining in were simple: to support the local sewing community and have a bit of fun.  Originally, the idea was just to wear a garment you have made and mingle but I suggested a proper fashion parade and the owner went for it!

What I Wore

I chose to wear the floral chiffon dress I’d made for my friend’s wedding about a year and a half ago. It’s floaty and elegant, with cream flowers on a green background. I’ve talked about it on the blog before and it remains one of my favourite makes.

Behind the Seams

I considered shortening the dress a little for the runway but decided against it—sometimes it’s best to leave things just as they are when you first finish them.

There were about 30 participants all gathered in the ‘Vault’—a windowless room that used to be a bank vault but is now the sewing classroom—where we pinned numbers to our garments for the audience to vote.  With no windows (and nobody turned on the air conditioning), it got pretty hot and loud with all the nervous and excited chatter!  It reminded me of being in my intermediate school classroom getting changed into costume for the school production of Oliver Twist!

On the runway

The setup was just like a runway show, with an aisle between two rows of seated guests (around 40 people).  One at a time, we each posed at one end, walked the runway and posed again in front of a branded backdrop while a photographer snapped a photo.  The photographer was one of the talented sewists from my class. She wore an outfit she made–a stunning pant and waistcoat suit – but she chose not to walk the runway. 

I was nervous at first, especially since it was hard to hear instructions in the classroom but once I was on the runway, it all flowed naturally.  I felt great wearing my dress and even though I didn’t win, I was proud to represent my sewing journey.

Looking Back

It was such a feel-good experience to walk the runway in something I made myself.  Most of all, I was happy to be celebrating the Sewing Centre’s milestone.

I’d definitely do it again, and many participants thought it should become an annual event, maybe even a fundraiser—people could pay to enter and to attend. Who knows, maybe we’ve just planted the seed for a national-level handmade fashion show, Miss New Zealand style.

Speak to me

Have you ever taken part in a local fashion parade or entered your hand-made clothes in a competition? I’d love to hear your story in the comments!