8 ways to upcycle your worn-out clothes
Approximately 15000 litres of water go into making a single pair of jeans and a cotton t-shirt. Even if you choose to ignore it, you cannot ignore the harmful chemicals or petroleum-based fabrics used in the production of our clothing.
A typical outfit is discarded after only a few wears. That single outfit, which has impacted the environment in its fabrication process, is now impacting more by settling in the landfill.
Refrain from discarding clothes and explore ways to reuse and upcycle them. Clothes in good condition can be sold or donated.
Choose to upcycle the clothes that are wearing off or are in bad condition to be worn again.
We have figured out 8 ways to upcycle your worn-out clothes. This will surely save a lot from investing in new products and will also do your part in saving the environment.
1. Choose to dye
If your old clothes are fading, then dying will give a new life to them. I have majorly tried this on my jeans, which used to fade out early, and the dying worked perfectly.
You can also try tie-dye if you have a dull piece of cloth and want to revive it. Opt for lighter shades only, as more vivid designs are created on such shades.
2. Handmade Rugs
Making rugs has been my most preferred option. Reason 1 : a variety of fabric blends can go together; reason 2: colors of all the fabrics combined give the rug a more enhanced look.
The easiest way to make a rug is by cutting the old clothes into 1 inch wide strands. Make 3 unique strands by stitching the ends of the strands together. Braid them and coil them further to get the required rug. Make sure to sew the coiled-braids to keep your rug intact.
Read here to know in detail how to make a rag rug.
3. Kitchen Towels/ Dust rags
I’ve always looked how my mom used to create dust rags from old t-shirts. This saves from investing in costly microfiber towels available on the market.
It was only required to cut the size as required and sew the edges. This DIY lasts multiple washes and also works with every kind of surface to be cleaned.
If you make an effort to extract yarn and know knitting, then you can easily make a kitchen towel also.
4. Tote bags
Creating a bag out of old clothes would require cutting and sewing. Develop the ideas of what your bag should look like and visit a tailor shop near you to get the desired product.
5. Pillows or cushion covers
This works for every fabric available to you, and you can choose the fabric as per your preference.
All you need to do is cut 2 similar layers of the discarded cloth in the required shape and size and sew them from the 3 ends. At the 4th end, attach a zip and turn the cover right side out.
You can follow the same steps to make a cover for your quilts as well.
6. Clothes for pet
Upcycling just to make new products for you?
Show your love to your pawed friends as well. Make new clothing out of the old sweaters for them, or you can also make a crochet blanket to give them the required warmth from winter.
7. Accessories
You can create exquisite designs by just using your old clothes. Choose on to make a headband, or a scrunchie just with the use of leftover pieces of cloths.
You can also opt to make a fabric choker to amp up your ethnic look.
8. When nothing fits right..alter it to make new one
Old Saree? A worn out top? An old scarf? There will be many other clothes in your wardrobe which you might not prefer to wear anymore. So why not to make the best out of these clothes?
All you need is to listen to the fashionista in you and a dressmaker to help you turn your imagination into reality.
All these ideas will help you prevent your clothing from entering a landfill. The fashion industry is already playing its part in impacting the environment; our small steps can help a lot to heal the environment.
If you know of any other way to upcycle old clothes, let us know so that this community can hear and adopt sustainability in much better ways.
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