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Right back at the start of this year I decided to have a big clear out. I gave myself a year to clear. I also came around to accepting that I would only have the one child. And I decided to start trying to lose weight again. So there are clothes coming out of my closets left right and centre. Old clothes from Elizabeth that I had put aside “just in case’ I got pregnant again. Ditto maternity clothes. Some of these were new / good enough to sell on eBay (more on that in this post). Some I could give to friends. But what about the others that were left? How could I go about upcycling old clothes?
Upcycling Old Clothes
If you saw any of the Great British Sewing Bee programme this year, you would remember that every week they featured a task that involved upcycling old clothes or objects to make new outfits or things. They made dog coats out of tents, dresses out of net curtains, and punk outfits out of tartan garments.
This was probably my favourite part / task of the show. I’d done a little upcycling of some old clothes of mine before. Making a old pair of jeggings into a denim skirt, and making a pair of leggings for Star Wars Day (May 4th be with you) out of my partners old pyjama pants.
Find out how I made the skirt here
And the leggings were made by using my technique for making children leggings without a pattern.
In fact this is a perfect way of reusing old adult jersey garments, just cut some children’s leggings from the fabric. Even if the leggings are only used for playing out or nursery, you are getting a few more months from the fabric before it needs to go into the bin.
Not Recycling Or Upcycling Old Clothes Is A Problem!
Our clothes fixation is really impacting on the planet. In the UK we buy nearly 27kg of clothes each every year. And throw away 235 million items of clothing into landfill. A lot of that material just sits there. Some of the man made fibres won’t rot for 200 years or more.
So the longer we can get some use out of these clothes the better.
Recently a close friend asked me if I wanted some garments that she was going to donate or dispose of. As these were Indian garments, she doubted that her local charity shop would take them. But they were too lovely to just throw away.
I accepted the challenge, and she gave me two large bags full of the most beautiful clothes. Beaded and sequinned, most had no size labels, so I could understand why she had asked me.
There was also a lot of cotton lawn material in amongst the clothes, which is perfect for making little girl summer dresses. So using the same modified pattern that I had used to make E’s Wonder Woman dress, I made a little dress using some of the fabric (that you can see in the top left of the picture above) This was a yellow and aqua sequinned tunic with some yellow cotton trousers. There was enough fabric to make this little dress, plus a few pieces left over for other small items.
I hope my friend who gave me the material likes this dress I made for her little girl. And there is still lots more material to upcycle.
Other Sewing Ways Of Reusing Fabric
During my clear out of E’s old baby clothes I found a load of bibs, flannels and burp cloths. These could be up cycled into reusable kitchen towels.
Find out how you can make reusable kitchen roll here.
And I am looking to making makeup remover wipes and reusable sanitary pads with this cloth in the future.
See my post on reusable sanitary pad making
And see my post on other ways to reuse fabric scraps
But What If You Can’t Sew?
There is still lots of things that you can do with old clothes. One of my favourite things to do with old jersey dresses and leggings is to cut them into thin strips to make a rag rug. It is so easy, and you end up with a really lovely item for your home.
Or you could make a rag wreath, and not just for Christmas! Again, this is a totally no sew craft using strips of old material to make a fabulous decorative item.
Why not try reusing, repurposing or upcycling old clothes yourself?
See my post here for more ways to declutter a zero waste way
Do you think this is a concept that you could implement in your own life? I really do think that we need to change as much as we can to zero waste right now.
I would love to hear your thoughts. Comment below or find me on social media at the links above.
Why not pin this post for later?
Such a great idea! I mostly give away to friends or donate to charity.
Thank you. These are both great options too.
I do hate waste, so will bear these tips in mind. Thank you! XX
Thank you Anita x
Totally pinning this! Thanks for sharing these marvelous ideas!
#BloggerClubUk
Thank you. I am sure I will be adding to this in the future too!
This is something I keep wanting to do – I keep old clothes with fabric that I like and still haven’t done anything with them. Some ideas I have include a little purse or makeup bag, and cushion covers or pillowcases. I don’t have a sewing machine though, which makes it a bit more difficult! #kcacols
My scrap bags are overflowing just like you with lovely reclaimed fabric. But I do hope both our stashes get used!
