Wearables Upcycled Wardrobe

Upcycled Wardrobe/
$25 and your favorite jeans

I wanted to start a little journal for creating some upcycled clothes for my dolls. I think in the current climate there are a lot of reasons to explore sewing clothes for your dolls from preexisting items and old materials, so I wanted to show some things I'll be doing right now and hopefully some images of process that might help inspire anyone who is interested in sewing some projects like this.

My focus with something like this is:
Reducing material cost by finding interesting second hand clothes
Being more environmentally conscious by using things destined for the landfill instead of contributing to textile industry problems (also trying to use more of my own scraps)
Reducing the work by thoughtfully incorporating preexisting elements of the pieces
Getting a more inspired /eccentric wardrobe by thrift browsing and borrowing inspiration from the pieces I find
Increasing choices of materials which is not the huge problem here that it was when I was living in AB, Canada, but I will never forget the difficulty and expense of buying new fabric there vs. in the USA.
Sidenote: designing around any favorite pieces of doll clothes you might already have or be easily able to get already

Edit: as per usual I can't commit to only one doll through this thread, so there will be different models.

My secondary hope is to try to show you the way I taught myself to sew for my dolls all those years ago, in a very uhhhh non-traditional way that I think may appeal to some people who have a lot of trouble with math or perhaps just a certain flavor of neurodivergent thought... BUT I admit I'm really tired and often won't show detailed process. If you have a question about something please ask and I am always happy to try and help.

If you want to learn to sew in a normal way probably look at anyone else's advice. If you just want the joy of making doll clothes and to become some kind of puzzling wizard of nonsense then you are in the right place.

Now I want to come back to my mention of "$25 wardrobe." I was always in this hobby, barely able to afford the base doll, and after that, imagining just how much everything else could reasonably cost was very horrible.

This is $20 worth of thrifted clothes where I Iive:

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(Layered stretch lace top, 2 knit print tops, one tie dye t shirt, one color shift woven button down, one heavily embroidered button down, one large scarf with tassels)

This was a retail store and sale tags not outlet/ the bins, and you can get cheaper there but often the fabric is more beat up by then.

I hope this can be a reference for the variety you can get for $20-$25 and in my situation, I'm aiming to use basically this amount of stuff to design a whole wardrobe around a pair of jeans I already have for my doll. (And in general I think you can use this much variety of material to make any nice capsule wardrobe)

If you are on a super tight budget and don't have notions already remember that those definitely add up. I've got all that hoarded already. I've learned that hobby lobby and JoAnn's will run sales on thread BOGO or such so I recommend shopping sales. I buy mine at Walmart a lot too where it's lowest priced retail but it doesn't ever go on sale.

Anyway! I'm excited for you to join me, and Laurel so thank you for watching!

 

Thank you @nyaaain yes, thrift stores are your friends, but having moved around a fair bit I'll say it's just radically different from place to place. I can't find notions in my city for example. Anyone interested in this sort of thing just has to scout out their local resources. Here we have an insane amount of clothing moving through. For the sake of this thread I'm considering 75% or more of thrift clothing in my city is destined for trash so that's why I'm comfortable harvesting most any of it. There is a thriving resale market here but if it's out of style, fast fashion, or even minorly damaged it won't move.

One thing I've noticed is that
Fast fashion knits are garbage if you have to launder it a lot but they are a gold mine for doll clothes. I wish I had more free clothes to use but I really do not currently. There is something so cool about getting to reuse something of a family member or friend though!

I've already made the piece from the mauve embroidered top It had enough superficial damage it was going to be trash so I'm really excited to repurpose it!

I'm just organizing my images and stuff from what I've started for this already so I'll post it soon.

 

Aw thanks @rainglow I hope anything I show might be helpful but really I'm not the best at step by step so I don't know...

(Edit: no longer showing process and I've purged my YouTube lately, I'm just too low energy, but hopefully my ideas can still inspire others to get creative)

I've made two items from the recent thrift pieces, and altogether 4 items:
Kaftan, graphic t, scarf, and a button overshirt. Here is a quick illustration of them on Laurel:


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Already, with the jeans and hat you'll see them wearing from my collection it feels like a nice, compact little wardrobe!

