Bicycle panniers – mine have a really useful stretchy mesh pocket on the outside, unfortunately now more hole than mesh. Any ideas on repairing them? The actual pannier part is absolutely fine.

The summer before last, I bought some mens’ shorts for myself and since I don’t have things down there in need of containment, I removed the “netting” layer – that wouldn’t have been pretty but would have fit the bill perfectly – stretchy white mesh. (I ended up using it in the greenhouse to store bulbs.) Can anyone think of anything else in the same vein to reuse instead? Heavy (so they won’t run) nylon tights maybe?

Another idea which is less reusing/recycling but still repairing: could you crochet a flat mesh from a plastic twine using a variant on a string bag patten? I used to make a version of this bag from all sorts of different yarns when we were short of shopping bags – makes up very quickly because it’s so much hole :)

Any other ideas?

(Photo by arifm)

• With the major gift giving time of the year looming in the near-distance, I love this idea of reusing colourful children’s pictures to make gift bows instead of using generic plastic ones. Of course the same idea can be applied to any old paper – as the tutorial shows black-on-white newspaper text looks pretty cool too.
   
• I’m always a sucker for stuff made with drinks cans but these flowers are rather cute – I especially like the painted ones.
   
• Tinplategirl emailed recently her new tutorials site about working with tinplate – the smooth heavier-weight metal from various large tins & cans. The site includes a number of free videos introducing the craft – where to find the materials and how to work with them – and how-to PDFs for making all sorts of things (some free, some costing up to $9.95). A great resource for people wanting to move on from working with the more malleable drinks can metal.
   
• And speaking of large tins, this tiered unit made from old biscuit/chocolate tins has been around for a while now but I thought it was worth mentioning because it’s a lot of fun and useful.
   
• Another thing that’s a bit old but feels newly relevant given the sudden switch to autumn this week: how-to recover an umbrella frame. Great for revamping a brolly or fixing it if it gets torn – double up your green points by using old fabric (an old tent? old synthetic clothes?) for the umbrella and reclaiming the best bits of the original fabric for other craft projects (a water resistant swimming bag? or to make foam bath cushion?)
   
• Oh, and if you haven’t seen it, do check out WeUpcycle.com, which started as a 30 day/30 upcycled things project but is now a wider collection of upcycling ideas. No how-tos but lots of inspiring, pretty pictures.
   

Have you seen any fun or interesting reusing or recycling projects recently? Or have you got anything you’d like to show off of your own creation? Do leave a comment below!

• First up, it has to be Scott’s coke can and chopsticks bird feeder – as always, a fab recycled item with very fun how-to instructions. Unfortunately (for us in the UK) the full instructions will be in Make magazine – but if you’re crafty, you can kinda get the idea from the pictures/preview ;)
• And sticking with gorgeous things in the Make/Craft universe, I love these denim storage bags – easy to make from the legs of old jeans — a perfect companion project if you’re turning some jeans into cut-offs this summer :)
• I also love these sweet packet purses/pouches. I wonder if clear plastic bags could be fused onto the packets rather than having to use iron on vinyl…
• As a fan of both buttons and nature, I think these buttons from twigs are great too. As the how-to explains, it’s a little tedious to cut them all with a handsaw but if you just want a few and don’t have a table saw, then it’s still a viable project.
• And speaking of the great outdoors, I’m planting out a lot of stuff at the moment. I’ve been using sliced up plastic bottles, drinks cans and other packaging for plant markers but these labels – made from skewers and wine corks – are very cute too.
• Roo has turned an old nightstand/chest of drawers into a unique and fun doll house – just a little handy work is needed before the fun decorating starts!
• Shopping lists save money & food waste but our lists and pens tend to wander from our kitchen noticeboard — they wouldn’t if we had one of these. The similar pretty wood backing/bulldog clip/elastic band idea would work well with reclaimed scrap paper as well as a new roll.
• And finally, I had an email from Jackie: “I recycled this awning frame by making it a pot rack. A little bit of chain and I hooks and s hooks bring it all together” — looks great and super practical, great work.

I’ve got some pretty printed slightly-stretchy cotton vest tops that have either lost their shape or don’t fit any more because they’ve done that thing where they mysteriously shrink by four inches in the wash. As I still like the patterns, I’d like to reuse them in some way and underwear seems a fun thing to try: the patterns would work well on pants and I think I could get at least one pair of boy-short knickers from each vest top.

Has anyone made their own underwear from old tops or t-shirts? And favourite how-to recommendations or hints/tips?

What about making underwear by upcycling other items of clothing? Does anything else lend to easy conversion?

