Some months into the pandemic, news outlets began reporting on the ineffectiveness of cloth masks. “Time to chuck the cloth!” they warned. I read on, slightly horrified. While I understand the health and safety benefits of N95 masks and alike, the idea of throwing out my beautiful, handmade cloth masks was devastating. Not only because of my attachment to them (we’ve been through several lockdowns and countless grocery runs together), but also because of my commitment to the classic adage: reduce, reuse, recycle.
I became determined to repurpose my masks in some way, rather than simply trash them with my general waste. I brainstormed ideas of how to upcycle them — maybe I could combine them into an oddly shaped quilt? My friend suggested fashioning them into a bikini — “They’re the perfect shape and size!” she enthused. I may be enthusiastic about saving the environment, but I was a little uneasy about this skimpy suggestion.
I face a similar issue whenever I notice I have too many clothes in my closet and not enough hangers. Yes, I could simply
buy more hangers, but I try to stick to a downsized wardrobe and recycle what I no longer need, taking the clothes I don’t wear to a charity shop. But donating clothes has its own consequences: charity shops have become the new landfill sites, and while some shops commit to recycling the textile waste they receive and can’t sell, many other shops do not.
Upcycling, then, seemed to be the answer for both my cloth masks and overflowing wardrobe. I began my “mend and make do” mission on YouTube, trawling workshops by those who transform old clothing into totally new pieces. In one video by Rachel & Jun’s Adventures, Rachel engages with special guest Clémentine from Mikan Bags, who upcycles used kimonos into fashionable bags. Clémentine demonstrates how to mend old clothing with holes or stains so that you can keep wearing your favourite things instead of throwing them out.
Over the course of four hours listening to my favourite YouTubers, I used a cut-up scrap of mask fabric as a patch to cover a coffee stain on a tote bag, I embroidered over a hole in my yoga shirt, and I gathered some of my old once-white clothes for tie-dyeing.
My partner clocked my increasing enthusiasm for upcycling fashion and gifted me a book from the mid-2000s called Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt by Megan Nicolay. While some of the more elaborate designs looked daunting and a little odd (a shirt-to-sunglasses-case transformation for instance), the book gave me the confidence to chop and sew my shirts with ease and enthusiasm. I was a magical, upcycling genius! It began to feel as if all these t-shirts were just sitting in my wardrobe, waiting to be redesigned and reloved.
As I continue to mend and sew and repurpose, it gets easier. Each stained jumper or hole-ridden shirt looks like a shiny new project, rather than a daunting mess. If I’m unsure of how to sew a particular item or I need some help, a quick Google or trip to the fabric and craft shop does the trick.
If you’re contemplating upcycling your wardrobe and don’t know where to start, I’d recommend gathering some needles, thread, fabric scissors, an iron and a seam ripper. The latter has helped me salvage many wonky projects time and time again.
I might not be a master sewer, but I can unpick my own stitches and try again. I’m not the best at cutting a straight line, but
I can always trim later or embrace that fraying cropped ‘90s look.
Upcycling my wardrobe has been a fun, ongoing, cathartic journey that’s helped me feel more at ease with my impact on the environment. And maybe it will help you too. Happy upcycling!
Tips and tricks to upcycling your wardrobe
- Mend stained or ripped clothing with a home-made patch or embroidery.
- If an item doesn’t fit, before donating or binning it, try taking up hems and sleeves or repurposing another item to add some length. You could also try adding darts and gathers, popping in
a zipper or button extender. - Dye your stained, faded or yellowed clothes. Buy some rainbow colours and spend an afternoon tie-dyeing. Grab just one colour and tint two or three items the same for an instant matching set! There are also plenty of natural dye options, including tea leaves, turmeric, flowers and berries.
- Remember fabric pens? Relive your childhood art classes and jazz up an old pair of pyjamas with some cute hand-drawn flowers or sketch some slogans onto a singlet.
- If you’re ready for some advanced remodels, try transforming a tee into a tote bag or a skirt into shorts. After studying some YouTube tutorials, I can confirm that it’s much easier than it looks.
- Got a lot of left-over scraps after upcycling? Use them to add pockets, patches and other trimmings to your favourite pieces.
Rae White is a non-binary transgender writer and the editor of #EnbyLife, a journal for non-binary and gender diverse creatives. Their poetry collection Milk Teeth (UQP 2018) won 2017 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. Rae’s second poetry collection, Exactly As I Am, is out now through UQP.
