I feel like a lot of my “crafting” lately has really been taking things apart, which is a fine approach to getting new craft supplies through upcycling ideas. From ripping out projects I’m not using to tearing apart old jeans and taking the hems out of sheets to repurpose them, there are lots of ways to harvest craft supplies from things you already have.
Why Upcycle?
I don’t know that I really need to explain why upcycling ideas are important, but here’s a quick rundown.
There is already way too much stuff on the planet, so anything we can keep in use instead of throwing away is a win. Repurposing things is a great way to give the raw materials a new life.
If you’re facing budgetary constraints, have decluttered your craft supplies to the point where you don’t have a lot to work with, or you just want to get creative with a different kind of material, upcycling what you already have is a great way to go.
Upcycling Ideas for Jeans
One of the most common upcycling ideas genres I see in the craft world has to do with creative reuse of denim. I’ve actually written about blue jean crafts here before, and that post is full of lots of ideas to make with little pieces of denim up to multiple pairs of jeans.
It’s a tedious process but it’s also oddly fun to take apart a pair of jeans when they’re no longer usable as clothing. I have a few more pairs I need to do this to and plan to make a bag out of some of the fabric when it’s done.
Jeans are fun to upcycle because there are so many different parts, from the bigger pieces of fabric in the legs to the pockets, even the belt loops and labels can be reused for different projects!
How to Upcycle Sheets
The unsung hero of upcycled fabric, though, is sheets. If you have some kind of worn sheets that you don’t use on your bed anymore, that’s a lot of fabric waiting to be turned into something else.
Sheets are great for sewists to use for making samples of patterns to check the fit, and there’s nothing better than making your own pajama pants out of super soft old flannel or jersey sheets.
Sheets can be used pretty much as they are — you can even use the hem of the sheet as the hem of your project — but if you’re working with a fitted sheet it’s good to know how to take apart a fitted sheet, too.
If you’ve got big peices of sheet or pillowcases, check out these pillowcase upcycling ideas. You can also turn sheets into yarn and knit, crochet or weave with them. This crochet rug was mostly made with yarn made from an old sheet.
Upcycling Yarn
Because the majority of my crafting life has involved yarn, I probably do most of my upcycling work in ripping out swatches and old projects that I’m not using (and often that my cat has been dragging around the house so I don’t think it would be useful to someone else in its current form.
If you have a handmade knit or crochet project you want to harvest the yarn from, take a look at my tutorial on how to take apart a sweater.
You can do this with storebought sweaters and other knit items, too, as in this post about how to unravel a sweater to reuse the fabric. Some of the yarn from that sweater went into a custom pair of knit shorts, but you can use such yarn in any way you like.
Other Upcycling Ideas
Fabric scraps that don’t come from old sheets are another common genre that’s ripe for upcycling. One of my favorite things I’ve made this year is the upcycled fabric twine made from scraps. It’s so meditative and easy and fun and there are lots of great ways to use it.
I also shared a collection of scrap fabric projects that are great for using all those random little bits left over from other projects. And if you have too many little weird fabric scraps you can always use them as stuffing in another project, like my giant knit bunny, which makes me feel totally justified in keeping every little bit and leftover thing, from swatches and yarn ends to the tops of T-shirts I used in other upcycling projects.
It all gets used eventually. I hope.
What kinds of things do you like to upcycle? I’d love to hear your ideas!
