Altered Couture or Recycled Clothing
August 29, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Home & Living
In the creative world, we now have “altered couture” instead of recycled or remade clothing. I like the term though.
Image: sxc.hu
It implies high fashion and enables people to take pride in using their creativity to make use of worn and worn out items in their closet…or ones they find at rummage sales and second hand shops.
In addition to altering used clothing, these new designers (whether it’s someone who does this for a living or you simply stretching the clothing budget) use embellishments and embroidery in creative ways.
Some of the pieces of altered couture I’ve seen are:
- An apron made by cutting away jeans except for the front with side pockets.
- A lightweight jacket created from a sweatshirt with added embroidery.
- A skirt or tote bag utilizing neckties for the fabric.
- Tote bags made from jeans and denim skirts. (One lady came to our yard sale looking for just these items and showed me the totes she created.)
- Clothing mended by adding applique, embroidery and/or embellishments.
- Small purses made from jeans’ pockets.
What have you done in the way of making altered couture when you thought you were only recycling or budgeting carefully?
