Ways to Upcycle Old Clothing with Lace

There are lots of upcycle ideas and creative ways to give old garments a new lease of life.

Upcycling cotton t-shirts and skirts can easily be refashioned with lace and doilies

Hand-sewing? Consider using a blanket stitch, running stitch or straight stitch for ease. For more decorative items, use fabric glue to hold embellishments in place.

Adding embroidery to to a t-shirt placed in areas where there are no stretch is a great way to create new garments that are artsy and stylish. Sewing seed beads on top can add a bit of bling.

Using a dress form can help with placing your lace of embellishments.

It will help keep the fabric steady and allows to see how lace placement will look in real time. It can also help you visualize when layering different elements together and pins can be used to place items. On this upcycle below, a woman’s shirt top was layered over  an altered sweater vest. Lace fabric was cut a part leaving a raw edge and stitched.

Layered over a tank top it has a fancy look to pair with jeans or layer with a flannel shirt or denim jacket for fall.

Upcycling Denim like painting on old jean, jacket or a jean skirt can be very creative and keep them out of the landfill or add a doily to the pocket.

While painting on denim jeans with fabric paint is a fun way to add a new look, using freehand stitching is another way to turn your old jeans skirt into a piece of wearable poetry. This denim jean skirt was upcycled with scraps of fabric sewn on in the shapes of birds with hand embroidered words and notes and a hand-painted heart. Lace was added on the bottom and it goes from a blank canvas to a wearable work of art.

Try using raw materials like fabric scraps, blankets, quilts to upcycle garments and create mixed media-inspired original clothing.

By shortening these pants to cropped and adding lace to both the hem and waistline, these pants get a brand new look.