Upcycle Tips and Tricks

5 Materials

1 Hour

Easy

I don’t know about you, but every fall and spring I love to go through my closet! I look through my clothes and I decide what to keep and what to get rid of. Now that I am home most of the time, I thought it would be a great idea to see if there were any changes I could make to some old pieces that would make me want to keep them. Follow my tutorial to learn a few tips and tricks to fixing and upcycling clothes you already have in your closet. This fashion revamp tutorial will give you some ideas that will turn old pieces into closet favorites once again.

Tools and materials:

Scissors
Pins
Needle and thread
Sewing machine
Old clothes

Upcycling ideas clothes

The first piece that I will be refashioning is this pair of jeans. This pair fits me so well and I love that they are bell bottoms. The only problem is that I have to wear them with a pair of heels because I am a little on the short side.

Upcycle a shirt

I also decided to fix up this fun and colorful shirt. I thrifted this piece but it’s just a little too big so I wanted to take it in and make a few changes to get the perfect fit.

How to upcycle clothes

Shorten the jeans

Let’s start with the jeans! I decided to shorten them to above the ankle. A great tip is to always make them a little longer than you want because once you cut you can’t make them longer again. I cut the second leg to where I had made the fold. I then cut the folded leg to the same length.

DIY upcycle clothes

Take in the bottoms

The bottoms were a bit too wide for my liking so I pinned darts on the back panels of both legs to take them in a little.

Sew a dart

I then hopped over to the sewing machine to pin the darts in place. I cut off the excess fabric and zig-zag stitched to hold the dart in place. I threw the jeans in the wash to give them a nice frayed edge.

Upcycling clothes before and after

Cut out the shoulder pads

Moving on to the shirt, it had a very simple fix. First, I started this revamp by cutting off the shoulder pads.

Press the cuff

Shorten the sleeves

The sleeves of this funky shirt were a little too long for me so all I did was fold the hem of the sleeve upwards creating a cuff. I then used my iron to help hold the cuff in place.

Upcycle old clothes

To ensure that the cuff would stay in place, I hand sewed a few stitches on the top and bottom.

Creative ways to upcycle clothes

I love how these small changes gave me a totally revamped and gorgeous outfit! What items of clothing could you refashion to create new closet favorites? Let me know in the comments below!

Suggested materials:

Scissors
Pins
Needle and thread

See all materials