Tag Archives: upcycling

upcycled tent

Outdoor umbrella cover from an old tent

A while ago in a rush to go to a festival I bought a second hand tent. Only to realize it was broken and had some mould on the inside. The festival was great so the tent did not get used much. I did not want to use it as a tent again and replaced it with a tent I found at another festival when I volunteered for the cleanup. I noticed that a few people leave their broken tents on the venue, too lazy to pack and carry home. The festival team has to clean it up and threw it away. What a waste when there is so much material and reusable items on one tent. You can use the hooks, clips, zippers, bands, nets and bags for sewing and repairing projects. The bottom layer can be used as a tarp. The waterproof top can be a cover, the inner tent material can be a wind or sun shade. My first project besides cutting out the tarp — this umbrella cover:

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For sun shade we got a local secondhand umbrella through ebay. To save storage inside the house and leave the umbrella outside all season we needed a cover. I sewed this cover from the outer waterproof layer of a tent. I used a part that had a zipper for easy removal.

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Now the next project is to sew a sunshade triangle from the inner thinner fabric of the tent.

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Yarn from T-Shirts

This inspiration came from a dear friend of mine who crochet a beautiful round rug from t-shirt yarn. Well she actually used a bed linen which gave her much upcycled yarn.

I only got to the mini version but now have a beautiful coaster for my tea pot and cups. This was made out of one women size M t-shirt that was washed too many times and unwearable.

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With a special cutting technique the t-shirt is easily turned into a string of yarn. It is much thicker than conventional wool yarn so it is perfect for more hardy or robust things like rugs or coasters. It also means that you progress quickly when knitting or crocheting.

To cut the yarn you simply fold the t-shirt, cut strings (not all the way through), unfold the t-shirt and finish off the cutting to make infinite strings.

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Here is how it’s done explained by video:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ez0gn5lxz8k

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My flatmate went even bigger. She crochet a bathroom mat from an old linen.

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From Jumper to leg warmer and skirt

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This is a beautiful and simple way to upcycle a jumper. This one was leftover from a cloth swapping party – too short for anyone to wear. Nice wool and color though. With some simple cuts, 5 minutes of sewing, an elastic band and a safety pin this jumper was upcycled into a skirt and a pair of leg warmers. Multiple matching new clothes. And pretty unique.

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Just cut the jumper appropriately as in the picture, sew a loop around the edge and pull through the elastic band with the help of a safety pin. Put in a knot at the desired strength of the elastic and sew together to close the hole.

 

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From the collar that is left over one could even make a poncho by sewing on some additional fabric at the lower bid.

More creation, less consumption!

 

hair ties

Hair ties from stockings

Turning your stockings into hair ties is easy and gives you a large supply of hair ties (and rubber bands, and gift wrappers, and…).
It is so simple and even better if you have colourful stockings. Just cut them into 2cm wide rings all the way up the leg. The lower foot part is great for hair ties, the higher part around the tights is better for hair bands as its much larger.

upcycling stockings

Twist it and gift it!

floppy disk upcycling

Floppy disk your photos

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Floopy disks are very much outdated and I would not even know where to use one now. I did find a staple at my parents place and before throwing them out I thought about some ways of reusing and upcycling them.

Now this is my first trial – a photo holder or pin board. This could be extended with more floppy disks to the side or even longer at varying length of cord. The disks usually have two holes however it needs drilling two more holes to be able to connect the disks. I used a gimlet for drilling and some cord for connecting the disks. It needs some patience to have the cord at the same length on both sides. You can see my first trial is a bit uneven. I can imaging colourful cord to look cool. Furthermore you can turn the floopy disks around and write on the sticker that is on there.

Great (christmas) gift for a techie friend.

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tyre bag

Upcycled tyre bags

Old bicycle tyres are great for upcycling. With a sewing machine they quickly are turned into a useful little bag – a perfect present for yourself and others. It can be a simple phone protection case or a bag for jewellery or a torch. Just be careful with your sewing machine. The lower thread needs to be widened much more than for clothes material. You can do that on the little screw of the case that your lower thread is usually living in.

The pictures below give some design inspiration where also the opening and closing mechanism is from recycled material. The blue band is looped through holes created with a paper punch. The white cord with the plug is from a broken headset cable and was a present for my best techie friend. The last picture shows a bum bag where the upper part is open for a belt to fit through.

The main thing that makes upcycled tyres look special is using colourful thread and unique closing mechanisms. Make use of what you have around.

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Upcycling skirts – puffing it up

These two cord skirts were lying in my wardrobe for many years unworn. Somehow an odd length and not matching my body shape. Or maybe it was just my perception of fashion at the time. Instead of going out shopping for something new I though of ways to make them more interesting. Unique. Add something. Something simple but effective.

By folding the lower part and sewing a loop for an elastic to go through the cigar void created I created two new favourites. Puffy short skirts, adjustable depending on occasion – clubbing or uni – comfy and unique. 

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knitting with plarn

The plastic revolution – upcycling plastic bags

Most products are wrapped in plastic. It is hard to avoid in your daily shopping from food items to toilet paper. Plastic bags are easily turned into plastic “wool” for knitting or crocheting. Start reusing plastic bags by making yarn out of them. You can then knit or crochet anything that comes to your mind. I was inspired at Peats Ridge Festival – a New Years festival near Sydney know for it’s sustainability focus. The little workshop tent was full of hand bags and clutches. 

In the picture below I have started knitting a curtain for our bathroom window out of the plastic bag that toilet paper is stored in. Preparing the plastic wool is more time consuming than buying wool but it takes rather time than money and then the knitting is much faster as plastic is thicker than wool. The outcome also makes for different purpose than wool. It is more robust and can also turned into e.g. a mat for shoes. You can go colourful. You can knit hand bags and braid the handles. You might want to experiment with different size needles.

Be creative and share your ideas with me!

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How to create yarn out of plastic bags:

1. stretch a plastic bag
2. roll it up like dough for cookies with the longer side facing you.
3. cut off the end parts – the bottom rim and the handle
4. cut the long dough piece in 2cm wide pieces
5. unfolded they turn into a large loop.
6. now you connect loop through looping and you will have a string of yarn

This is a great video to explain the process http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdTm2V4ssvY

Upcycled books as pieces of art

upcyled book to art Books can make a great wall decoration or even used like a pin board, photo or card holder. With different repeated folding techniques the pages create a unique pattern. And inbetween the tightly folder pages you can pin important or pretty things.

These photos are from a clothes shop decoration in Berlin Friedrichshain / hub for creativity.
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For even more inspiration check out Pinterest.