What about upcycling things to make stuff other than knickers/shorts? Socks? Bras? Winter warming layers?

What can I do with an old leather jacket? It’s really dated now.

If it’s really dated, keep it – it’ll probably come back into fashion next week ;) More seriously, someone might want it for a vintage look – or for a fancy dress party – perhaps offer it to a charity shop, ideally one with a “vintage” section (or a charity shop chain that has vintage shops – like Oxfam or BHF).

Any suggestions for reuses if it’s not suitable for passing on? We’ve already covered scraps of leather and a leather/suede purse – some of the reuses/upcycling ideas for those may apply to the jacket too — make it into a purse, bag or belt, scraps can be added to glove palms or tool handles to improve grip and bigger jackets could be made into cushion covers or to cover basic storage boxes to make them more stylish. A couple of weeks ago, we also mentioned Mes Footwear – a footwear company in Newcastle, who turn old jackets into new shoes. My father-not-in-law has made numerous pairs of bellows in his time and uses scrap leather from sofas for that – would a back of a leather jacket would probably work in the same way.

Any other ideas that make particular use of it being jacket shaped now?

For me, it’s both a “repair this” and “reduce this” type question – how can I refresh that tired winter coat so I don’t need to buy a new one? I think it’s important that it not just so that it looks better but that I feel better about it too.

I basically have three coats for throughout the year – a light cotton hoodie (which I wear most of the year), an expensive-for-me big super-warm cotton parka type coat for freezing days, and a cheaper, shorter “wool” one which I wear when it’s not quite so cold and I need to look a bit neater than in the parka.

So how can I freshen those up?

For me, there are two main areas that get tired dirty – my cuffs and my pockets. The hoodie gets thrown into the wash regularly, hurrah for cotton. The parka & wool one aren’t as easily washable, especially mid-winter but spot-washing on the cuffs improves things a lot. As for the pockets, I treat my pockets like some women treat their handbags – a site for the accumulation of detritus. This is sometimes good (I found a fiver in my parka coat when I put it on the first time this year!) but mostly bad (crumbs of dog biscuts, bits of paper, sticky sweets). Emptying out the junk & cleaning out the crumbs and dirt from the pockets won’t make it look any better (although a lot of junk does ruin the line of the coat), but it’ll make it feel better for me and enjoy using it more.

Another thing: my wool one – it’s not 100% wool but wool-heavy and it’s that heavy woollen style – is bobbly. A bit of combing with a debobbler would make it look a lot tidier. I suspect there will also be some snags too which could be tidied up. I’m also going to debobble/de-snag my scarves, gloves & mittens for good measure.

Yet another thing: the zips on my hoodie and parka coat have been playing up recently – I could secure the bottom zip section in place with a couple of stitches and rub a little soap on the teeth to stop them snagging, and it would make zipping up a less frustrating experience.

Another, more involved thing: the lining on the wool-ish one has always bugged me – it’s icky polyester and now it’s torn a little too. I could use an old fun-patterned shirt to replace it – using the original lining as a pattern – an upcycling idea and revamp in one.

So that’s what I do/will be doing. Have you got any ideas for ways to freshen up an old coat?

(Photo by sh0dan)

There are lots of suggestions out there for making biscuits, cakes or jams, or knitting or crocheting something pretty — but if you’re after a truly frugal Christmas, all those ingredients & yarns add up: what about things which you can make by reusing/recycling/upcycling things from around the home?

Here are my favourite ideas for simple & frugal upcycled Christmas presents:

1. Hankies

Handkerchiefs are easy to make from any soft old cotton fabric – bedding or clothing for example. They’re simple but always useful – and help the recipient cut down on their disposable tissue usage too.

Don’t feel they have to be boring white – I made the ones in the picture out of an old pink gingham shirt – and consider monogramming/embroidering them to make them extra special.

(Use 100% cotton fabric where possible and 100% cotton yarn too so that they can handle being washed at a hot temperature if needs be.)

2. Reusable shopping bags

Similarly practical, there are one metric bajillion tutorials out there for making fun shopping bags from pillowcases, t-shirts, scraps of yarn, old plastic carrier bags… You name it, you can make a shopping bag out of it!

Pick your poison depending on your skill set and again, customise/personalise it to suit the recipient.

If you’re giving them other presents at the same time, use the bag instead of wrapping paper to save even more waste.

3. Jewellery

We regularly feature ace examples of upcycled jewellery on here – people taking food packaging and other waste materials, and transforming them into wonderful bracelets, necklaces, earrings and other accessories.

If inspiration isn’t enough, there are plenty of tutorials out there too – for example, turn a drinks can into a flower brooch, or plastic bottle earrings, or a bottle cap charm bracelet.

