learn how to upcycle: 5 ways to reuse old clothes

Upcycling is all the rage on Instagram. It’s a creative way to make your wardrobe more stylish and sustainable.

If you’ve ever browsed upcycled clothes and thought you could DIY it, you’re right!

It’s easy. You don’t even need a sewing machine for most of these upcycles. You just have to be creative and opportunistic when choosing fabrics and garments to upcycle. 

For example, in one of the upcycles below, I took a beautiful (but worn) thrifted Ralph Lauren comforter and turned it into a floral applique fabric.

If sewing isn’t your thing, you can use scissors and fabric paint to transform an old garment.

Here are five different ways to upcycle your old clothes: 

1. Upcycle with Unique Fabric Appliques

This is a great way to spruce up an old sweatshirt. It’s also a smart way to remove some of the branding from thrift finds. 

For example, you may love a jersey but not necessarily care for the team. Or maybe you found a university hoodie from a college you didn’t attend. If the garment fits great, you can change up the design to make it work for you. 

Here’s how:

Materials:

1. Vintage garment

2. Applique fabric (get creative)

3. Double-sided fusible interfacing

4. Applique pattern (or just wing it)

5. Sewing machine

6. Thread (in a color that matches the garment or applique)

Instructions:

1. Start by washing and drying both the vintage garment and applique fabric to ensure they are clean and ready to be used.

2. Cut a piece of double-sided fusible interfacing to the size of the applique you want to use.

3. Place the fusible interfacing on the back of the pattern and trace around the shape of the applique.

4. Cut out the applique, making sure to cut inside the traced lines to avoid any visible markings on the applique.

5. Iron the fusible interfacing onto the back of the applique, following the manufacturer's instructions.

6. Iron the vintage garment fabric to remove wrinkles and lay it flat on your workspace.

7. Peel the backing off the fusible interfacing and position the applique on the vintage sweater.

8. Make sure to center it and adjust it until you are satisfied with the placement.

9. Iron the applique onto the vintage garment, following the manufacturer's instructions.

10. Thread your sewing machine with a color of thread that matches the applique.

11. Sew around the edges of the applique to secure it to the vintage garment, making sure to keep your stitches close to the edge of the applique.

12. Use sharp scissors to trim any excess fabric or thread.

13. Repeat the process with any additional appliques, spacing them out as desired.

With these simple steps and materials, you can easily transform any vintage garment into a one-of-a-kind fashion piece that is both sustainable and stylish.

2. Crop Till You Drop

Cropping old clothing is a great way to breathe new life into garments that would otherwise sit in your closet.

You don’t have to crop your old garment into a belly shirt. You can get creative and cut off the sleeves, make it into a vest, or add some cut-outs. 

All you need is a sharp pair of fabric scissors and some chalk to mark where you want to crop. 

Here are four ways cropping clothes aligns with circular fashion:

1. Removing Stains & Problem Areas: cropping can remove holes & stains from secondhand clothes, transforming a damaged garment into something wearable.

2. Making Garments More Size-Inclusive: cropped styles suit a wider range of body types, allowing those who may not fit into the original proportions of the garment to wear them.

3. Reviving Forgotten Garments: cropping breathes new life into old garments, giving a trendy twist to garments that would otherwise sit on a rack or, worse, end up in a landfill.

4. Making Clothes Weather Appropriate: cropping makes clothes more adaptable to seasonal weather, providing better ventilation and increasing wearability throughout the year.

Cropping is the most practical way to upcycle your clothes. You can create your own patchwork fabric if you want to get more creative. 

3. Get Creative With Patchwork Techniques

If you follow popular upcyclers on Instagram, you’ve likely seen this technique before. 

Creating patchwork fabric from old clothes requires some sewing skills. But it’s a great way to salvage a garment with serious damage in one area. 

This technique allows you to combine bold colors and fabrics. You can also play with imagery and logos in a deconstructed way. 

Even though it requires sewing skills, it’s still pretty easy. All you have to do is gather some fabric scraps and sew them together. 

If you want to learn this method, I recommend watching quilting videos on YouTube. 

Quilters can do this in their sleep and always come up with cool patterns and shapes.

4. Paint Directly on Fabric

If you don’t have any sewing supplies but love to paint, this might be the upcycle for you. 

If you already have acrylic paint at home, all you need to add is some fabric painting medium to use it on fabric.

I upcycled a denim jacket with acrylic paint. I added fabric paint medium to the same paints I use on canvas. You just have to use an iron at the end to ensure it’s fully bonded. 

You can also buy fabric paint and fabric markers at your local hobby store if you don’t want to worry about mixing the paint and medium.

5. Upcycling With Screenprinting

Screenprinting is a great way to replicate designs on several garments or pieces of fabric.

There are many different ways to screenprint. 

1. The easiest way is to purchase a Speedball kit and create a design using drawing fluid and screen filler. Then, you can screenprint directly on the garment. 

2. To take it up a notch, you can print onto applique fabric and then sew it onto the garment.

3. You can visit an art studio and burn screenprinting screens from photos and graphics to get even more creative.

Have you tried to upcycle your old clothes? Share your experience in the comments. 

Upcycling is a creative outlet and a great way to reduce the environmental impact of your wardrobe. 

Which is your favorite upcycling technique?