The Up-Cycled Cloth Collective - Some Weekend Inspiration

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My talented friend Sarah introduced me to a fantastic group on Facebook yesterday, The Up-Cycled Cloth Collective. Author, Melanie Brummer, who set up the group, says that 10% of the world's waste originates with the textile industries. I have created this page to create awareness so that people stop and think "How can I re-purpose this cloth before I throw it into the landfill?"

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I know a lot of us secondhand aficionados feel we're fighting a losing battle trying to spread the word that cheap throwaway fashion is destroying our planet, I'm increasingly exasperated by otherwise intelligent women showing off their dubiously made fast fashion hauls on social media and sick to death of sorting through charity shop rails loaded with poorly made clothing that was the in-thing only weeks ago and, even worse, when I'm out and about I often see clothes fly-tipped on street corners or hanging out of wheely bins. Charity shops are swamped with so much fast fashion that they haven't room for it and so it gets shipped off to Africa which has caused many of the traditional textile industries to collapse as our secondhand cast-offs are a far cheaper alternative.

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 But there is a chink of light. The Up-Cycled Cloth Collective boasts over 52,000 members worldwide sharing ideas for re-purposing fabrics otherwise destined for landfill. The group pages are packed full of brilliant makes from professional makers and artists to enthusiastic amateurs and absolute beginners - even if you can't thread a needle I guarantee there's inspiration for everyone.

If you're not a Facebook user I'll try and share any good ideas I come across (with the author's permission). 

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Here's a few of my makes over the years.

 My patchwork curtains were my first ever major project, they helped distract me from my grief in those dark days after my Mum died and before her funeral. I used old tea towels, frayed vintage clothes, doileys, tablecloths and tatty curtains from jumble sales. Tutorial HERE.

The cats had ragged this jumble sale 1930s bentwood chair to buggery, it was too tatty to donate to the the charity shop and it would have been a crime to take it to the tip so we recovered it with some vintage curtains we'd bought from a charity shop years ago.

What do you do with three vintage St Michael single bed covers that have seen better days? Cut them into strips, sew them together and make a massive one (perfect for the cats to camp underneath.)

Hideous old granny lampshade you inherited from a relative? Cut up some vintage fabrics and stick onto the lampshade with plenty of PVA glue. (Tutorial HERE.)

A giant pair of shoelaces, scraps of vintage fabric, a bag of pompoms from the charity shop and some felt becomes bunting for our festival stall.

A collection of knackered 1960s hand towels and some fringed trim from your bed cover project? A patchwork bath mat.

A charity shopped  Lloyd Loom ottoman that had seen better days? An hour with a staple gun and an old velvet curtain a friend no longer wanted.

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My inherited Edwardian chaise longue was a disgrace, having had a brown Dralon makeover back in the 1970s. On a wet Bank Holiday Monday out came my stash of vintage curtains and the rest was history. My skirt was originally a 1960s curtain and my cardi a repurposed granny square blanket bought from a charity shop.

A friend kindly passed on a trunk of vintage table linen she'd discovered when clearing out her late Grandmother's home. I made them into these crop tops which I sold at festivals.

 My waistcoat started life as a pair of curtains that hung up in my little brother's bedroom back in the 1960s.

 I shared my Afghan dresses with the members of the group and was overwhelmed by the reaction.

Here's me in the throes of a skirtain* making frenzy a few years ago.

Skirt + curtain = curtain

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Get creating, you'll never know you can do it until you try.

Linking to Patti and the gang for Visible Monday.