Ms Bruce has always been captivated by whales; their shape, mythology and cultural significance. One day she absentmindedly sketched a whale as she watched it migrate down the coast from her Lilli Pilli home.

"I thought to myself, 'surely I can create a pattern to make a whale'. So I did," she said.

Ms Bruce was one of eight children who grew up in rural NSW, learning to sew from her mother who recycled, repaired or reused everything.

When she was looking for a fabric out of which to craft her whales, denim was the obvious choice.

"It's versatile," Ms Bruce said. "Everyone wears it. The more worn it is the better I love it."

READ MORE:

Ms Bruce worked in the recycled clothing industry for 20 years, gaining a reputation among her co-workers for her fierce determination to save anything that could be reused. She saw masses of denim being dumped because there was no alternative uses for worn, used or torn denim.

"I could not bear to see anything thrown out that I thought could have another use for somebody or something," she said.

"When people throw things out, where does it go? A lot of it doesn't break down anymore.

"We dump an awful lot of textiles.

"There is so much potential in used things."

Ms Bruce's denim jeans have colourful patches down the centre - a testament to her creative fixing approach and her desire to reduce excess textile waste.

Ms Bruce's business A Whales Tail was formed five years ago, and has sold hundreds of whales since then.

The business is not about the money, but about the joy the whales bring those who buy them.

"It'll never make me rich but it makes me really, really happy," Ms Bruce said.

While no two whales are the same, each one has a happy look on their face.

"I can't avoid giving them a happy face," Ms Bruce said. "If you enjoy doing what you're doing then that's what you present to people.

"If someone walks through the door and they like it, then I'm very happy."

At a market where Ms Bruce formerly sold her whales, she saw a couple of men backtrack to her stall and just stand with gorgeous smiles looking at her products.

"That's what I want," she said.

"I hope they get that feeling that I have when I look at a real whale."