✂️VISIBLE MENDING✂️ I think one of my favourite ways of visible mending is using appliqué! Cutting out flowers, scalloped lace and even another part of the garment’s pattern and then hand sewing that piece on to cover up tears, holes, stains, whatever it may be- often completely transforms a garment. As someone who upcycles and alters clothing on a daily basis, sometimes it is nice to step back and take a little bit of time to add those details. Especially if you know it will make the life of the garment last much longer I also offer a circular service for blufruit items (and an alteration service too!), so if it’s still not right for you or needs a little love, let me know! Xx C-M. (Image description: 4 photos of an upcycled purple and blue vest, with a large floral motif on the top right of the garment. It’s made of satin and goes from the shoulder strap all the way down to the waist. The photos show close ups of this garment on a model, on the hanger and on a mannequin). @slowfashionchallenge #slowfashionchallenge #slowfashion #upcycled #upcycledfashion #applique #appliquedesign #floral #visiblemending #makeclotheslast #reusereducerecycle #repair #repairs #clothingrepair #recycled #recycle #recycling #createdonthate #maker #sew #sewing #seamstress #sewist #sewistsofinstagram 
This weekend! 🌈🌈🌈 blufruit’s first ever ‘virtual market’ with the lovely @casaethica takes place from 11-4pm on both Saturday and Sunday, with new pieces up for sale, an IG live chat with marketplace creator Carrin, and some exclusive peeks of ‘what’s on the rail’? 🥰 Xx C-M. P.S. I definitely don’t look this chirpy today as I’m a little poorly! But will be raring and ready to go (with lots of tea and chocolate supplies 😂) on Saturday! (Image description: Two promotional slides from the virtual market event. The first has a photo of me, Charlotte-Mary, smiling at the viewer in a yellow babydoll dress and purple headband, with the words ‘blufruit’ and ‘Casa Ethica’ underneath. The second slide has the details of the event written on it and both are in the bold and colourful carnival style of the casa ethica website). #virtualmarket #market #marketstall #fashion #upcycledfashion #casaethica #blufruit #recycledfashion #slowfashion #ethicalfashion #ecofashion #environmentallyfriendly #greenfashion #circularfashion #meetthemaker #whomadeyourclothes #imadeyourclothes #smallbusiness #supportsmallbusiness #shoplocal #madeintheuk #madeinengland #madewithlove #handmadewithlove #kitsch #kawaii #kawaiiaesthetic #lovemyjob 
👉GREENWASHING👈 Ahh, the classic move by multiple corporate businesses and global fashion companies to create a more ‘ethical’ and ‘environmentally-friendly’ persona, using different methods to deceive their customers. And when you see these kind of calculated moves by companies like @hm with their “conscious collection” @primark ‘s “primark cares” campaign and of course recycling attempts by @prettylittlething and @boohoo along side modern slavery/sweatshops happening within all these organisations everyday, you get an idea of the scale of this problem. A recent report by the European Commission found that 43% of green claims by companies (including the hugely polluting fashion industry) were “exaggerated, false or deceptive”. (Source @consciousfashion). Even when a brand pushes the price up or has a ‘Made In the U.K.’ label- like my own blufruit pieces that I make- it doesn’t always guarantee it was made fairly. And don’t get me started on the companies I’ve seen put ‘designed with love in England’ when their manufacturers are clearly still overseas and being treated unethically. Just because a tiny percent of your mass-manufactured garment was recycled or you packaged your product with fancy green packaging/labels (then probably wrapped it purely in plastic), doesn’t mean that this is good enough. We need a huge overhaul of the entire system. We need to disrupt the power play of these companies and we need a genuine change in the devastating ethical and environmental impact of the fast fashion industry. Adding a few buzz words and doing the bare minimum in order to make a quick buck, just isn’t good enough. Xx C-M. (Image description: A slide by @fash_rev that gives an example of greenwashing: “Sometimes a fashion brand can use a single ‘sustainable’ project or moment to manipulate customers into believing the brand’s entire value chain and ethos is ethical. This is often evident in consumer-facing initiatives like a communication campaign, a fashion collection or brand packaging, leaving other irresponsible supply chain details and decisions hidden.”).. @slowfashionchallenge #slowfashionchallenge #greenwashing #fastfashionsucks #fastfashion 
