Tips for Recycling Old Shirts, Sweaters and Pants into Something New

Many of us can attest to having clothes that you can't bear to get rid of. Whatever your reason - sentiment, cute photos, nice pattern, you know you have them. Here I will show you how to make something old into something new.

How many shirts do you or your child have that are mildly stained? You know the ones, they are stained in one small spot, the pattern is fine, but it's something that you just cannot wear due to the stain. What about shirts or sweaters that you've outgrown whatever the reason that have cute patterns that you can't bear to give away?

I know I have a few of these myself, and here's the clincher, they are stuck in my closet collecting dust and taking up space. Heck, I even have old, worn pairs of jeans I can't bring myself to toss out.

So, what can we do differently with these articles of clothing? Well, we can do any of the following: throw them out, give them away, donate them, wear them, put them away in storage, leave in the closet or we could make them into something else fresh and new.

For this article I will be giving ideas and examples what you can do to breathe new life into these articles of clothing.

Pillows

We all love pillows, and at times it can seem like we can never have too many of them. Pillows are comfortable, cozy, decorative and they can be a great way to recycle old clothes.

Old pants or jeans can serve as the backside of a pillow focusing on a pleasing pattern of a sweater, shirt or other article of clothing. Sew them together, add a little bit of stuffing and you have a nice throw pillow for next to no cost to you. (If you have stuffing around those house it'd be of no cost to do this.)

A sweater can be a perfect pillow. The cuddly wool texture of sweaters is often the same used to crochet pillows, so why not recycle them into throw pillows? Take the front and back sides, cutting out at a pattern that looks good to you, stuff it, and sew it up, preferably with some yarn-like thread.

Alternately you can buy a bit of color coordinating fleece at the fabric shop and sew this on the back. You might even like to leave some extra around the edge for a fringe which you could knot or just leave as is.

Blankets

Blankets, like pillows are a source of comfort and a great way to utilize pleasing patterns and fabrics in old sweaters, shirts and whatnot. You can take a picture from a tee shirt, sweat shirt or sweater and use it as the center of a throw blanket, crazy quilt and more.

If you have a lot of your child's clothes lying around that are stained or sentimental, consider making a crazy quilt with them. You can even date the articles of clothing with years worn or special memories made while your child wore it. This would make a charming wall hanging that you and your child can reminisce over.

Wall Hangings

Wall hangings, as I just touched upon, can be blankets made of these articles of clothing, but they can be more than that.

Take the image from a nice shirt and make it into frameable artwork for your home. Just cute out the picture, add a mat (I'd suggest using coordinating fabric for the matting process) and mount on the wall with or without a glass frame over it.

You can also cut out a cute image, lightly stuff and quilt over it and hang on the wall. These are especially cute for a child's bedroom wall. They are perfect for serving as nice, soft decorative touches for a nursery wall.

Costumes, Dress Up Clothes and Children's Clothing

What clothing do you have that could be use some minor alterations to serves as a costume for a child? What about something that could be for dress up or even every day clothes? You might be surprised what you have hiding around the house.

Crafting

Do you remember those times that you needed less than ¼ of a yard of a fabric? Well, if you didn't have that color and type of fabric lying around the home, then you had to buy the ¼ yard and store the tiny bit leftover. I often take clothes with stains or ones that don't fit anymore and put them aside to cut up for crafts. These have often saved some cash on buying tiny scraps of fabric for a project. They also serve as cute cut outs for some of my son's artwork.

You also could make a stuffed animal out of perhaps on old pair of flannel or fleece pajamas for a special child in your life. There's plenty of free and easy patterns online to work with.

Zippers from jeans can be removed and stuck in with sewing supplies to save money on your next zippered project. It's all about making the most of what you have before tossing it out.

The holiday season is coming upon us, and these ideas could make some really cute gifts for the ones you love most, all while recycling materials we all probably have lying around our home.