Upcycling has to be the most creative and personally satisfying form of Green Fashion we can think of. You can aquire a brand new piece of clothing, tailor made to fit you, at a very minimal cost to both your pocket and the environment. I was perusing the internet the other day and came across a brilliant couple of blogs that link together quite nicely in this area of Green Upcycled Fashion.
Firstly I found CharityShopChic, a brilliant blog that chronicles the upcycling of charity shop buys. The blogger tends to buy clothes in good quality fabrics or beautiful prints that are too big for her so as to provide excess material. We are then shown how she chops them up, sews them back together usually following a pattern, and then, hey-presto! A brand new fabulous garment that fits like a glove, is completely unique and has used up old clothes from a charity shop!
Here are some before and after pictures to give you some idea of what this lovely blog is all about:
This Shirt cost £6.40 from a Goodwill store in San Fransisco. This XXL mens Hawaiian shirt is completely restructured to this gorgeous tropical blouse! Just a few snips and a dab hand on a sewing machine and- voila!
To see how she did it- click here!
This size 16 blouse came from the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity Shop and cost £6. In a few simple steps it is transformed into an over-sized vest top- very glamorous!
To see how she did it- click here!
So for the rest of us mere mortals who aren't so handy with a sewing machine, I found this next blog- Wendy Ward. Wendy runs a shop called MiY Workshop in Brighton's North Laines. This is a place where you can hire sewing machines and work spaces to create your fashion masterpieces. Not only that but she also runs daily classes and workshops to teach you how to use the sewing machines, cut fabric and create clothes.
This Workshop is such an innovative idea! It can be hard to find time to get creative in your own home as there is always a million and one other things to be done and many people just don't have the space to set up a sewing machine with the large areas needed to cut cloth. Also, if you are a little rusty on the old Bernina, or haven't ever used one before then this is the perfect opportunity to learn a new skill that is both creative and extremely useful! We hope we have inspired you to get creative and start upcyling some of your old clothes to give them a new fabulous lease of life!
Hi Amelia and thanks for your kind words about my blog. You don't have to be a dab hand with a sewing machine to try refashioning - but it does help! Some of the simpler projects can be sewn by hand, but even if you just take some scissors to shorten a skirt or cut the sleeves off a t-shirt, if it gives the piece new life then that's all that matters!
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