🌈 ACCESSORIZE 🌈 Sometimes the simplest addition of an accessory (or five! Haha) can really make your outfit pop! I have recently got into collars again as I love how they can add a touch of kitsch and whimsy to a plain top or dress! They can even make a garment feel ‘dressier’ but still comfortable, without too much effort! 😂 These beauties have also been put up for sale at casaethica.com ! And are easy to find in the ‘Upcycled Fashion’ section- or just search for blufruit! And you’ll find lots of goodies there 💗. Talking of which, I will be adding more pieces this weekend for the @casaethica virtual market! Look out for more info soon 😉. Xx C-M. (Image description: 5 flat lay and close up photos of different blufruit Peter Pan style collars- all of which are upcycled. There’s a peach one with a lace trim, a purple gingham one, a deep pink and blue patterned one, a pink floral one and a sky blue one). @slowfashionchallenge #slowfashionchallenge #slowfashion #collars #collar #peterpancollar #peterpancollars #upcycled #upcycledfashion #colourpop #kitsch #kawaiiaesthetic #kawaii #retro #retrocollar #1960s #1960sfashion #accessories #accessorize #collarlove #collarlover #casaethicamarket #casaethica #madeintheuk #madeinengland #madewithlove #recycled #recycledfashion #ecofashion #ethicalfashion #smallbusiness 
❤️BLACK OWNED BRAND❤️ This one was hard to narrow down! As I tend to follow more Black and BIPOC Artists, Illustrators, Creatives and Educators, but in terms of fashion, here are 3 of my current favourites, who often inspire me with their work and creativity: ❤️ @sustainable.maria ❤️ @wowsancho ❤️ @chubbyfemthrift If you’re a fan of these brands too, or have suggestions of other BIPOC businesses I should check out, let me know below! (Pic by Negralinda on Tumblr) Xx C-M. (Image description: A bold illustration of the face of a Black woman. She has a black Afro, red lipstick on and bright pink retro heart shaped sunglasses). @slowfashionchallenge #slowfashionchallenge #slowfashion #blackownedbusiness #supportblackownedbusinesses #ethicalfashion #boldfashion #madewithlove #kitsch #hearts #pinkandred #fashion #fashionista #fashionlover #fashionlovers #vintagefashion #upcycledfashion #upcycling #recycledfashion #sustainablefashion #sustainablestyle #ecofriendly #ecofashion #greenfashion #thereisnoplanetb #inspiringwomen #thefutureisfemale #fashionforeveryone #fashionforward #creatives #smallbusinesslove 
💙 LOUNGEWEAR 💗 You’ve gotta love a bit of loungewear! (Especially if it’s leopard print 🐆) Jersey fabric, I find is the comfiest material when you just want to relax and still have fun with your style! It’s also fun to work with, as I can play with colours and patterns and easily adapt or alter pieces where necessary. Of course the microfibres in jersey are often far from environmentally friendly (I use a ‘guppy bag’ to wash mine), but if you can re-use, repair or even alter jersey pieces, they can last much longer than you think! My go to comfort pieces are leggings, oversized tops, sweaters and tunic or jersey shift dresses or course! In fact a couple of my own pieces are getting a re-work to make them last longer -but more on that soon! What’s your favourite comfy loungewear piece to wear? (Pieces shown are currently for sale on Etsy and @casaethica!) Xx C-M. (Image description: A photo montage of 3 different blufruit garments. There’s a plus size jersey tunic top with sleeves and a bold peach Art Deco style print on it. There’s a blue leopard print long sleeved velour top. Finally, there is a pink leopard print velour t-shirt with contrasting cat print short sleeves). @slowfashionchallenge #slowfashionchallenge #slowfashion #upcycled #upcycledfashion #recycledfashion #jersey #loungewear #leopardprint #boldisbeautiful #colourful #colourpop #colorpop #uniquefashion #comfort #comfortablefashion #plussizestyle #plussize #etsy #etsyshop #etsysellersofinstagram #madeinengland #madeintheuk #pinkandblue #peach #blueandpink #madewithlove 
⭐️TELL US A STORY⭐️ This one made me think! As all garments have their own stories, once the fabric process begins and the design comes to life. However I was thinking specifically about the pieces I make and most of all the humble shift dress 💘. I wear them allll the time, so I decided to start making them for blufruit. They were a little slow to start selling, so when a local shop saw my work and mentioned they were interested in stocking pieces, I put all of my cute little shift dresses in the stock bag too! As much as they looked great on the mannequins and the shop did their very best to sell them, after 4-5 months it was clear the shift dresses weren’t selling 🤷🏻♀️. Disappointed and a little despondent, I took them back and popped them back online, wondering what to do next. About a week later, I woke up to see that I had had 5 sales from just one customer. And they were shift dresses! Not only did she