Art of upcycling is not only how to create textile art pieces. It is also how to creatively upcycle textiles.
Creatively can mean artistically and it can also mean practically. Today I am going to focus on the practical aspect of creatively upcycling fabrics.
Specifically upcycling, or rather reusing white t shirts. I am going to show how I deconstruct a white t shirt to get the maximum usage from it.
When I deconstruct a t shirt I first cut off the side seams together with the sleeves
and then cut the seams off the sleeve heads
I then open the shirt and lay it on a table and cut into 2 pieces separating the front and back pieces
The front neckline is lower. so the front piece will be smaller than the back piece
What I have left is a neckline piece.
I cut off the neckline
and have a "hem" which I can use as a cord
I cut off the hems, insert a safety pin in one of the openings, turn the hem inside out and it becomes a cord.
The pile of cut off hems waiting to be flipped into cords with a safety pin.
I don't throw the pieces of fabric at the sides of the neckline away. I cut 2 circles from them
and my students use them to create fabric flowers
It is interesting to see the different textures and weaves in the cut off hems of the t shirts.
They are all 100% cotton knit. Fine, ribbed and nubbly are some of the textures that can be seen here.
They are also different shades of white. White, cream-white and grey-white.
This is what I am left with after deconstructing the t shirts.
After cutting I wash and sun dry the t shirt cloths
They are then folded into neat piles which will be stored in the various cupboards or closets, depending on where you come from.
These cloths have many uses. Napkins on the dining table.
On these I sew a decorative design on all of the edges.
Cloths used to wrap foods for storage.
I cover potatoes with the cloths to keep the potatoes in the dark and slow germination.
I wrap leafy greens in them to extend shelf life.
When fermenting vegetables or fruit with an open bottle I use the cloths instead of netting so that the vegetables can breathe and bugs can't get in.
For a pineapple skin ferment the cotton t shirt cloths are perfect.
The larger ones I use to cover pots while the food is cooking.
And the sleeves that I cut off are used in slow cooking instead of nylon cooky bags. I use them when making cholent or any slow cooking dish to separate the items so that they can be served on separate plates.
I sew one edge of the sleeve closed with 100% cotton thread. No polyester in food! and tie the other side with cotton twine after filling the sleeve.
The odd shaped pieces of which I have a pile after deconstructing the shirts I use for cleaning small areas, and larger stained cloths are used as cleaning rags.
I wash and reuse the cloths as often as I can and their final use is being transformed into twine and woven or crocheted into placemats and floor rugs.
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