Breathe your old clothes freshly with the help of the garden. Making upcycled clothes can be a fun weekend project, simply using ingredients grown from your garden. So, grab some new pieces from The Thrift Store and create another outfit!
The statistics surrounding the surrounding clothing are incredibly scary. About 85% of textiles go to dump each year, and less than 1% of clothing is recycled. Another says that 35% of the oceanic microplastics come from synthetic fabrics like polyester.
After that, you can make the clothes themselves. Polyester emits 2-3 times the carbon footprint of cotton. The fashion industry itself is the second largest consumer in water supply in the world.
There are also some dangerous chemicals lurking in the fast fashion world. In a study run by CBC, they found that one in five clothing items in fast fashion retailers has high levels of harmful chemicals, such as lead, phthalates and PFA.
Eeks!
Companies will continue to produce a huge amount of cheap clothing as long as consumers want it. With upcycled clothing, you can rethink what clothes look like, or give them a new life as something completely different.
Upcycling stops another piece of clothing from entering the landfill and another new piece from being produced and sold. It is important to try to extend the lifespan of existing clothing as much as possible. And who doesn’t love a good trip?
Here’s how you can make your garden work as an inspiration and make upcycled clothes.
I’ll cover this post…
How to use your garden to upcycle clothes
I’ll beat the flowers
When you hit a flower, you can create a plant plate on the fabric by hitting the flowers and leaves onto the fabric. They leave colorful engravings of flowers.
The key is to make natural dyes from the flowers at the end. To do this, you need to prepare the dough by schooling to remove impurities and add tannins to assist in the dye process.
This post will provide you with more information on how to prepare the dough.
Then you can do the fun activity of picking flowers from your garden and pounding them onto the fabric. I used tablecloths, napkins and flower throbbing to create the art of textiles.
Natural dyes
A large number of plants can be made into natural dyes. This is a very fun way to make upcycled clothes. I recommend you go to your garden and experiment with which flowers and leaves can turn into dyes. You might get some unexpected colors!
Some plants that act as excellent natural dyes include:
This post shows how to use fabrics using marigold. There are great instructions and tips that can be applied to other natural dyes too!
As a general rule of thumb, take dry, fresh or powdered plant ingredients and simmer in hot water. Two parts plant material containing two parts water is used. Once you’re satisfied with the colour, strain the plant ingredients and allow the dye to cool before use.
Sunburn printing
A few years ago, I was obsessed with cyanotype printing. This printing type uses the power of the sun to engrave plants into the fabric.
First, the fabric is treated with potassium ferricyanide and iron citrate. It must be found in natural materials like cotton and muslin. After the fabric has dried in a dark room, you can place the plant material down and place it in the sun.
After just 20 minutes the fabric was printed! It’s that easy.
For beginners, you can get a Sunprint kit with everything you need to get started. I have full detailed instructions on how these cyanotype printed napkins can be applied to any natural fabric.
Print stamping
This method is inspired by the garden. I made a cloth napkin engraved for Christmas and they turned out to be great! I used a roller brush to smooth out the fabric paint over the rubber stamps to create a plant version. The options are endless.
Others make their own stamps to recreate their favorite flowers from the garden. You can get a stamp manufacturing kit with everything you need to start making a plant version of your fabric.
Rif-approved wool comfort
Wool is the perfect material for remade clothes as it does not fray or unravel when you cut it. Also, paying for real wool that you can feel in your garden will be quite expensive.
When shopping at The Thrift Store, try finding mostly wool sweaters and other animal fibers, such as cashmere and angora. Then I used the washing machine to felt them and made the wool fabric simple.
I then made the wool felt cozy for my plants. They look very cute in the winter, adding comfort and charm. You can also use them as a mug cardiage.
Cleanliness of herb drawers
Speaking of felt wool, I did another project with the same sweater. Instead of making clothes, I made clean up the drawers of these herbs.
The key is to fill them with fragrant herbs such as lavender, rose, mint and rosemary. Stick them into your drawers and they will continue to smell your clothes fresh.
I did a similar project with these herb dream pillows. I just reshapeed them with herbs that promote sleep, like hops and chamomile.
You can source rift fabrics for any of these projects or remake clothing for these new projects.
Macrame plant hanger
Macrame is back! Using MacRame is a chic way to hang plants and loves to add greenery and decoration from the ceiling. While keeping plants away from curious cats!
You can also find craft items at many cycling stores. To create macrame, check if there are wire cables, leather, yarn, cotton wool, or other tactile materials. Next, follow the instructions in this post.
Alternatively, you can turn your old shirt into macrame. To do this, cut the shirt into long strips. To do so, you may need several shirts or a single XL shirt. Depending on the fabric, you can leave it as is or knit it into strips before making the macrame hanger.
Hand-drawn tote bag
Check out the bag section at The Thrift Store too. I like to see if the plain bag can use a bit of spruce!
I have transformed this plain tote bag into a fun and lively piece. This can be used at beach grocery stores, as a lunch bag while traveling, or to hold all your knitting. Using fabric paint, you can make not only bags but all kinds of upcycled clothes.
You can use fabric pens to freehand the design or use stencils to assist. After that, the rest is painted and set up with paint from the fabric! Find out how you made a tote for the market here.
FAQs about upcycled clothing
Upcycled clothing enters the grey area of the legal world. We don’t want to infringe copyrighted materials, such as original artwork, designs, lyrics, quotes, etc. Or a brand identity such as a company name or product name, or a logo or slogan.
However, fair use is permitted. This is where you can build using existing works and create new works. However, this is so broad that it is difficult to discuss legal issues.
Do not use copyrighted images, sayings, specific logos or brand names at the time of resale. If you are unsure whether your upcycled clothing violates copyright or trademark laws, seek legal counsel.
Natural dyes are difficult to stick to synthetic artificial fabrics such as polyester and rayon. Natural fibers such as cotton, linen, bamboo, linen, wool, silk, cashmere, and muslin are the best. Looking for these natural fibers when shopping at a second-hand shop or when looking for reworked clothing through a closet.
More ways to make it in the garden
With a city girl who learned to garden, it changed everything. Author, artist, master gardener. A better life through plants.