love them and the fit, she, like me wore them all the time and asked for more! As well as making this lovely lady (I’ll call her ‘T’ here, if you’re reading this T!) more of them, she became a regular customer 🙂. T even started sending beautiful vintage cotton fabric she had found for me to use for other garments, (a lot of which are still currently used in my work). As well as buying skirts, face masks and other types of dresses- T has become one of my best and long supporting customers. It also gave me faith that what I had made and enjoyed wearing was worth the effort and more importantly not to give up. Even if your work doesn’t sell for months- don’t give up. There is someone out there that will love it and appreciate what you do. They just have to find you. Xx C-M. (Image description: 6 different photos of shift dresses and one dungaree dress, that were all sold to the same customer. There are yellow ones, pink ones and purple ones that are either floral or plain, with patch pockets and some with frilly collars). @slowfashionchallenge #slowfashionchallenge #slowfashion #upcycled #upcycledfashion #recycledfashion #smallbusiness #mycreativebiz #mycreativelife #ooak #cutefashion #kitsch #shiftdress #shiftdresses #minidress #retrodress 
💙 SIZE INCLUSIVE 💙 It’s such an important aspect of slow fashion, and one that’s yet rarely focused on. So often, I find other ethical fashion brands and small businesses I adore and want to buy from for myself- when I then notice their size range stops at a U.K. 16. Which is also often classed as a ‘large’ or even ‘extra large’ size. Come on! I get it that vintage fashion is often much smaller and made for different body shapes compared to today’s customer. I even understand that in different parts of the world, sizes come up very differently depending on that country’s ‘standard’ sizing. But how can you want to change the fashion industry and make ethical or slow fashion more accessible for everyone, when you’re excluding a key (and also highly profitable) customer base? And why are plus size and petite size people still made to feel like they aren’t accepted in the design concept of this part of the fashion industry? Even though every piece I make is unique, I always strive to consider many types of body shapes and sizes. I also love to see customers rocking their blufruit piece in their own unique way- no matter what they happen to look like - because it makes the experience for me as a maker/ designer even more special. And if businesses are going to make the old ‘It takes too many pattern adjustments and too much extra fabric’ arguments, I just end up rolling my eyes 😂 as I know, if you can spend that much effort on making garments for only one type of body shape and that much time and money promoting it- you can spend the same amount of energy opening up opportunities to a whole new market. No more excuses. Xx C-M. (Image description: Text that reads ‘size INCLUSIVE’ in black and bright blue, against a plain white background). @slowfashionchallenge #slowfashionchallenge #slowfashion #sizeinclusive #fashion #plussizefashion #petitefashion #fashionforeveryone #madewithlove #selflove #bodypositivity #bodypositive #maker #creative #upcycling #upcycledfashion #recycledfashion #ethicalfashion #ethicalfashionbrand #smallbusiness #mycreativebiz #mycreativelife #lovemyjob #madeinengland #madeintheuk 
🧡 REPURPOSE 💗 You know I love this one! It’s surprising what you can do with materials that were previously damaged or no longer loved. This plus size dress for example, that blufruit model Jasmine, is rocking (and looking super cute in!) is made from recycled materials. The pink floral sections and patch pockets were originally vintage bedding, the orange fabric was curtain lining -that I dyed with low impact dye before working with- and even the zip in the back of the dress was originally from another garment! I think there are ALOT of things we can do with the materials we already have. We just have to look at them in a different way 😉. Dress up for sale on Etsy next week! Xx C-M. (Image description: A photo of blufruit plus size model Jasmine, a young Mixed Asian woman, wearing an orange and pink blufruit babydoll dress and sitting on a peach blanket on her sofa. Her legs are hidden, crossed under the skirting and she has her hands on her lap, looking down and smiling with her eyes closed). @slowfashionchallenge #slowfashionchallenge #slowfashion #orangeandpink #orangedress #pinkandorange #pinkdress #plussizedress #plussize #plussizefashion #plussizestyle #ecofashion #upcycled #recycled #upcycledfashion #upcycling #upcycledclothing #colourpop #colorpop #colourtribe #colortribe #kawaii #kitsch #kawaiiaesthetic #kawaiistyle #cute #uniquefashion #mycreativebiz #createdonthate #fashion #madeinengland