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Ways to Upcycle Your Clothing for a New Lease of Life


Upcycling clothes for your wardrobe
By: Lisa Reynolds | Upcycle Your Clothing | Photo: Pexels/ Arina Krasnikova

The Benefits of Upcycling and Giving Your Clothing a New Lease of Life



With everyone across this country and beyond having to tighten their proverbial belts when it comes to what they are spending and everything seemingly becoming more and more expensive each and every day, finding ways to save money has become much more of a priority in recent times.

One fantastic way to ensure you are always fashionable and stylish every time you step outside the front door is to learn how to upcycle your clothes and, as such, continue reading to learn of four ways to do just that.


The Main Benefits of Upcycling


Upcycling is a fairly new trend that has been embraced by men and women and older and younger people alike, both in this country and across the pond.

The main advantages of starting to upcycle your clothes include the following:

  • Avoiding sending your clothes to landfill

  • Supporting proper craftsmanship

  • Reducing your personal usage of natural resources

  • Supporting rural and local industries

  • Reducing the overall manufacturing costs of items


1. Turn Your Top into a Tote Bag


Instead of constantly forking out for a plastic bag every time you head to the grocery store, you could instead choose to upcycle an old top or shirt and turn it into a brand-new and entirely unique tote bag.

Not only will this make even a simple trip to the local store a more stylish outing, but you will be contributing to the eco-friendly nature of always bringing your own bags and not having to encourage the use of plastics in everyday life.


2. Turn Your Old Sweaters into Cleaning Items


Another brilliant way to utilize your old items of clothing into something functional and useable is to use your old sweaters and jumpers as cleaning items instead.

If you have children, onesies that your son or daughter used to wear as a baby or toddler make for the perfect cleaning cloth, and old sweaters now covered in holes can be great for cleaning windows.


3. Turn Them into Something New


A fabulous idea to create a unique item from your older tops and t-shirts is to take a look at myt-shirtblanket.com, which creates bespoke blankets from t-shorts to your individual specifications.

You could either choose to keep such a unique item for yourself or else choose old band t-shirts, for example, to create a quilt to give to your music-loving best friend.


4. Turn Your Old Work Shirts into Dresses


If you are the proud owner of a multitude of old work shirts which are still in fairly good condition, yet for whatever reason, you have not actually worn them in over a year or more, then it is time to get the sewing machine out and get creative. You can use the sleeves of your shirt to come together to create a cute summer skirt or even join three shirts of the same style, color, and shade together to create a dress with button fastenings straight down the front.


Given the advantages to Upcycling, we expect this trend to continue to grow.

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