First I made the kaftan from this amazing orange scarf:

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In the video I talk about cutting it around them and sewing it together.

Wah-la!

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So thrilled with it!

The shirt they are wearing is from a thrift shirt too, and a scrap of cotton print I had leftover. I discuss it briefly in the video. I really like Making a graphic t from this applique method. And Laurel's scarf too, is from a crinkle gauze scarf I thrifted earlier (that I will also make a dress out of for someone else eventually)


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And the most high pressure salvage was this super cool shirt:

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Which I wanted to basically miniaturize as simply as possible


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I don't mind out of scale fasteners so I just went with the original center bottom of the shirt. I covered this process pretty well in the video.

I think it looks just like I hoped! I'm really thrilled because as a young person I had a really similar orange velvet version of this shirt.

On Laurel

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Anyway hope that's interesting! I'm very much a fun over perfection craftsperson so fun fun fun

 

Ah so many nice comments this morning! Thank you all

@Dragoness I was definitely really concerned I would ruin it and that's the biggest pressure with salvage is that you can't get more material! But, keeps life exciting! I'm so glad you feel inspired

Haha thank you @Cap'n I appreciate it!

@Shulamite thank you so much thats very nice of you to say! Well, I really hope that you could make something for them! I'm certain it would be a good time! Sometimes when you come back after a long time away suddenly you can be full of creativity better than ever.

 

Thank you @Lutopienne ! Upcycling is weirdly fun isn't it?

@nyaaain thank you! My dark sad secret is that for some reason I have never learned to use my automatic buttonholer. I honestly don't know what is wrong with me... Well... I think it's my stupid irrational anxieties. Anyway! I thought, eh maybe it's appealing to someone else too.

The thrift store garbage cycle is individual to different areas and stores in the end, but I mean, we all know how the cycle of fashion is going, globally. I know a lot of it can be recycled in different ways (some cannot) and (please don't think my views align with this organization) when I worked at the salvation army store we would fill truckloads with compressed bales of textiles for recycling.
But even so, if you can reuse stuff consuming less resources, like this, it's good.
Anyway, not waiting to get dangerously political/ environmentalist on here because that's a big no-no, however, just happy to share excitement about small recycling for doll clothes haha

I think you all would probably expect it but i've been happy with the start on Laurel's new wardrobe, so I'm letting myself rest on that feeling of accomplishment for a while and instead made something cool for someone else that I'm compiling the info on now. will be posted soon.

 

Thank you @Tira-chan it's always nice to see other people enjoying repurposing clothes too! I don't tend to end up with a lot of usefulness from my own clothes, but even after the low quality fabric is gross and pill-y I can cut up something and use it as a filler. (I'm making some seating for my dolls right now and using my textile scraps to stuff the pillows.)
I know what you mean about preserving these items -- I'm very sentimental and I think a random used object can be so interesting. I feel it's very special. Besides, hard work and resources went into that stuff, so it feels good to keep appreciating it!



I'm back tonight as I upcyled something new for my Dollchateau Zenobia. I want to keep process photos light so I will still plan to make a little video on the making of this dress, however I did not get around to it yet.

I started with this (front of a) grey XS top from the bins by some Brand that was popular back in the 00s, Lucky or Abercrombie or something, I already forgot the top is made of different weights and textures of super thin knit and woven fabric.


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I've been slowly brainstorming a (don't know what to call it) modern faery, punkish, couture thing ... And I saw a bunch of runway fashion from the 00s last week that reminded me. So anyway, made her a long textural slip dress!


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Back and side view:
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The added textures are from the lace top in the first pic and a really fantastic sequin embroidery on mesh scrap I got trading with another person who sews for their dolls.

I am so happy with how the base fabric ended up working for this. Actually, it looked great before even adding anything extra, but I wanted something more weird and extra, so I kept going.

Sad attempt at photo on model:

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I promise it looks really cute on her (and matches this necklace/ collar I had made before) but I'm not in the best shape this week (I think I broke my ankle) and so I ran out of energy to take the best photo...

Anyway! Hope you all like this project! I will try to finish the process video editing and link back to it when available.

