Upcycling old tees into clothes for kids

Have you caught wind of the hype on upcycling adult t-shirts into shirts, dresses, onesies and pants for kids? I just love this idea! Now, if I was more skilled at sewing, I would attempt this project. But in reality, I’m not and currently, I don’t have the time to try. Thank goodness for the crafty folks over at Etsy!

 

smarTEE pants baby wear makes and sells the cutest pants from old t-shirts. And for those of you who are more adept at sewing, she also sells patterns!

 

 

 

 

 

 

TheJumpOff makes onesies, pants and cute little dresses out of recycled t-shirts and t-shirt scraps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And again, for those of you who want to try your hand at sewing your own, one of my favorite blogs, Lil Blue Boo, has a pattern shop for her adorable tee dresses and outfits on Etsy.

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Natural (and cheap!) fabric softener: Vinegar

Once again, vinegar proves to be a wonder-liquid. A while back, I stopped using dryer sheets to cut back on some of the chemicals. It hasn’t been bad, but my biggest complaint is stiff clothes. Enter vinegar. Turns out, a half-cup or so of vinegar in the rinse cycle softens clothes. And don’t worry about remembering to add it– most machines have a rinse cycle receptacle, or just buy the Downy ball and use it for vinegar instead of liquid fabric softener. And no, your clothes do not come out of the dryer smelling like vinegar — the scent evaporates.

 

Now, if only vinegar could actually fold my clothes and put them away too!

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Get rid of sticker residue on clothing

Have you ever been left with gooey residue from a sticker on piece of clothing? Often this happens on clothes that are tagged in the store with the long vertical sticker strips. In my case, I washed and dried my son’s shirt that (unbeknownst to me) had two “great job” stickers on it. What I was left with was very stuck on sticker mess. I tried rewashing it to see if it would come off. Nope. I put the shirt up on a shelf in our laundry room with the intention to get back to it. Somehow it ended up getting washed — and dried — yet another time. Stickers were still there.

 

Then, in a  moment of inspiration, I came up with the idea (all by myself, thank you) to use tape to remove the sticker residue. It worked like a charm! I took a small square of sticky packing tape (the average Scotch tape is probably too weak) and went over the sticky areas several times. Little by little the tape removed all of the residue. Nice! Saved a piece of clothing with very little effort.

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Add new life to old clothes: Refashion

*The following information contains suggestions for sewing and crafting. I realize that not everyone is handy with needle and thread. Fear not: for those of you who are sew clueless, there are plenty of other fascinating ideas on repurposeful that have nothing to do with being creative or crafty.

 

So, there’s a whole “refashion” movement that’s sweeping the ‘net these days. Of course, the concept has been around forever, but lately (you know, with the economy, yada, yada, yada) its popularity has resurfaced. To refashion simply means that you take an existing piece of clothing or household item (pillow case, table cloth, etc) and recreate it into a brand new item to wear, ideally something that’s more fashionable than the original item. Now, my sewing skills are barely intermediate, but most of the projects out there seem relatively easy, some even simple.

 

 

Here are a few of the best that I’ve culled from some cool blogs I frequent. I’ve bookmarked them in my “Projects to Make” folder.

 

From dress shirt to shirt dress. Now this project involves quite a few steps, but if you can pull it off, you’ll have yourself a sweet summer dress. {clevergirl}

 

From onesie to little girl’s dress. This is a great way to extend the life of some of your cutest baby onesies. Of course, you’ll have to find one without spit up or green peas stains. Here’s one idea, and here’s another. Oh yeah, and this crafty blogger also has repurposeful ideas for little boy lounge pants and a cute shirt-skirt combo for a little girl. {made}

 

From skirt to apron. I think you can make almost anything into an apron. {Wardrobe Re-fashion}

 

Shirts, capes, pants, dresses and more. I just love this blogger for her ability to scour the greatest projects on the net. Check ’em out! {Whip Up}

 

Photo from made.

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Make your own reusable bags from repurposed clothing

If you’re not yet on the reusable bag bandwagon, you should be. Plastic bag litter creates immeasurable harm to the environment. And don’t think you’re off the hook because you recycle plastic bags. Since it costs more to recycle a bag than it does to produce a new plastic bag, plastic bags typically are “downcycled” into items that can never be recycled.

 

Like anything new, switching to reusable bags will take a little effort to become routine, but the payoff is immense — and not just for the environment! A reusable bags carries more, is sturdier and the fabric handles make it easier to throw over your shoulder and carry heavy groceries to your car and your home. Best of all, you can make a bag FOR FREE from things you already own!

 

There are lots of reusable bag tutorials flying around the ‘net right now. Here are a few of the best: 

• Make a reusable bag from an old tank top (by No Impact Man). Perfect for lighter items like bread, herbs and light produce.

 

• Make a reusable bag from a recycled sweater in 30 minutes (by Whip Up). The bonus with this project is that your bag will look like it’s from a boutique!

 

• Make a tote bag from an old t-shirt (by instructables). We all have way too many t-shirts, right? Now you can put some of them to better use.

 

 

• Take an old pair of jeans and make a reusable bag (by Crafting a Green World). Denim makes an unquestionably sturdy bag!

 

You can also make reusable bags from old sheets or curtains and pillow cases. Happy sewing!

Photo by Crafting a Green World.

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Quickie Tip: Socks

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I could probably write ad nauseum on the different reuses for socks. Here is another one that I just discovered in our house.

Upon putting Toddler E to bed last night, I discovered that his feet were ICE cold despite having worn socks all day long. Slippers are pointless because he either kicks them off or they fall off constantly. So, I had the bright idea of using a pair of my husband’s warm athletic ankle socks as kid slippers. They worked brilliantly!  They stayed on his feet throughout the night and are still on this morning. Considering that Toddler E is one [hyper] active little boy, this is a big feat (pun intended)!

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