Stories showing mountains of dumped clothes piling up in Atacama Desert in Chile, the country of her birth, are one of the drivers for textile artist Carmen Tyrer to join the Eco Fashion Week Australia Upcycling Challenge.

Carmen began sewing as an eight-year-old on her grandmother’s old treadle machine and learned upcycling techniques from a great aunt in Chile before arriving in Australia in 1985.

“I started upcycling with old clothes gathered from my family to make myself outfits. I don’t see the need for new clothes when what I have can be repurposed,” Carmen said.

“Upcycling doesn’t have to be outrageous or of bad taste. I like to make simple clothes that people will wear. I make dresses and using felt I make and silk ties and

clothes from op-shops that I unpick to use as pieces of fabric.

The dress Carmen created for the Upcycling Challenge has crocheted cotton table cloths as the hero fabric along with pieces of Euclay and ribbons.

“Euclay is a clay I invented in 2024 which is made with dry eucalyptus leaves collected from broken branches along local roads. I pulverized the leaves and mixed

them with other ingredients to make into a clay that dries in the air. It remains flexible and resembles leather and I successfully joined pieces using the sewing machine.”

You can see more of Carmen’s work at merinodreaming.com.au or at the EFWA Upcycling Challenge Runway on November 17 in Perth.