Quick, half hour sewing upcycling projects

I thought I would share with you a couple of really quick, upcycling projects, if your like me and have children , time is difficult to come by, sohere are a couple of easy upcycling ideas , each one could be completed in half an hour max, probably less, depending on how much detail you want and your sewing abilities, these projects would be suitable from beginner upward.

Project 1 , silly length jersey dress

First project I had this dress and found the length odd, neither here nor there




From this I created a tube dress and small shrug/cardigan as below



Firstly I cut the dress across the middle, a couple of inches below the armpit , and serged along the top of the tube, if you haven't got a serger zig zag with your sewing machine (don't forget to use a ballpoint needle).

Create a waistband casing , as we did for the pillowcase skirt previously here using 1 inch thick elastic.
To measure the length of elastic you need, measure above your bust, around armpit level, this is where you want your dress to sit so use this length of elastic, and create the waistband casing and thread the elastic as per the pillowcase skirt tutorial and you have a dress.

For the shrug top, cut up the front middle of the top part of your dress through the neckline , serge or zig zag with your sewing machine all raw edges and trim with whatever you fancy, I had lace so I trimmed with lace but use what you have and let your imagination run wild, you can use buttons , bias binding or leave as it is and sew a hem

Project 2 a boys cardigan, to a girls cardigan


I have a little problem with hand me downs with my children, as my two little ones are a boy and a girl, my eldest tiddler being a boy and my youngest tiddler being a very girly girl who rocks the eclectic boho look , none of this dressing like her friends , she wants to be individual , so here is one way I achieve this, upcycling her brothers cardigan from this



to this



A Boho Chic recycled cardigan no one else will be wearing


This again took less than half an hour , I cut out lace hearts from a scrap of net curtain I had , pinned and sewed them on the cardigan using raw edge applique, used zig zag stitch to sew the hearts around the edge to attach them to the cardigan and stop them fraying.





Don't forget again if you are using a stretchy fabric, jersey or knit use a ballpoint needle.

Finally I added a ribbon trim around the bottom, by sewing with a straight stitch along the ribbon attaching it to the bottom of the cardigan.
You could upcycle a child's cardigan or a cardigan for yourself, make it as simple or as complicated as you like, add buttons , frills, lace , applique, or I quite like the idea of creating buttonholes and weaving ribbon through, maybe next time I will try this.

So get rooting through your wardrobe, your children's wardrobes, charity shops , car boot sales and friends wardrobes, what isn't worn ? can it be recycled into something that can be worn ?

There are so many ways to recycle and upcycle, here are a few items I have created that are for sale in my Etsy shop



Details here



Details here



Details here



Details here

If you want to see other items I have created please visit www.martisanne.co.uk

Remember the only limit is your imagination, if you can imagine it, you can make it, until next time happy recycling