 

I have another one from last night. I finally made something from the really cute vintage cotton eyelet nightie I was hemming and hawing over cutting up (which I got at the bins especially to cut up so...) I really like cotton eyelet fabric and it's quite expensive for me new.

Nude doll in photo

Spoiler: Fabric and nakey

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And not even the doll who will end up with the dress!

I did not document the process on this one because I was feeling really tired, making a lot of mistakes and just not well... But it came to be something really lovely and a bit similar to the original as well. I think it's so pretty and could be either a very old style nightgown or a chic contemporary casual wedding dress!


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Better view of lace textures on bust

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So I preserved the bottom skirt ruffle and cut it long enough that my dress is a perfect maxi length on the 1/3 body (Aria doll 14 year with Bambicrony Carla head is our model). I wanted to mimic the lovely details on the bust and straps of the original and used two different trims I already had to bring rest together. It's made as a wrap dress and fastens with two snaps at the front waistline. I forgot how fun a wrap dress is. I should make myself some more of them.

Thanks for looking! Mara appreciates the attention on this one.

 

Thank you @foulmonster

Today i'm giving into a nagging urge to make glorious/atrocious Y2K patchwork denim wear... For anyone younger here: Long denim skirts made either directly from old jeans with leg seams ripped open and material added or denim fabric patchworked together excessively were extremely common. I'm sure you could see good examples on old Bratz dolls honestly.
Anyway these weird denim skirts were a love hate thing and I wanted to revisit it now, my own way.
I'm using a pair of worn out men's stretch jeans with a faded wash on the outside. I'm piecing it together applique style so thay edges are exposed to fray a bit. Adding lace scraps and making freestyle stitches and roses from coiling lace fabric.
Hopefully it will be a success. But it's fun so either way.


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Ah, my pleasure @Jareth
I'm glad you remember the weird denim fashions too! Haha they were very charming.

So, I made a non-upcycled top for the outfit and really wanted to make an upcycled one to go with the skirt for this thread (since I'm working on a whole character wardrobe anyway) but that's not how it panned out. I was in a mood today doing angry sewing really...
But here is the finished denim skirt anyway:


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I'm so happy with it, it will have to be in a decent set of pictures at some point.
Here is how the patchwork and textures were in the end on front and back:
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While I was trying to make an upcyled top I ended up here, with this one for 1/4 ( It is on headless Kiki, volks SD midi body)

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It was made from a knit shirt. I look forward to making more stuff from it because I love this variegated pattern.
(Fabric image)
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I was grumpy so I kept sewing. The orange scarf from before I still had a huge amount of, and although it's sheer I tested that it's modest enough when double layered, so I made this very full flowy gauze skirt for Fer as well.

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I'm very happy about this one too! Even though I messed up repeatedly. It was definitely one of those days. Orange is my favorite color but I hardly see orange fabric I like so this scarf has been exciting.

I really should always check for gauze scarves. They are a goldmine

 

So many of the images appearing broken today! Boo! Just a reminder that the broken images are a fluctuating issue and almost always the picture does still exist and you can click the link if you need to see it

I have made some patchwork denim capris last night, the final project from the worn out stretch jeans I've been harvesting from. I thought I would leave them as inspiration. I thought I would see if I could pull it off to really scrape the meat off the bones so to speak because the donor pants were so cut up there was not enough to make legs in a full cut.

Front:

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Back:

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These funky items have been really fun for me as I move towards a more strict budget and hope to become more environmentally sustainable in my craft habits.
All the additional (non denim) details were from my "trash" collection of really small scraps and such that are on their final round before I turn them into rag-fiber-fill

Hopefully I'll be back with something else soon!

 

Thanks @saraquill

I finished an outfit with the patchwork capris by making a tank from a t shirt and an breezy over-garment from a scarf I had saved for quite a while:


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The shirt was a very small adult size, and I was impressed how much fabric this used of it the back side of the shirt is solid white so I'll make another top out of it.

Visual on the yellow scarf: (I used the whole thing except corners were cut to create the final shape basically)
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All finished:

I just took this picture because sheer fabrics are so cool looking haha. The shirt is sheer too but it was harder to see details in the artistic photo I took of it.

Anyway, I am super pleased with it all together:

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Note: although I liked most of the other pieces I made for Laurel before I thought the black and white top just looked so bad on them... This outfit has me feeling a lot happier color wise.

