Why Upcycle?

"A closet full of nothing to wear." A phrase that most women probably find themselves thinking on occasion (or what feels like everyday in my case). No matter how much we would like love to go out and buy something new every time we need to find something to wear, us college gals are on tight budget. So this is exactly why we turned to "upcycling".

"Upcycling" is a term that basically means recycle your old things into new things by the process of fun and interesting DIY (do it yourself) projects. Since Sarah and I (Rachel) find ourselves in this position more often than not, we decided we would make a blog sharing our ideas with other people to let them know that upcycling is not only frugal, but it can be easy and actually really fun! So gather up all your old t-shirts, out-of-date jeans, and whatever else you have stashed in a pile of things you never wear and DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT throw them away! They are about to be changed from trash into treasure.

Jersey Weave Shirt

The old tshirt is one of our favorite items to upcycle. There are so many different things you can do with an old tshirt, and everyone has one lying around. This project turns two old shirts into one new one in just minutes!

Materials you will need: Scissors, old t-shirt, and old patterned shirt

Step 1: Cut off the neck of the old t-shirt to widen the neck line.

Step 2: Cut the patterned shirt in half along the side seam in order to make the fabric easier to work with.

Step 3: Cut the patterned fabric into strips about half an inch to an inch thick. You will need to cut around 10 to 15 strips in total.

Step 4: Start to cut extremely tiny holes in the neck of the old t-shirt along the neckline. Begin the weave the patterned strips through the holes. Continue the pattern down the shirt until you have the desired amount of rows.

Here is the finished shirt! You can add as many rows of weaving as want. What an easy way to liven up a boring outfit!