How can I reuse or recycle … old ties?
Continuing on from the tidying “rampage” mentioned earlier in the week, I’ve been sorting through our old clothes in the bedroom.
In addition to the clothes we wear regularly, we have a couple of boxes of old clothes on the top of the wardrobe. These are the clothes that we will wear again just as soon as we lose the required weight, height or fashion hindsight that caused them to be banished to the boxes in the first place. Periodically, these boxes get sorted through again and the “nah, I’m not going to be a size 10 again in a hurry” cast-offs get sent to the charity shop.
But there is some stuff that isn’t really suitable for charity shops – because they’re damaged or stained, or hideous travesties against everything that is good and/or pure — like these old ties of John’s.
Aside from sending them to be recycled for their fabric, any reuses?
Would require abit of effort but you could cut them up and use the good parts to make a patch-work quilt.
You could have ‘remember when i wore that sessions’
I’ve seen a number of skirts and dresses made from ties by sewing them together as strips of cloth. If you have the al the same way up they will flare out like a traditional skirt and if you lay them head to tail they are straighter. I guess you could mix and match head-to-tail and all the same way for some effect.
Ties should be banned. They are never washed and so are vectors for diseases in hospitals, especially if your doctor wears them.
They can be dry-cleaned. Besides, they don’t touch people and are not worn directly on the skin, so they can’t have THAT much bacteria.
Would they make unusual handles for home made bags?
Local high school art departments often have a rummage bag of material scraps – you could consider donating them – if they are old enough they might give the students an insight into previous fashions.
The softer pieces could be used as stuffing in a body pillow / mini-me doll.
Soft silky fabric ties make great pillowcovers. Remove the lining from the ties and open the fabric, then sew the ties together wide end to narrow end to make a large enough piece of fabric to cover a pillow top.
i’ve seen them made into dresses, skirts, purses, curtains, even a blanket.
use for a test fabric when sewing.
weave them into a cool design
put them in your first aid kit for use as a turneqet.
I saw cuff bracelets made from recycled ties. They were wrapped around a bracelet form. I’d love to know how it’s done. They were beautiful.
Use double stick tape on an old bangle bracelet and cover by wrapping strips of tie material around the bracelet.
Saw this in a recent magazine.
I have seen and used old ties to create quilts. Great for crazy quilts and also strip pieced quilt tops.
Fashion doll clothing are another use.
Just a couple of suggestions.
I watched a TV craft show turn old ties into a beautiful tree skirt.
weave them together for the top of a chair staple gunning below
donate them to a local school or nursery for their dressing up box
I am doing a recycled project for my gcse textiles, i am going to be making a dress made from recycled ties. I am really excited as my idea is quite original, and i cant wait to get started. :)
my mum made a skirt out of ties in school??? LOTS of ties apparently
i said use them as a belt
OR
glam them up and go for the avril lavigne look!
use them to make hair ties. just sew some stretchy elastic underneath and make sure all the ends are sewn well. nestab1@hotmail.com
Hi I need lots of ties for making purses and things which i sell at craft fayres. If anyone has a lot of ties they want to get rid of please email me for my address and I’ll gladly take them off your hands?
emma.ferris@live.co.uk
Many thanks
Emma
Emma, I have plenty of old ties. Let me know if you’re interested. -Chris
chrismccartin@yahoo.com
Use them as fabric to decorate your diary.