Upcycle clothing, the art of repurposing your old clothes

Transform those pieces that aren't worthy of the donation bin - to a Modern Dress. Use Innovative Ways to Repurpose Old Clothes - give them a new life!
Old clothes re-designed and upcycled to Modern Designer Clothing

Image Source: ka-sha studio

Do you always run out of choices while getting ready for a function? Do you struggle with managing your old clothes as they take more room in your wardrobe? Do you run to the market to buy a new dress every time you need to attend any special celebration? Don’t worry you aren’t alone in this race. Most of the women deal with having too many clothes but lesser choices to wear

A typical Indian women wardrobe have endless number of clothing. Sadly, most of these clothes are either too outdated to wear or you have worn them too many times to repeat. Every time you plan on revamping your closet, these old but cherished clothes block a lucrative corner of the wardrobe, willingly or unwillingly

How long are you going to admire those clothes that make no fashion sense now? Imagine replacing them with something that is trendy and suits your now body better. Fascinating, isn’t it?

If you agree with the idea, you need to work out on making value out of your old and outdated clothes. Why not upcycle your clothes to get something worth wearing to the next family wedding or college function. Upcycle is an amazing way to revamp your old clothes, it also helps the environment 

Upcycle clothing: Revamping your old clothes

Modern Long Dresses that have been created from old fashion sarees

Image Source: ZenParent.in

Just like we said, we all have a pile of party wear dresses or any other western dress that aren’t trendy anymore. Upcycle clothing helps in reusing such clothes in a way that they meet the demand of the latest fashion and help you use your precious stuff all over again. It is basically an art to redesign fashionable clothes from existing, outdated clothes of your wardrobe.

“The art of creating a Modern Dress out of unused clothing is surely a great deal for every fashion loving women.”

Why upcycle clothing?

Well, if you have any ethnic wear or saree blouse design that you cannot wear anymore because it is outdated, you need to upcycle clothing. With upcycle clothing, you can wear your favorite Anarkali dress once again, without losing your fashion sense. Most of the times, parting ways with your favorite apparel becomes tough. It can be the emotional or monetary value associated with the apparel or maybe it is something that you always loved but doesn’t fit your body measurement anymore, the reasons for not letting go of these garments are never-ending. Upcycle clothing is the solution for all such problems

A Salwar suit and one piece dress created from old saree

Image Source: designindaba.com

If you have bought too many sarees in your bridal trousseau and couldn’t find occasions to wear them all, upcycle clothing again comes up as a solution. You can also opt for upcycle clothing if you have something that is too heavy or expensive to wear on any random occasion. You cannot just sit and wait to get a perfect opportunity to wear a dress, just UPCYCLE

Upcycled Clothing: the limitless options of revamping your old dress to the latest fashion apparel

Changing your old and outdated clothes to trendy and new clothing is simpler than ever. Though it can’t be done on your own and you will need expert advice. Getting your favorite dress back in wearable conditions is worth everything. You do not have to repent your decision of buying an expensive Anarkali dress or churidar anymore, upcycling helps you make the best use of it, provided you get in touch with the best professionals of the field. Here are a few ways you can upcycle your old and rarely used clothing:

Heavy Saree and Blouse

Most of the married ladies have that one or maybe two sarees which are way to heavy in embroidery and same is their blouse. Well, you were a bride then but now, you cannot wear it to any function because it will make you look overdressed. With upcycling, you have two options:

I. Convert it into an Anarkali Dress:
An experienced boutique can help you with this. You will need a few meters of extra fabric and the expertise of an expert to reuse the heavy embroidery of the saree in the best way to make you an Anarkali dress.

II. Make it a lehenga:
Yes, this is possible and with lehengas so much in trend, this is possibly the coolest thing you can do with your expensive saree

Before and after image of saree that was converted to designer lehenga
Fabric from an old saree used to create a long and sexy maxi dress

Ordinary Saree

We have piles of normal, day-to-day wear sarees that we do not use anymore. You will be amazed to know the options that you get when you think of upcycling this collection. An ordinary saree can be converted into:

  • Maxi Dress
  • Crop top from the Saree Pallu& Dupatta from the rest
  • Long Jackets to team with a Kurta-Pant
  • Skirts – Long or Short
  • Dresses for your kids
  • Draped Pants or Palazzo Pants
  • Home Furnishings – Cushions, Curtains etc

Heavy Lehenga

The chances are, you heavy bridal lehenga is packed in a case stored in the darkest corner of the closet or locked away in the bed box. An exciting way to reuse it is converting it into an Anarkali suit. A professional upcycle clothing expert can help you in making the finest and latest dress design out of your old, conventional lehenga

Before and after image of a Blue Lehenga that got transformed into a beautiful anarkali suit

Image Source: Polka Cafe

Kaftan & other beachwear dresses created out of a dupatta

Image Source: waplic.co

Dupattas

Another fact check, most of the girls have a huge collection of dupattas as they are less used and do not age like their complimenting salwar suits. Discarding these dupattas is not easy, but upcycling them definitely is. The upcycle options for dupattas include:

  • Kaftan
  • Short Tops
  • Beach Wear single-piece dress
  • Kurta

Be wise, choose to upcycle clothing

When it comes to upcycling your old clothes, the choices are plenty. The trick however, is to be creative & innovative – not just for your old clothes but any other repurposing ideas for home, office, furnishings etc

You need to have knowledge about designing, creativeness to create exotic styles and skills to stitch a bespoke garment for someone. In short, you need to hire a professional that knows the art of upcycle clothing. Upcycling must be done according to one’s individual needs, so the more experienced the person re-designing your clothes the better and innovative results you can expect. We are here to help!!

Rashmi Gupta

Rashmi Gupta

Founder & Lead Designer at Lavender, The Boutique

10 thoughts on “Upcycle clothing, the art of repurposing your old clothes”

  1. Nice to know something about upcyle. O would like you write to me how to upcycle an old cotton saree. I would like to get a nice curated new saree. Pl give me details.

    1. Lavender, The Boutique

      There are many ways to do that Vasanthi. For example, one of our customers favourite old cotton saree pallu got spoiled with a tea stain.. We created a new age saree from the old saree by replacing the pallu side with a stylish contrast fabric, thus creating a designer piece. Another way to do this would be to patch the border & motifs of your old saree to a new fabric and have a nicely curated new saree born from it. Many other ways could be thought of, depending upon the style & condition of your saree

  2. The collections you have are really amazing. yes, it’s absolutely true that every occasion have its own culture and nativity, and it has its own taste of being. check our wide of collections where tradition meets fashion

  3. I want some specific design n I have silk lahenga can u covert it in gown or something new style? My lahenga is also new with banarasi duppata I wear only 1time.

    1. Lavender, The Boutique

      Hi Kinjal

      The lehenga should have enough fabric for a gown. Secondly, we will need to see the stitching & embroidery work on the lehenga before we can confirm. Could you please WhatsApp the lehenga picture to the numbers at the bottom of this page?

      Regards
      Lavender, The Boutique

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