How can I reuse or recycle … old ties?

A hideous tieContinuing on from the tidying “rampage” mentioned earlier in the week, I’ve been sorting through our old clothes in the bedroom.

In addition to the clothes we wear regularly, we have a couple of boxes of old clothes on the top of the wardrobe. These are the clothes that we will wear again just as soon as we lose the required weight, height or fashion hindsight that caused them to be banished to the boxes in the first place. Periodically, these boxes get sorted through again and the “nah, I’m not going to be a size 10 again in a hurry” cast-offs get sent to the charity shop.

But there is some stuff that isn’t really suitable for charity shops – because they’re damaged or stained, or hideous travesties against everything that is good and/or pure — like these old ties of John’s.

Aside from sending them to be recycled for their fabric, any reuses?

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20 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle … old ties?”


  1. louisa\\\'s mum says:

    Would require abit of effort but you could cut them up and use the good parts to make a patch-work quilt.
    You could have ‘remember when i wore that sessions’

  2. meika says:

    I’ve seen a number of skirts and dresses made from ties by sewing them together as strips of cloth. If you have the al the same way up they will flare out like a traditional skirt and if you lay them head to tail they are straighter. I guess you could mix and match head-to-tail and all the same way for some effect.

    Ties should be banned. They are never washed and so are vectors for diseases in hospitals, especially if your doctor wears them.

    • HuntingWabbits says:

      They can be dry-cleaned. Besides, they don’t touch people and are not worn directly on the skin, so they can’t have THAT much bacteria.

  3. rita says:

    Would they make unusual handles for home made bags?

  4. Joan says:

    Local high school art departments often have a rummage bag of material scraps – you could consider donating them – if they are old enough they might give the students an insight into previous fashions.

  5. Amanda Kerik says:

    The softer pieces could be used as stuffing in a body pillow / mini-me doll.

  6. Carolyn says:

    Soft silky fabric ties make great pillowcovers. Remove the lining from the ties and open the fabric, then sew the ties together wide end to narrow end to make a large enough piece of fabric to cover a pillow top.

  7. trish says:

    i’ve seen them made into dresses, skirts, purses, curtains, even a blanket.

    use for a test fabric when sewing.

    weave them into a cool design

    put them in your first aid kit for use as a turneqet.

  8. Linda says:

    I saw cuff bracelets made from recycled ties. They were wrapped around a bracelet form. I’d love to know how it’s done. They were beautiful.

    • Debbie says:

      Use double stick tape on an old bangle bracelet and cover by wrapping strips of tie material around the bracelet.
      Saw this in a recent magazine.

  9. Vikki says:

    I have seen and used old ties to create quilts. Great for crazy quilts and also strip pieced quilt tops.

    Fashion doll clothing are another use.

    Just a couple of suggestions.

  10. Debbie says:

    I watched a TV craft show turn old ties into a beautiful tree skirt.

  11. caro says:

    weave them together for the top of a chair staple gunning below

  12. susan says:

    donate them to a local school or nursery for their dressing up box

  13. Laura M says:

    I am doing a recycled project for my gcse textiles, i am going to be making a dress made from recycled ties. I am really excited as my idea is quite original, and i cant wait to get started. :)

  14. Leah says:

    my mum made a skirt out of ties in school??? LOTS of ties apparently

    i said use them as a belt
    OR
    glam them up and go for the avril lavigne look!

  15. jj says:

    use them to make hair ties. just sew some stretchy elastic underneath and make sure all the ends are sewn well. nestab1@hotmail.com

  16. Emma Ferris says:

    Hi I need lots of ties for making purses and things which i sell at craft fayres. If anyone has a lot of ties they want to get rid of please email me for my address and I’ll gladly take them off your hands?

    emma.ferris@live.co.uk

    Many thanks
    Emma

  17. Valeria says:

    Use them as fabric to decorate your diary.



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