4. Wooden garden planters

If woodworking is more your thing than sewing or jewellery making, turn old pallets or other scrap wood into wooden garden planters. They’re easy to work with and widely available – keep an eye out when passing skips or in industrial areas.

5. Raid your seed stash – make envelopes & plant labels from scrap

And what about something to go in those new planters? If you grow your own flowers or veg, you probably have a stash of surplus seeds – share your favourites!

Make small seed envelopes out of scrap paper – the insides of security envelopes or brown paper look fab – and write the sowing details on the outside – and how about including an upcycled plant label too? You can make those from lolly sticks or metal strips cut from drinks cans.

6. Personalised notebooks

Or how about making a notebook/journal from an old hardback book? Personalise it by finding something by your gift-ee’s favourite author – or a favourite book from childhood.

What are you making people for Christmas? What are your favourite upcycled handmade items? What would you like to receive from other people!?

Just having our lounge curtains replaced and got a lot of fabric swatches to check out colours etc before hand. Not sure what to do with them now. They’re mostly about A4 size with fractions of big patterns on. Thought about little coin purses or pin cushions but patterns don’t really work for that.

A friend of mine at uni got a book of (admittedly plain) curtain fabric swatches and sewed them together to make a patchwork curtain for over their draughty door. That needs a 60+ swatches though, so probably more than you’ve got.

Earlier in the year, I was looking at basic fabric doorstops – basically cubes with a handle. If you’ve got six swatches that are good colour matches, that might work.

Or colour coordinating mini-quilt padded coasters – where the general colour is more important than the pattern. We’ve got some little padded coasters with cloves in them so they let off a pleasant aroma when “activated” by a hot drink.

Any other suggestions?

For my Product Design A2 level I am aiming to create a chair made from recycled materials. I’ve got to be able to collect them in a fairly short time, and of course it would be very helpful if the items were free…I’ve got an open mind about it, and I need some inspiration fairly quick.

Cardboard chairs are the first thing to spring to mind – designers have made them in all sorts of shapes and styles and there are a number of how-tos around the internet, and people talking about the theory of making them too.

If it doesn’t have to be a formal chair, it might be worth exploring upcycling old clothes or bedding to make a bean bag. (I’ve also used old clothes to repair broken chairs on a number of occasions – an opened out jean leg is about the right width for a director’s chair seat – but those projects did start with a real chair frame.)

Getting a bit more involved than just cardboard or fabric, you can make chairs from old oil drums/barrels – for example, these basic chairs or a more flamboyant rocker. Plastic barrels might be slightly easier to work with but still transformable (these chairs aren’t made from old barrels but give an idea of possible shape).

Any other suggestions for Adele?

(Photo by Jascha400d)

Anyone have good craft ideas for a synthetic England Flag? There may be lots of them on the streets or landfills soon

There certainly will be! A4-ish size car ones, towel sized ones, super-sized ones… a whole lot of squeaky synthetic white fabric with a red cross on it — all of which will be instantly discarded as soon as the team are knocked out. (I’m speaking from experience about the disappearing – the photo was taken on our old estate by John during the last World Cup and they all disappeared the day after the losing match.)

Of course it would be great if everyone reduced – didn’t buy as many (if any) or kept them to reuse for future events rather than buying new each time but that doesn’t seem to happen.

So any reusing, upcycling and recycling suggestions?

i am getting married again, but because it is my second marriage, i don’t want to spend a lot of money all over again.

i still have the gown i wore for my first wedding, a couple of years back (not outdated yet!), which i love, but i wouldn’t wear it white again…can i stain it? to make it cream or just not white?

i read something about tea staining, but i would need to use a tub to evenly stain it, which i don’t have…suggestions?

My first thought whenever anyone asks about staining/dyeing old clothes is always: what fabric is it? Natural fabrics dye a lot better and lot more evenly than synthetic ones. If you’re not sure what fabric it is – well, even if you are sure, it would be worth doing a swatch test on a hidden layer to check out how well the stain will take and what it’ll look like.

(For those interested in natural dyes, I’d recommend the Pioneer Thinking guide to plant dyes – what to use to get different colours and what to use as fixes.)

Any other advice? and what about tub suggestions/advice? I’m not an expert dyer but I believe you have to be careful using some metal pots (especially aluminium) – is plastic to be avoided too? Valerie seems happy with the design but any other upcycling advice?

(Photo by trudyloos)

A couple of years ago our company produced some clothing (hooded sweatshirts and t-shirts for men and women).

