Clothing recycling comes in many different forms, whether it be traditions of hand-me-downs, clothing donations to organizations such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army, or the re-making of old, worn out, or unfitting clothing into new fashionable garments.
In recent years used clothing has come into the spotlight with the blossoming trend of vintage clothing, making the clothes found in attic trunks and thrift stores alike into potential heaps of fashion gold.
Historically, giving clothing a second life has been fairly common across many cultures, including the re-use of textiles by means of cutting down dresses that have gone out of style and using them to make children’s clothing, quilts, and other garments. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, recycling clothing was a way for people less financially well-off to acquire finer fabrics, and in the upper class was spurred by the desire to have exotic garments from other parts of the world, the obtaining of which signified wealth and status (Palmer & Clark, pg 2). Today we live in a capitalist society where the production of new garments and styles far surpasses the needs of the people, and this capitalism combined with the dominant ideology instills in citizens the need for obtaining the latest fashions as a status symbol. Because of this, clothing is discarded far before its functional time is up, allowing it to move to another group or class where they are regarded as riches because they offer access to style and change.
Used clothing has also been viewed in a negative light, being rumored as linked to the spreading of diseases such as SARS, ringworms, skin infections, etc. by wearing used clothing that has not been washed (Palmer & Clark, pg 3) and in some East Asian cultures clothing is thought to hold the spirit of the deceased which is honored by keeping a “tactile memento mori” (Palmer & Clark, pg 3).
High fashion designers began in the 1980s to look at used clothing in a new light and started creating avant guard pieces by reconstructing used items. This vintage feel to high fashion clothing is what inspired Western culture to embrace vintage style which has become popular in all different classes and can be embraced within all budgets. Vintage style is achieved through thrift store shopping for a more economical style and has also been taken up by boutique shops that provide vintage finds in concentrated amounts, eliminating the hunt, as well as new clothing that are made to look like vintage items.
Recycling clothing and creating new styles from old items is the focus of this part of our project and it looks at ways anyone can create lovely, functional, and fashionable articles out of items that are no longer of use to them. Everyone has clothing that they have outgrown, that is damaged/ worn out, or that is no longer considered fashionable, and what we would like to show is how these items can be brought back to life in new ways rather than being destined for the trash can, saving both the environment and money in the process.
This mode of reconstructing clothing is especially helpful for students and young people on a budget who are tired of their old clothing but cannot afford new items. Anyone can take an old t-shirt and create a number of different things out of it, including a new shirt, tote bag, apron, laptop case, and many other items. An old sweater can be felted and made into mittens, scarves, pillows, stuffed animals, hats, pincushions (shaped like other objects, teacups for example), and anything else you can think of. One doesn’t even need to be an expert sewer in order to create these items, only the knowledge of how to do a basic stitch by hand is needed.
Simple steps on how to felt a sweater:
*This works best with 100% wool sweaters
1. Take any sweaters that are no longer of use to you and put them in the washing machine
2. Set the machine on hot wash and cold rinse so that the fibers of the sweater bind together from the heat, using only about a tablespoon of washing detergent.
3. Add in a pair of jeans to increase the agitation during the wash, which helps to bind the fibers together.
4. Lie flat to dry
5. Cut sweater apart at the seams (take the arms off and flatten them, cut up the sides to
detach the front and back from each other).
6. Get creative!
Useful and Insightful Links:
1. Jurkola, Johanna M. (2003) Treading lightly on the environment: Using Second World War fabric saving and clothing reuse techniques to inform contemporary women's clothing design. M.Sc. dissertation, University of Alberta (Canada), Canada. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text database. (Publication No. AAT MQ87792).
2. Clark, Hazel & Alexandra Palmer. Old Clothes, New Looks. Berg Publishers.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ZIYAqj5maDUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Recycled+Clothing
3.http://www.marthastewart.com (for lots of crafty ways to re-work old clothes eg. teacup pincushions, sweater mittens, etc)
In recent years used clothing has come into the spotlight with the blossoming trend of vintage clothing, making the clothes found in attic trunks and thrift stores alike into potential heaps of fashion gold.
Historically, giving clothing a second life has been fairly common across many cultures, including the re-use of textiles by means of cutting down dresses that have gone out of style and using them to make children’s clothing, quilts, and other garments. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, recycling clothing was a way for people less financially well-off to acquire finer fabrics, and in the upper class was spurred by the desire to have exotic garments from other parts of the world, the obtaining of which signified wealth and status (Palmer & Clark, pg 2). Today we live in a capitalist society where the production of new garments and styles far surpasses the needs of the people, and this capitalism combined with the dominant ideology instills in citizens the need for obtaining the latest fashions as a status symbol. Because of this, clothing is discarded far before its functional time is up, allowing it to move to another group or class where they are regarded as riches because they offer access to style and change.
Used clothing has also been viewed in a negative light, being rumored as linked to the spreading of diseases such as SARS, ringworms, skin infections, etc. by wearing used clothing that has not been washed (Palmer & Clark, pg 3) and in some East Asian cultures clothing is thought to hold the spirit of the deceased which is honored by keeping a “tactile memento mori” (Palmer & Clark, pg 3).
High fashion designers began in the 1980s to look at used clothing in a new light and started creating avant guard pieces by reconstructing used items. This vintage feel to high fashion clothing is what inspired Western culture to embrace vintage style which has become popular in all different classes and can be embraced within all budgets. Vintage style is achieved through thrift store shopping for a more economical style and has also been taken up by boutique shops that provide vintage finds in concentrated amounts, eliminating the hunt, as well as new clothing that are made to look like vintage items.
Recycling clothing and creating new styles from old items is the focus of this part of our project and it looks at ways anyone can create lovely, functional, and fashionable articles out of items that are no longer of use to them. Everyone has clothing that they have outgrown, that is damaged/ worn out, or that is no longer considered fashionable, and what we would like to show is how these items can be brought back to life in new ways rather than being destined for the trash can, saving both the environment and money in the process.
This mode of reconstructing clothing is especially helpful for students and young people on a budget who are tired of their old clothing but cannot afford new items. Anyone can take an old t-shirt and create a number of different things out of it, including a new shirt, tote bag, apron, laptop case, and many other items. An old sweater can be felted and made into mittens, scarves, pillows, stuffed animals, hats, pincushions (shaped like other objects, teacups for example), and anything else you can think of. One doesn’t even need to be an expert sewer in order to create these items, only the knowledge of how to do a basic stitch by hand is needed.
Simple steps on how to felt a sweater:
*This works best with 100% wool sweaters
1. Take any sweaters that are no longer of use to you and put them in the washing machine
2. Set the machine on hot wash and cold rinse so that the fibers of the sweater bind together from the heat, using only about a tablespoon of washing detergent.
3. Add in a pair of jeans to increase the agitation during the wash, which helps to bind the fibers together.
4. Lie flat to dry
5. Cut sweater apart at the seams (take the arms off and flatten them, cut up the sides to
detach the front and back from each other).6. Get creative!
Useful and Insightful Links:
1. Jurkola, Johanna M. (2003) Treading lightly on the environment: Using Second World War fabric saving and clothing reuse techniques to inform contemporary women's clothing design. M.Sc. dissertation, University of Alberta (Canada), Canada. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text database. (Publication No. AAT MQ87792).
2. Clark, Hazel & Alexandra Palmer. Old Clothes, New Looks. Berg Publishers.
http://books.google.ca/boo
3.http://www.marthastewart.c
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