Do you love your old pants? Upcycling is better than throwing them away! Even if your favorite pants are no longer wearable, you can breathe new life into them with a little patience and skill. You'll be doing something good for the environment, saving money and letting your creativity run wild. Get inspiration from our DIY tips for upcycling pants and transform your old clothes into something new!
Great! To be able to work hygienically and cleanly, you should first wash your old pants. If your pants are colored, we recommend Perwoll Renew Color, so that your pants retain their beautiful color even in their new form. In keeping with the theme of upcycling: The detergent bottle is 100 percent recyclable and is itself made of 50 percent recycled plastic!
Our first idea for upcycling pants is to sew a patchwork blanket out of them. This works particularly well if you have several old pairs of pants. If you also have jeans to recycle, you can create an attractive pattern with the mix of pants fabric and denim fabric. Important: For a patchwork blanket measuring 150 x 200 cm, you need around eight pairs of pants. The blanket is ideal for upcycling pants legs in particular, as they provide a lot of fabric. Sewing a patchwork blanket out of old pants is a passion project that you should plan some time for, depending on your sewing experience. The result will be worth the effort, however!
For a gym bag, you will need one or two old pairs of pants, depending on the size. Do you have old leather pants or faux leather pants? Great, because you can use them to sew a durable base for your gym bag so that the fabric doesn't scrape through when you put the bag on the floor. Equip your gym bag made from upcycled pants with an inner lining to make it more robust. The gym bag is particularly suitable for beginners in sewing, as it is mainly sewn with straight seams. Do you also want to reuse worn-out towels? Use the fabric from your old towels to decorate your gym bag with a decorative border.
Are your absolute favorite pair of sweatpants worn out? Don't worry. You don't have to get rid of them completely - just the legs. However, you can upcycle the legs by using them in the patchwork quilt. When you're ready to upcycle your old sweatpants, decide how long you want your shorts to be, cut off the legs and sew them up. This looks especially pretty with folded leg openings. Do you still have some old metallic fabric paint at home? Then you can decorate your new shorts with dots, stars or hearts.
- For example, you can sew a denim skirt out of your pants by cutting off the legs, unpicking the crotch and sewing them back together to make a skirt.
- Are your old pants really torn? Then cut out shapes and patterns from the fabric that you can use as appliqués for other clothing. These can then be used as fabric reinforcements on the knees or as decorations on bags or blouses.
- Another option if your pants are really torn is the classic trouser upcycling: potholders. Even beginners can easily sew these.
- Did you enjoy recycling your old pants? Perhaps you would like to embellish your old sweaters next. You can also find useful tips for this here.