# Re-Purposing linen clothing - need ideas



## meanwhile (Dec 13, 2007)

I have a large amount of FLAX brand Women's clothing. It is all Linen and mostly medium weight. Some of it I have collected for 15 years. It is good linen but the problem is the style of the clothing. I looked into trading or selling at 2nd Hand stores but it would not be worth the money or time.

Most of the pieces are either their T-Shirt type tops, button-down-the-front tops, and "Floods" pants. There are a few skirts. And then odds and ends of pieces like shorts (12 pair), long pants and etc. Over-all I have at least 100 pieces to work with. 

I have heard of people sewing what they call "Re-Purposed" pieces and I did find one picture where a woman had cut open a sweater and sew around the edges to make a vest.

Can anyone point me to a web site that shows photos or gives instructions for Re-Purposing good clothes? Thank you very much.


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## MacaReenie (Mar 1, 2008)

Hi! Hmm...I don't know of any off hand. there was a blog about a woman who bought UGLY or outdated items for $1 at Goodwill, etc and then she made them into updated, wearable items. It was very interesting and so cool. I wish I could remember the name of it...Good luck!


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## sewsilly (May 16, 2004)

Goodness, I'd never heard of this line of clothing before and looked it up and I LOVE it. There's pretty much nothing there that wouldn't be a basic for me.

Depending upon size and items, I'd sure be willing to barter or trade.
Depending on where you're located, I'd even drive.

As to repurposing, there's not so much a 'way' to do it, as you simply use the material to make into some other garment. To get the most of your fabric, you take the item apart, seam wise and press everything, then you use a conventional pattern, or one of your making, to recut the fabric to a design and style that you like. This works best if you are repurposing large items, as you're going to need about 2 sizes up to have enough fabric to repurpose.

One of the realities is that you can't take for instance, size 12 clothing and make it into other size 12 clothing very often at all. REpurposing is exactly what it says, using it for another purpose, other than that of say, a size 12 skirt.

For instance... I've done costumed interpretation, revolutionary period. One can use a linen blouse or skirt to make a kerchief or cap. One can use a heavy linen skirt to make a bag or 'pocket' or other useful items for interpretation. One can make a small frock for a child from a large linen plain woman's garment. For this purpose, you must take colors and patterns of weave into consideration but it works nicely.

I have a bonus daughter who is into repurposing recently She's about a size 8. She LOVES vintage menswear fabrics, so goes to the thrift stores and purchases very large (XL or XXL sized) mens shirts, takes them apart and makes blouses for herself from them. Sometimes, you can find two 'coordinating' items and use one for trim and lining/facing for a 'designer' look. The side effect of this is unfortunately, she 'collects' a LOT of shirts, that far outstrip her need for new blouses or her storage capacity, thereby effectively probably spending more actual money than just buying a couple or three new shirts.

My 'deal' is that you have to be mindful of whether or not you're actually saving anything here. Sometimes, by the time she buys a couple of shirts at todays Goodwill prices, spends several hours taking them apart and then making a shirt, she really does have more invested than buying 'new'... (please bear in mind that you can't find a lot of lovely vintage style fabric blouses made from menswear cloth.) There's something to be said, of course for recycling... and the best choice is recycling something you already own (your case).

Repurposing works well when you take adult clothing to make stuff for kids and toddlers:
http://sewlikemymom.com/category/repurpose/

http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/2011/01/polka-dot-party-dress-repurposing-mens.html


Often clothing is repurposed into other things, gifts, pillows, purses, totes. It's simply used as fabric, often in artsy projects.'

http://repurposed.wordpress.com/category/sewing/
http://fimby.tougas.net/repurposed-sewing - including some ingenious socks made from sleeves from a sweater.

I have a stack of jeans to repurpose into a braided rug. I have a stack of my husbands worn out dress shirts (pinpoint cotton) to repurpose into nice hand towels and napkins and I have a sheet to repurpose into kitchen towels/pillowcases.
I repurposed an adult XL tie dyed shirt (free from an event) into a toddler size 2 sundress. It was a huge hit.

I hope this helps.

dawn


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## kandmcockrell (Oct 10, 2008)

look at craftster.org. They have a clothing sewing section and under that there is a reconstructed section. It shows what others have done, and if you have a question, they are more than willing to help.


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## house06 (Jan 4, 2007)

i think the website for repurposing thriftshop clothes is www.newdressaday.com She is very talented and provides some great inspiration for repurposing those outdated but still useable clothes.


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## MacaReenie (Mar 1, 2008)

Ye, that is the blog! I LOVE looking at her creations!!


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