Thanks for watching!

 

Ah thank you @chrystal ! I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far!

 

This week I made these 4 t-shirts from thrifted shirts that have a small graphic printed on one breast side. A long time ago I learned these are often a good scale to recycle as a full front print for 1/3. I sewed shirts in a 1/3 boy size for my 60-64cm crew (the Hollister is made into a slim fit and the others are a traditional boxy t shirt cut)
My activities have been waning and I wasn't specifically planning to post this in this thread but I got a lot of positive commentary when I had posted this idea to another platform, so I wanted to leave the idea here as well in case it can inspire someone else to make something cool. It's a really fun little way to upcycle (just be super careful aligning the print when you cut your pattern pieces)!


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@jessholy thanks! I give myself a long time to use up all the fabrics I collect, in general. I can use knit fabrics for lots of different doll clothes. I can also shred it and use it to fill other projects instead of buying stuffing.
I actually don't know if we have the clothing recycling program here. I see bins sometimes but I would have to read them because I know in the past it's been for resale donations or coat drives etc. Our local recycling is honestly really bad.
But once again there are a lot of ways I get the most out of the shirts. Sometimes a remainder turns into a cleaning cloth or something. Often enough these shirts were also stained and damaged and I know they weren't going to be easy to sell so I don't feel bad harvesting them. My mode is always try to use it myself first, whatever I can because recycling is vital but also it consumes more resources.

 

@jessholy if you like rag fill then you've definitely got to try it! I collect fabric in a shoe box while cutting and sewing and then when I'm ready to make something with stuffing I just cut it up manually into chunks of varying small sizes (one to three inches ish is probably average). I have a tool to sharpen my scissors after all the excessive cutting I do otherwise maybe this would be stupid.
Rag fill is way more heavy and dense than the poly fiber fill but you might recognize it from vintage stuffed toys. I think it has a cool texture. I made an ottoman tuft for my dolls stuffing only with this rag fill and if you don't pack it in tightly you can make them pillows and such or use for other kinds of upholstery projects. Or even little artsy stuffed toys and dolls if you are into that sort of thing!

 

I definitely understand that @jessholy
I still try to limit what is left as trash scraps because i don't want to make stuffed stuff in bulk... The great thing however is that you will be surprised just how much fill you use for a project, especially if you are packing it densely. So it makes good use of the waste if you save it slowly then use it up.

 

Ah thank you @Hyzenthlay ! Some ideas definitely come to better fruition than others but that's part of the adventure
I'm also really end up treasuring some of the doll clothes like that... It's just a good feeling having those favorite pieces year after year.

Back to upcycling I have made two shirts from the floral print top I got earlier (wet seal brand -- oh nostalgia). This is the second more creative one that I think is really fun. It also uses a little printed area that was on the previous green shirt's sleeve. And I made a quick little sleeve pocket on this top. Does anyone remember tiny weird sleeve pockets? I want more shirts like this now

(He's wearing a crossbody bag over in the picture, sorry about that)

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I was definitely worried in the end I just wasn't going to be able to pull off this kind of large scale high contrast floral on anything but I'm really happy with this and I think the green parts were what made it.

I think maybe the fabric would also make a good ugly turtle neck sweater though... "Granny core" or whatever. I used to wear those when I was a kid and every time I see one at the thrift store I feel tender hearted.

 

Great question @jessholy ! At this point, no I do not. For fabrics I can eyeball it. My own hand is a good stand in because it's the approximate width of a 60cm doll across my knuckles and as long as a shirt for 70cm. So I hold my hand up to things I'm not sure about.
Now if I'm buying props or something IRL my guessing is a bit less accurate and sometimes I am totally off
But those little retractable measuring tapes for sewing are a great thing to throw in your bag or pocket if you are worried! (I do that if I'm shopping for picture frames for example...)

 

@jessholy if you carry a bag with you anyway and it's not inconvenient you could also just cut a little a
T shirt shape from heavy paper after the size of a piece of clothing in your dolls' sizes so you can visualize on the go. Carry the little cut out with you. Some people find the numbers easier but I'm very visual. That's why I always used my hand but there are other options too.