We still have quite a substantial amount of this clothing, which we plan to donate to charity. Every item is brand new and is extremely good quality (100% combed cotton) and each item is individually wrapped in a plastic bag.

We were wondering if you have any contacts or links to legitimate clothing charities who may be interested in this clothing? We’re keen for this clothing to be used by those in need (and not recycled)

A “substantial amount” would probably overwhelm a high street charity shop but it might be worth getting in contact with a local shop anyway – they might be able to put you in touch with someone higher up the chain who could distribute the items over a wider area.

What about more direct distribution to those in need? Does anyone know about any charities who accept large amount of clothing for giving out rather than resale? From what I’ve read, large international aid charities tend to prefer money to items (or items to be sold in their local shops to make money for sending overseas), because the items are rarely what they need in a given situation but does anyone know different?

Although is not strictly a recycle or indeed repair, I nonetheless need help!

I bought a lovely dress in a second hand shop which I just know I would get loads of wear from if only I could remove the smell! It seems to have been washed in a very highly perfumed washing powder or maybe fabric conditioner. Unfortunately, I am very susceptible to smells, so at the moment there is no way I can wear. I have washed it countless times, it’s been hung outside for weeks now and I have soaked it in vinegar, all to no avail, the smell does not even seem to be fading. It’s made of a man made material.

Any suggestions?

We often get clothes with a “charity shop smell” (which isn’t a bad smell, per se, just an overly-perfumed one) but one wash usually sorts them out, so I don’t know what to suggest on this lingering aroma. I suspect the answer may be to use bicarb of soda since that’s great at absorbing smells but I don’t know how that would be applied… Anyone know?

Any other ideas?

I wanted to make a gift bag in a hurry the other day out of some old brown paper. A quick search pointed me towards a number of tutorials which used existing boxes as templates – either intact boxes or as nets – but I wondered if anyone else had any other designs?

Another idea I had was to make a quick pouch out of a pretty fabric – or even just fold the fabric furoshiki style.

Any other suggestions?

My lucky little boys get too many presents to fit into an actual stocking. In the past, I’ve got them plastic bags from the Christmas shop but when I was thinking about what to do for them this year, I remembered the novelty glittery T-shirts I had to wear for work last year. I turned them inside out, sewed along the bottom and righted them again, instant festive swag bags!

A great idea, Beth. I’ve also seen pillowcases used in the same way – felt letters and decorations tacked on so they can be removed and used as pillowcases again – and there are plenty of patterns out there for making keepsake stockings out of scraps (although they’re more like keepsake decorations instead of present-filled ones).

Another idea – although for adults more than kids – is to give a nice reusable shopping bag as part of the gift instead of using a gift bag: if it’s not too overtly Christmassy, they’ll be able to use it all year around. There are plenty of ways to reuse/recycle/upcycle things into shopping bags – including out of tshirts and vest tops.

Any other specific stocking/swag bag suggestions though?

(Photo by arttg)

There are hundreds of different knitting and crochet patterns for fingerless gloves – from the very simple (a square folded over with a thumb hole left in the seam) to ones with cabling-a-go-go and separate half fingers to provide more coverage – and they don’t take long to knit/crochet up — but what are the options for non-knitters/crocheters?

Last week, Leethal posted a how-to make them out of old socks and you can also make them from the sleeves of old jumpers/sweaters/long-sleeved tops.

Any other suggestions? Any advice on refashioning them out of existing clothes – what to look for/avoid in the starting items?

(Picture by deb roby)

• dancingfarmer over at Not Dabbling In Normal pulled together a comprehensive list of ways to make starter pots for seedlings out of newspaper – different methods to suit different uses. (The dancing one has also written a great article on how we often kid ourselves about how much time our “convenient” lifestyles save us and also how what at first seems overwhelmingly difficult and time-consuming, can quickly become internalised and easy peasy.)
• Crafty Nest featured a cute tote bag tutorial last week – made using old tank tops/vest tops. Two different methods are used, drawing on the style of two different tops.
• It’s a few weeks ago now but Kate over at Living the Frugal Life wrote a great article about alternatives for feeding chickens – using what the land provides rather than just using always store bought food.
• Dollar Store Crafts linked to this fab necklace made from pennies – I like the idea of making a holiday memories one with very low value (so not worth changing) coins from a trip.
• And Junk Jewelry‘s Jane has added to her list of other junk jewellers – her list now totals 53 – lots of ideas for reusing and recycling lots of things to make fun and interesting jewellery.

What are the reuses for an old fleece jacket? My DH has some that are too small but I don’t want to just throw them away.

