Upcycling Ideas For Clothes You’re About To Toss

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Hi everyone,

Sometimes, you can fall out of love with something in your wardrobe. In fact, it tends to happen to most things in there eventually. However, if there’s a garment that you’ve been going back and forth on, you should hold back on throwing it away just yet. Instead of going online shopping for replacements, think about whether or not you could upcycle it into something that looks and feels fresh and new. Here are a few methods you should consider before you decide that your old faithful garments really aren’t for you anymore.

Paint your own designs

If you have a reliable hand and a little bit of artistic talent, then you can add some color and brightness to a piece of clothing that hasn’t been doing it for you. It just takes some patience and a brush to do it. Using fabric paint with your clothes can help you paint on almost any design that you can think of. It’s important to bear in mind that doing is permanent, it’s not designed to come off. If you feel a little less confident in your ability to maintain a good shape, you can also make use of stencils out there that allow you to get a little more carefree without making a mess.

Dye another day

Perhaps you don’t want to add a little color to your garment, you want to add a whole lot to it, and all over it, as well. To that end, dyeing your clothes is going to open up a lot of possibilities. However, you need to be sure that you’re choosing the right dyes based on the clothes that you’re trying to change. Natural fabrics tend to be a lot easier to dye and certain synthetic fabrics can be almost impossible to dye. There are fabric dyeing guides that can tell you what types of dye are best suited to a range of materials, however. If you’re already planning on throwing a piece out, there’s nothing wrong with getting experimental and seeing how well it dyes, anyway.

Take a needle to it

You don’t have to stick to adding new colors to your outfits, either. You can add more fabric and even entire designs if you want to. There are all kinds of embroidery projects that you could do at home with some practice. However, if you want reliable and high-quality design additions for your clothes, then a professional embroidery shop might be the best place to stop. One of the best things about embroidery is that it works for practically all kinds of garments and fabric types. Professional embroiderers can take all kinds of designs and apply them, even designs that you only have digital images of can be transformed into a physical shape with the help of an embroidery machine.

It’s sew good

Perhaps you want something a little simple. You don’t necessarily need to add a whole design to your piece of clothing. With a thread, a needle, and some practice, you can sew all kinds of cute additions to your clothes. Ribbons are some of the most popular choices for sewing additions onto your clothes. However, you can also take things like squares of fabric, patches for the joints, or bits of lace. Sewing does take some work to get good at, however. You might want to try with a few pieces that you’re willing to sacrifice. You should see things becoming decidedly less amateurish the more you practice at it, however, and there are plenty of video tutorials to help you along your way.

Give it a new texture

It’s not just about designs or extra bits of fabric that you can add to it. You can change the whole feel of your outfit as well by adding little extras to it. This can include sewing pockets to add to your clothes (vital for those ladies who hate the sheer lack of storage space so often found on clothing store racks). Another classic approach is to add a zipper to the bottom of your pants or even to your shirt. Aside from adding a bit of urban flair to your outfit, it can also make certain pieces of clothing much easier to put on.

Aside from having a bright upcycling idea, it’s important to make sure that you do it well. Sometimes this can mean entrusting your clothes to a professional rather than trying to do it yourself. Either way, hopefully, you got some ideas from the tips above.

Thanks for stopping by.

XoXo,