Out with the old – turn it into the new!
Instead of throwing away those tired old clothes in your wardrobe this spring, we dare you to revamp and revitalise.
With the growing environmental concerns around fast fashion, upcycled vintage is more on-trend than ever before!
Why not have a rummage and get inspired to create something entirely new, for free. Whether that’s simply adding on a design or completely repurposing the material and starting from scratch – we want to see.
Just remember to get pictures before taking the scissors to something - we want to see a before picture of the garment/garments upcycled and a picture of the finished new piece. Tell us about how to have repurposed your garments so we can see the journey your creation has made. You can submit as many entries as you like!
Entries will be considered by the Subject Advisor for Fashion - selections of entries have been added to this page with more to come!
Joy Saville of Bicester u3a - kicked the initiative off with her transformed scarf!
I used to go backpacking and touring in India and as I have a passion for scarves I brought back many examples from my travels.
This one is a 'dupatta' a shawl-like scarf worn by Indian women over their shoulders and used as a veil when necessary. It is very long and wide and I loved it particularly the colour. I wore it once on my return to show it off to my u3a Arts and Crafts group but it has since been folded and forgotten amongst the many other scarves for years.
I decided to up-cycle it and made a lovely summer top, although it would need a camisole underneath for modesty being rather see-through, and with the remains, I was able to make a smaller scarf more suitable for me to wear with my Western clothes.