Love the ideas for recycling. Wish everyone would attempt to reuse clothing in one way or another. I had no idea the amount of waste it created until reading fashion posts. Been making little girl play princess dresses out of tee shirt for granddaughter and friends. Sort of a pain and time consuming but, very social and comfrontable.
The only real downside to up cycling is that I do have a massive pile of all manner of cloth in a corner of one room. But I haven’t really bought clothes for myself very much at all in about 2 years.I will NEVER buy wash cloths/ dusters or cleaning cloths again. And that kind of thinking echoes what our parents/grandparents thought, and ultimately is so much better for the planet.
I have made my granddaughter a lot of princess play dresses out of old tee shirts and men’s dress shirts. When she out grew some of them they were donated to my daughter ‘s friend that runs a daycare for the kids to play dress up. The only complaint was where are the boy dress up clothes lol so I got busy and made a few capes and vests with superhero symbols. Made them out of old tee shirts and felt(which I did have to buy). Thanks for the post.
I think my cats would love a rag rug lo. Great post. I’m going to forward that legging post onto my wife. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time.
Thank you
All such great ideas. I’m no sewer but loved reading your post. You have inspired me to at least give it a try. Sweet dress you made from the beautiful Indian fabric. Thanks for the lovely ideas 🙂
Thank you so much!
Yay! Love more ideas for upcycling! I’ve recently been in what my husband lovingly calls “my sweat shop” upcycling my old jeans into a new dress for my little girl, and her old jeans into pretty summer shorts! #KCACOLS
Sarah | Mummykind recently posted…How (and why) to get rid of the dummy
What a brilliant idea. I am thinking of making my next worn out jeans into a sun hap for E, and have seen a great jacket idea…
These are some great ideas!! They all look lovely. I haven’t thought about some of these. We usually donate to charity or friends/family. I love the wreath idea! Thanks for sharing! #KCACOLS
What lovely ideas – I do hate waste and this avoids that too. Thanks for linking to #kcacols
Some lovely ideas here on how to upcycle/reuse old clothes, and the points you make about the environmental impact of the clothing industry are very valid and important. I tend to use all my clothes until they are in threads, pretty much, and I never have an excess of money to spend on clothes so I feel okay with my own contribution to not being a fashion eco-burden 😉
I also don’t like throwing fabric away, as they can be used for other things, such as polishing, wash cloths, crafts projects etc. x #KCACOLS
Malin – Sensational Learning with Penguin recently posted…Painting Wet-On-Wet: A Mindful Sensory Art Experience
Hi Jo,
wonderful ideas for sewers and non-sewers alike.
I’ve endeavoured over the last 2 years to not buy anything brand new. I’m known as a bit of a womble and buy from charity shops, jumble sales and have clothes passed on to me which if not suitable will remake into something else.
Currently loving turning men’s shirts into dresses, tops and skirts. Will embroider and jazz up anything a little dull or boring from my bits and bobs stash. Have also bought a few patterned good quality quilt covers from charity shops which will make 3 dresses easily. Will crochet rugs for bathroom with any remnants. I have so many idea’s and don’t haste to upcycle my waste!!! keep up the good work xx
Thanks for this article.Thanks for your advice. I really thank once again for such good creative writing. keep it up. This is the perfect blog for anyone who really wants to find out. Upcycling old clothes is great idea to recycle clothes.
Hi Jo,
Visiting from the Little Cottage link party 🙂
Thanks for sharing these lovely ideas. I hate to admit it, but I’m hoarding old clothes with fabrics that I like in the hopes of turning them into something usable one day. I’ve made cloth napkins to replace the paper napkins, a doorstop, pincushions, travel kits, a kitten pencil case, and a ton of bookmarks and scrunchies but I’ve barely made a dent in the pile 🙂
Helen recently posted…How to Make an Owl Doorstop Out of Old Jeans
I must admit, I too have a large pile of clothes still to go at. But it is still so much better than them going to landfill! Keep on denting that pile, and thank you for reading!