Recycling Leftovers from your Closet

Recycled Leftovers Part 1

Even if you don’t have extensive sewing experience, you can turn some of those buried relics in the back of your closet into treasures in the front. When I finally purged the bowels of the storage closet, I discovered armfuls of clothes that will never go on my body again, but couldn’t  bear to toss them because the fabric was great. Down to the sewing table they went, although some of them of still lurking there, I did manage to create a few new things. Here are a few ideas to get you started on revamping your own “wardrobe” (although, mine could hardly be termed “wardrobe”, more like a collection of eclectic fabric pieces.)

Jeans

·         Skirts: cut off hems, split open legs, cut off crotch points and sew legs together with fronts together and backs together creating a skirt. (tip: leave a split as you need walking room, how high and where is totally up to your brave soul)

·         Bags: cut off legs somewhere above the crotch points, but not through the zip. Stitch across the bottom either right or wrong sides together, it doesn’t matter. Make a strap from the leftover fabric from the leg and attach to each side seam at the top. Now to close it you can either insert a zipper, glue on Velcro, or use a clothespin if you want. Start a new trend. If you are really ambitious, then decorate the jeans with glitter or did that go out in the ‘80’?

·         Lunch bags: Use those leftover leg pieces to form lunch bags. Just cut off a hunk, sew together one end and hem the other end for your opening. Again, stick on some Velcro and you have a lunch tote. (wash the jeans first, you are putting food in after all)

·         Quilt: If you have enough jeans, cut all the legs off, make lots of bags with the tops and cut squares out of the rest of it. Mix and match all of the different shades and colours to form a square-and you have the makings of a quilt. This is where the acid wash jeans come in great for contrast. And you wondered why they heck they were invented in the first place.  These make great dog blankets; it takes a long time for the drool to soak through. Trust me, I have a Saint Bernard.

·         Sleeves: You can use the fabric in the leg to make sleeves for a quilted or knitted jacket, or if you wrecked the sleeves on something else you own.  Fashion tip: Don’t use the acid wash jeans!