Comments on: What do you do with your old clothes?

Question: What do you do with your old clothes?

seagull.apollo — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:00:03 -0800

I've had a lot of clothes over the years that I've hung on to, for no reason other than that I can't bear to throw them away. What do you do with your favorite clothes once they are too worn out to continue to function as clothing?

By: bottlebrushtree

bottlebrushtree — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:06:00 -0800

I have a copy paper box labeled "clothes, old, sentimental" whose size limits the amount I can really hold on to.

I also will take pictures of things/clothes that are sentimental but that I should really just pass on or throw away. That made it much easier.

I know some folks will make pillows or quilts but usually my old sentimental items are just too far gone for that.

By: No New Diamonds Please

No New Diamonds Please — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:07:34 -0800

I take a digital picture, donate/otherwise get rid of it, and I've never missed a single thing.

By: shmurley

shmurley — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:15:24 -0800

I make pillow covers out of some things. I will make dog beds for a friend out of his old denim work jeans. My mom made a quilt for my brother with scraps of old clothes that had meaning. Old T-shirts with pithy quotes can be framed(they make clear plastic frames just for this but I don't have time to find and link right now). I also save some things for my daughter. My mom saved a lot of her old clothes and I loved going through them and refashioning them or just having her tell me about them.

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:19:04 -0800

A friend's mom made a quilt out of tee-shirts from high school/college that the friend couldn't bear to part with. Now she has a warm comfy quilt to watch TV under and space in her bureau again.

By: chrisamiller

chrisamiller — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:21:52 -0800

Cut up the tshirts with logos, sew them together, and make a blanket.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:23:50 -0800

Make rags out of them, clean my chain.

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:25:01 -0800

I leave them hanging in the closet :)

By: govtdrone

govtdrone — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:26:09 -0800

Take a photoe and throw it away? I don't mean to be snarky but I guess because I grew up moving every couple of years my capacity for sentimentality for clothes is limited.

By: hooray

hooray — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:26:40 -0800

I put them in a bag and hide it in the closet. If I haven't opened it in a year, I donate it without even opening the bag.

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:43:56 -0800

They become peices-parts of future Halloween costumes. Or rags. Or stuffing.

*Sighs at the memory of that old, disentegrated, signed Yo La Tengo concert shirt that is now half in a pillow and half a moldy dishrag*

By: ElectricBlue

ElectricBlue — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:58:40 -0800

Once, I won a neat silkscreened tee for a logo design I did. I was the first time I ever realized that I might enjoy graphic design.

The tee was nice, if tiny. Eventually, though, the shirt became dreadfully small and unwearable in polite company. I couldn't bear to throw it away, but...

It sat in my drawer for nearly 10 years. Finally, I decided to re-purpose it as a hardback book.

Here and here are some tutorials to get you started.

Now, I have a cute little book and the memories of my first winning logo design. (Plus, when I mock up designs in my notebook, the cute silkscreen inspires me. It's a win-win-win!)

I've also used old clothes with happy patterns to make stuffed creatures.

By: Tomorrowful

Tomorrowful — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:12:14 -0800

A bunch of my t-shirts that were never the right size, I bought stretcher bars, stretched the shirt over the frame, and stapled it on. Now I have wall-art!

By: unixrat

unixrat — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:20:46 -0800

I turn 'em into rags. When you have a ready supply of good rags of various texture, you'll be surprised how often you use them.

The family's shoes have never looked better now that I take time once a week to give them a little buff. It doesn't take long and my wife got asked if she had 'new shoes'.

By: Grrlscout

Grrlscout — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:58:16 -0800

I made a wall hanging out of a patchwork sari silk skirt that I loved to death.

By: QueerAngel28

QueerAngel28 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:10:17 -0800

I patch them until there is almost none of the original fabric left. Usually it is a pair of pants that fit in such a way that no other pair of pants in the world would ever match them....no matter how hard I tried. Granted the patches and sewing alters the appearance of the items....but some how I always fall back in love with them when it's finished, that way I can keep them in the closet and end up only wearing them once a year! (Silly me)

By: amanda

amanda — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:45:30 -0800

Is this sentimental clothing -- band t-shirts, club shirts -- or just, like, Gap t-shirts? For my sentimental stuff that I'll never wear again but can't get rid of, I got a clear, plastic box and put stuff in there that I couldn't get rid of. It all had to fit in that box. Everything else I got rid of. It's okay to hold on to some sentimental things -- just don't let them take over your life. Move them out of your drawers so that you have functionality.

If it's just Gap t-shirts, turn them into dust rags or pillow stuffing.

By: jenfullmoon

jenfullmoon — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:53:39 -0800

I'm a big fan of T-shirt reconstruction. I highly recommend Generation T as a good way to start (though it's a lot of clothes, there's accessories/how to make a quilt in there too).

By: KRS

KRS — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:54:05 -0800

Flylady is your savior. In particular, use her 27 Fling Boogie.

By: Pomo

Pomo — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:46:06 -0800

I was skeptical of the "take a picture technique" suggested by bottlebrushtree above, but it really works! I found that having a picture of a favourite item (old clothes, toys, mangled artwork) was equally satisfying for the purposes of reminiscince as having the item itself...but without the guilt and annoyance of storing additional clutter.

Try it with a few things that aren't SUPER important to you, and see how you feel. I really prefer it to the t-shirt blanket idea, because that takes up just as much space and isn't really something that will match most people's decor.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:06:09 -0800

orange swan's Creative Recycling series of MeFi posts might be of interest to you. She's done t-shirts, nylons, jeans, neckties, sweaters, bras, shoes, socks, leather, and even coat-hangers for when you're done cleaning out the closet.

By: bradbane

bradbane — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:38:05 -0800

Just toss it. You will not miss it, promise.

By: GPF

GPF — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:03:32 -0800

If you decide to donate them, do NOT take them to the unattended drive by donation boxes you may see about in suburban US. You're simply donating them to a dude with a truck who goes to sell them by the pound for scrap. Recognized charities will make much better use of them.

By: seagull.apollo

seagull.apollo — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:36:52 -0800

Thanks everyone. I'm a big fan of the picture idea, because it appeals to my anti-clutter and pro-nostalgia sides as one. All the clothing-as-art/rags/book covers answers were great as well, and really what I was gunning for when I posted the ask.

As for the hard as nails anti-saver award, hooray wins the prize! Nice and simple, and pretty great. Do you start the countdown as soon as you put the first shirt in the bag or what?