Upcycling Kids Clothes - A guest post.

Today's post is written by Martha Buckley, she is a professional blogger and writer. She enjoys sharing her knowledge with others and collaborates with best custom writing. Today she shares some interesting insights on recycling children's clothes. as as I've recently cleared out my children's wardrobes I can totally relate to the things she's sharing here.

There is nothing that seems more wasteful in our society than kids clothes. If you have children you almost feel guilty when they outgrow something. Although we give hand me downs to those around us, there are so many outfits that you almost can’t give away. If there is a stain, or just the slightest of wear, most people are too vain to dress their children in it. What that leaves our society with is an abundance of clothes, made from materials that don’t decompose, that usually end up in landfills. That is nothing but sheer waste. You also don’t want to be the parent who makes their child suffer wearing ugly, stained, clothing because of your environmentally conscious affiliation.

So what can you do with those stained clothes

It is very obvious what to do with the clothes that are still in good condition, you wear them. But for those clothes that are slightly used, or those that are imperfect, if you aren’t going to outfit them on your children, there are other ways to use them. Many of the old styles are coming back again, and mix and match is all the rage. If you know how to sew, why not take the good pieces of the outfits that are still intact and make your own frankenstein version. I know it sounds kind of awkward, but if you look back to the styles of the 70s you will see that the more colorful and outlandish the more trendy clothes were. Bring back the eclectic style by piecing together the pieces that are still good.

If you have children that are older and much bigger than the little ones take those old clothes to let them paint and get dirty. Why let them play in play clothes when you can give them an old t-shirt to throw over their clothes that you never have to worry about getting dirty. The bigger, the better, it just gives them more room to cover their own stylish clothes.

Clothes need not be kept as such

Just because the material started out on clothes doesn’t mean that it has to stay in that form. In the end, material is material. Why not take the material of the clothes, especially the ones you loved them in and make a care blanket for them to take to college. If you make a blanket out of all of those old clothes, it will be like a hug from home. If you are a sentimental person, why not make a blanket for yourself. So many memories can attach to the favorite outfit you have for your children. Keep those memories alive by piecing them into a blanket, or throw, that way instead of putting them up in an old memory box, you will have them to keep you warm on a cold winter’s night.

Children love art

If you are daring enough, cut those old clothes up and let your children make their own art, or donate it to the school, or to the local children’s hospital. If you are always looking for things for your children to do, cut up those old colorful clothes into pieces, hand them some glue and let them go to town. They can make some really beautiful art pieces. When they are done, you can hang them on the wall as wall hangings to display their colorful nature. If you are room mom at the school, cut them into kits for the kids and have them make an art project at their next in school party. Let their creativity run wild while you are upcycling those clothes.

There are so many different uses you can find for old children’s clothes. Often times we are tempted to just throw them into the trash and walk away. Before you do that, think about all the things that they can be made into, all the ways that children and adults can enjoy the material. There is never a reason for material that can be reused to end up in land that just sits and rots. When possible, you should find a new use for those things that you don’t want anymore. Just because no one would want to wear them doesn’t mean there isn’t other value for the material.

Some great points there Martha, Thank you for sharing. We are lucky to be able to recycle and reuse most of our clothes. Those which are past useable are made into proggy mats, quilts etc, and the remaining fabric is taken to the local recycling centre, which uses it for a range of different purposes depending on it's fibre content.