If it’s just a case of them being too small then it’s probably best to pass them on to someone who can still use them as jackets – a charity/thrift/op shop or shelter would probably welcome them with open arms at the moment given it’s becoming more wintery by the minute.

If they’re too old or tatty for such a donation, you could salvage the bits of fabric that are still in good condition to use for various crafts and the like – I’d imagine cut into strips or small pieces, it would make bouncy stuffing or larger pieces could be sewn together to make a snuggly, patchwork quilt. Any other suggestions?

What about non-craft uses? I have a half a memory of people using old (synthetic) fleeces as an insulator for frost-sensitive plants in the garden or related to that, I guess they could be refashioned into a kneeling pad for leaning on when out pulling weeds and the like. Other ideas?

Given they tend to be used by people doing hard physical work, I suspect jackets and other high vis clothing gets damaged quite a lot – are there any recycling schemes in place for companies/organisations that go through a lot of them?

On a smaller scale, any suggestions for reuses? Anything that can take advantage of the fluorescent fabric and reflective strips?

I’d like to make something out of my daughter Hayley’s first babygrows and bibs but all the refashioning ideas I can find are from adult clothes. Have you got any suggestions?

Baby clothes probably don’t lend themselves quite as well to keepsake projects as, say, a lace/satin wedding dress but I’m sure they can be put to other reuses. The first idea that springs to mind is a quilt for the baby – the cotton will be super soft so make a nice snuggly cover. They’ll also make great reusable face cloths/wipes.

Aside from crafty solutions, if they’re still in good condition and you’re not too attached to them, of course you should pass them along someone else to use – either through a baby group, a charity shop or through something like the NCT’s nearly new sales.

Any actual refashioning ideas? Or other ideas?

I have bags of unused scraps of upholstery vinyl, I’m trying to find out if these can be recycled and if so how?

At the moment they are just being thrown away but if they can be turned into something else then that’s great!

I suspect Matt is producing these scraps on a commercial scale so needing something more than craft suggestions. However, what might be a scrap to him (because, for example, it can’t be used for an entire seat cover perhaps) might not be a scrap to another person who wants to make smaller things out of them – there are organisations like Scrap Leeds who collect reusable commercial waste and redistribute it to schools, arts projects and crafters. If possible, it might be worth sorting out sizeable scraps while going along.

As for the truly scrap pieces, if they can’t be recycled back into sheets of fabric, it might be possible to shred them for reuse as insulation or stuffing – the hard bit is finding a nearby company who does that. Any suggestions?

How could I recycle a wedding dress? I sewed it out of white satin and it is a skirt, bodice and separate train, also quite a bit of spare material and some small bits of netting (I’ll keep the veil).

I don’t really want to give it away, but I’m not going to wear it a second time!

So far I’ve thought of christening gown (if I ever had a girl), undies/nightdress and kiddy angel costumes. I’d kind of like to make some really frilly baby room accessories if I ever had a girl, but has anyone got any non-clothing suggestions?

If you’re want to keep it – but not bothered about keeping it in one piece, I’m sure there are loads of lovely keepsake craft sections – the satin might make a nice cushion or as the lining of a jewellery box. Or to pull in a suggestion from last week’s post on picture frames, you could use the net in an old frame to make a jewellery display for earrings and the like.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by lumix2004)

I actually thought about them (but forgot again) a few weeks ago because we’ve got a few floating around from a conference we went to last year (shoutout to LUGRadio Live) – they’re great for hanging your nametag around your neck while you’re there but afterwards…

Actually one of our friends uses an old one to hang his keys around his neck (his trouser pockets are always holey, disturbingly holey) and another friend uses one on a USB key so it doesn’t get lost as easily – but that’s only a few uses, possibly only good for my disorganised friends.

Any other suggestions for Nicole?

(In case you’re not familiar with them, lanyards are usually just a loop for webbing, like a wide shoe lace, with a metal clip or ring at one end. They’re usually about 50cm in length.)

I have repaired my current umbrella on a number of occasions whenever the cover become detached from the spikes but the fabric at the tips is getting weak now from its frequent visits from the sewing kit. I’ve also had to throw them away in the past because they’ve done that inverting in the wind thing, snapped a prong and refused to close properly from then on.

So any suggestions on how the mechanism or the (cute, strong, water-resistant) fabric could be reused? Any tips for fixing them would also be appreciated!

(Photo by neza)

here’s a suggestion. one of my trusty rucksacks straps broke the other week. i’ve tried to sown it back to the bag a couple of times but each time it snaps again because of all the stuff i carry on my back.

i’ve decided to buy a new bag because the zip is past it too but still, i am reluctant to throw the old one away. have you got any ideas?

(Photo by worack)

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?