Upcycled Projects – Part 1

Upcycled Projects – Part 1

I have been inspired by a few people to do some upcycle sewing.  My step-mom, Lynn, showed me a bunch of wool sweaters that she felted and talked about the things she was going to make with them.  I went home and started googling things like upcycling sweaters, felting sweaters and found tons of cool ideas in many different areas.

My favorite find was pallets for the garden.

I was also inspired by the Vaters at Christmas time.  Our art exchange theme was “container” and there were a few upcycled items – deck material made into a bird house and also a planter, a feed sack made into a tote bag and a watercolor painted container made from an oatmeal box.

Those ideas lead our family to decide to agree on  a “upcycle” theme for our 2013 art exchange.

My other inspirations came from  Prudent Baby, a blog I follow.

My first completed project:

I had this older style ring sling that I never used before because I couldn’t get  it to work for me.  The reason was that the design and baby position is unsafe and wrong!  For some reason I was saving it.  When I needed a pair of ring slings for a kid’s sling I cut this baby apart. I still have the fabric and may find something to make out of it.

  

Other projects:

I bought this sweater at Goodwill with the intention of making baby legs out of it.  The pattern was so cute on the sweater that I had to use the whole thing.

     

Another shirt I found at Goodwill.  I wanted to try to make pants out of the legs for Nola Mae.  After inspecting the collar and sewing the collar inward, the neckline would fit Nola Mae.  Which was perfect, I am not sure how I would alter a collar.

These pants turned out very easy to make and they look and seem comfortable to her.  I wish I could have a pair of my own.

 

I got the pattern/idea from here:  http://prudentbaby.com/2011/03/baby-kid/diy-recycled-sweater-pants-2/

and

http://www.greenkitchen.com/blog/2008/09/sweater-sleeve-kid-pants-tutorial.html

I found this awesome wool sweater early this winter at my favorite thrift store in Marion for $1!  My intention was to felt it and make some soft toy for Nola Mae.  I tried it on before felting and it fit me.  I wore it for skiing almost every day.  I always washed it in a cold and gentle cycle and laid it flat to dry.  The sweater slowly got smaller, you can see how much my tank top is showing at my waist.  Once skiing was over I felted it.  Last week I chopped the arm up and made these fingerless gloves.

 

A friend posted on Facebook that she had some wool clothing that would be good for a repurposing project.  I jumped on it without knowing what they looked like.  I wasn’t sure what I would do with them.  At the time these things arrived at my house I had started to search for Christmas ornament ideas.

 

I made some heart-shaped ornaments.

   

And Christmas tree shaped ornaments.

And a liner for my egg basket.

      

Technically the only upcycled item in these photos is Robbie’s red cape.  It was a curtain that I found at Goodwill.  The other two boys’ capes were made out of fabric I bought at St. Vincent de Paul’s (my second favorite thrift store).

 

What have you upcycled?

I have many other ideas for upcycling and hope to have a Part 2 post (maybe this summer).  I needed to post this shortly after my Winter of Sewing (2013) because these things were also completed during the winter.