Favorite thing to upcycle in to garb?

[Adriana Rose]

I have been cruising Etsy and there seems to be a ton of upcycling going on. Its basically taking something and changing it into something useful for those who are confused like I was.

So my favorite things to use are sheets, old shirts and clothing that I dont want to get rid of and I dont wear anymore in its current form.

Like the satin dress shirts I swiped from my mom that are in some really fun colors that are on the way to being a petal skirt.

Wrap pants that mom and I used to love but now we dont ever wear them are going to be turned into Itailian/Irish over dresses. The dress kind of has the bodice of and Irish dress but it has the high waist that the Itailans have.

So what is your favorite thing to reuse? Be it going Scarlet O'Hara on some pretty curtains or gutting that pretty colored blazer for a bodice.

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

This skirt was a strapless sundress.  Way too small for me, and I don't wear strapless. Work was done by a friend of mine.  She cut it at the waist, sewed a black strip of fabric to make a waistband & then used elastic (hidden under my bodice, you never see it).  Then added a black panel at the bottom to make it long enough, and sewed black ribbon as a division between colors.  Cost of the sundress at Goodwill:  $3.99.  She did the work and provided the black material at no charge.  Result:  Priceless!   (and I think my favorite skirt, too)



Wearing it turned around so you see different colors.  I decide which way I want it to face when I put it on!   I pin on jingly bells when I wear it, that is what the round gold circles are on the bottom on the black material.



Same friend took this black velvet maternity jumper that I bought from Goodwill, again for $3.99.  It had big buttons in the back that went all the way down.  She turned it around so the back became the front, put 1 closure at the waist, added black gimp trim around the neck and the front, and at the bottom (you can't see it very well) added about 4 inches of trim and glued crystals to the trim.  It is for when I just can't bear to wear a bodice.  By the way, I made the gold brocade chemise from a tablecloth I bought on clearance from Bed, Bath, & Beyond.

[Gwen aka Punstergal]

I don't call it upcycling, but I do a ton of it!

My specialty is destroying curtain ties and turning them into decorative knotwork for use in adorning pretty much anything. Example (not garb, but if you look at the hair-clip and the train's bottom edge, you can see what I'm talking about):



The other thing I recycle (which is a more comfortable term to me than upcycling, I suppose) is seasonal centerpieces. I am notorious at the thrift stores here for scavenging all the holiday artificial flowers and crazy mardi gras feathers and such, which I have no problem ripping to pieces and using to make strange elaborate hair decorations. Examples:

[isabelladangelo]

Upcylcing is just the latest term for good old conservation/reusing/re-purposing.  Something that we have done since the dawn of humanity -and probably before!   

I'm currently collecting all my old jeans to make a steampunk outfit.  I've been collecting them for a few years now and I almost have enough.  Since I don't want to purposely destroy the jeans just to make a skirt, it's taken a while to get enough jeans.  One pair is a pair I got way back in the 20th century.  :-)

I also save all my old scraps of fabric to use as trims or in other projects.   

[Hoowil]

I'm sure most of us do it, but I always scan the curtains, table clothes, and duvet covers at thrift stores.

[BLAKDUKE]

When at flea markets and yard sales I look for ladies purses aqnd turn them into pouches and sell them at faire.  The straps are cut off and make belt loops.

[operafantomet]

Marcel Duchamp did the same thing in the art world in 1917. He took a pissoir, signed it, turned it, and named it "Fountain". Voila - ready-made art, I.E. a new piece made out of an old object. Upcycling of the best sort! 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)

Seriously though, I think costume makers do this all the time. I often buy seriously discounted items at H&M and similar places, so I have a basis stash pile to pick from. I buy clothes with gorgeous lace, small hats, ornamental jewelry etc. With gold paint, super glue and needle and thread anything can be made.

One of my favourites of this kind is an Italian 16th century pendant I made of a remodeled (or upcycled, if you will) fashion pendant. It was originally silver and with a large pink and goldn gem and smaller pink pearls distributed in an unsymmetrical manner. I removed the pink deco, glued on red and green gems, build up a base between them, painted the whole thing golden, and attached a drop pearl in the bottom. Everything was made from stash. And I like the result a lot.

[LadyMeg]

I LOVE doing this, especially since it does help with the budget on projects (meaning I can splurge on that one piece/fabric I really want). 

All of my undergarements (minus the hoop and corset of course!) for my civil war wardrobe were constructed from sheets (white and amazingly all with the same level of wear and no stains!).  The idea was that they were already worn and super comfy, which is ideal for undergarments (in my opinion).

One of my steampunk blouses was an old shirt that I retailored and designed.

And I don't know how many old curtains I've converted.

One of my best finds was a king sized, fully lined comforter at Salvation Army.  Deep red and had a similar look to silk dupioni.  I made my sideless surcoat out of it.