Upcycling some clothes !

I have a large (and growing) pile of clothes that no longer fit or are now unwanted!
I thought it time to get stuck into some more upcycles! 
First of all were these trackpants belonging to my girls:

Now my girls are growing up, but not out. So these trackpants still fitted fine, but were just too short in the leg - hanging way above their ankles!

(When I was at school, if someone had trousers hanging that short we used to say "Has your budgie died?" - because they were flying their trousers half-mast, as you would a flag when someone dies.... 
Ok, don't look at me like I'm weird!......Tell me, 
 Did anyone else say this? or was it peculiar to the area of Northern England where I grew up?....)

ANYWAY...back to the trackpants!

All I did was cut off the legs, and the groovy 'dance' logo from the bottom of the leg piece.  This logo I sewed across the back of the bottom!  and then simply turned the new bottom hem of  the  'shorts' under and stitched!
Hey presto - two new pairs of dance shorts!


The other upcycle I did this week was of a cute dress (knit fabric) that was too tight for my youngest daughter!
Sorry - I forgot to take a picture before I started!
But I cut off the skirt part..

But the skirt was too wide at the waist to stay up! So I cut the top round and round, into one long thin strip :


Which I then cut into 3 equal lengths and plaited (braided) into a kind of belt!
I tested how long it needed to be to stay up on my daughter's waist, then stitched it together and tied the ends off.
I also used the remaining scraps of white knit fabric to make a few more belt loops to help hold the new belt in place!

My daughter loves that she can wear at least the skirt part of one of her favourite dresses again!

Stay tuned for more clothes upcycling projects coming soon! 
Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!

10 comments:

  1. Very clever upcycling there Jill.

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  2. Great refashioning, Jill! I have never heard of the expression, till now...

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  3. These are great refashions! I love the shorts, my daughter grows up not out as well and I am always looking for ways to turn too-short pants into something that fits! :)

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    1. Thanks Amy! My girls were so happy to be able to wear their new dance shorts that they've had them worn and washed 3 times already and I only altered them 4 days ago! Success indeed!

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  4. In the part of the southern USA where I grew up we would say, "Hey, I see you're on flood duty, today!" or "I see you're wearing your 'high-waters', today!"

    Great upcycling you did!!

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    1. Ha ha!! I love those expressions Cathy! Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. I so enjoy your re fashion, up cycle etc... posts. Looking forward to seeing more of your stash get used up. It inspires me.

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    1. Thanks Becky - I'm really looking forward to getting back into more upcycles!

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