Fundraising through Clothes Upcycling

Clothes upcycling is not only eco- and budget friendly, but stretches your imagination and creativity.

I have started to find ways to use clothes upcycling in my everyday life, and one of the ways in which I am doing this is as a fundraiser for my kids various sporting clubs and their school.

2014

Last year I upcycled some old swimming uniforms from our club and we sold the resulting bags to raise funds for the club.

2015

In 2015  I had a new clothes upcycling challenge.  

I had a large pile of clothes that I acquired at the end of my girls school carnival last year.

Every year, we as parents are asked to buy and donate items for the carnival. I wanted to try and show how we can 'use what we've got' to create things to sell at the following year's carnival to raise funds for the school. Creating a more budget and environment friendly approach to raising funds.

Since I sew and love upcycling, this seemed to be the perfect way for me to help!

Here's the pile of clothes I got:

Lots of jeans, shorts, and other clothes items from interesting and pretty fabrics. This was just a small portion of the clothes that were left over from the clothes stall at last year's carnival.

The first thing I wanted to try out making was a sock monkey:

My girls love him and tell me they think these would sell well at the carnival!  So buoyed by my success, I tried a sock lion!

Which was also given the thumbs up by my girls.

So - I had from February until October to work my way through the pile of clothes and make things to sell.  

Each upcycle is recorded below. Click on the picture to go to the post for more details.

Bag and Elephant from Shorts and Shirt

Messenger Bag from Cargo Shorts

Denim Teddy Bear from Jeans skirt and shorts

Funky Pencil Cases from Jeans

Lined Tote Upcycled from Trousers

Elephant Keychains from Jeans and Scraps

More Sock Monkeys

What can I make from one pair of jeans?

Upcycled Jeans Bags

Jeans Pocket Turtle

Inspirational Notebook Folders

Snoopy Bag from Shirt and Pants

Shorts and Skirt to pencil case and pouch

Flying Squirrels from Trackpants

Turtle Tote from Jeans

Turtle Softie from Jeans and Skirt

Flip Flop Bag from Jeans

Perching Owls

Boxy Denim Pencil Cases

Upcycled Denim iPad Sleeve

Mini Denim Christmas Stockings

One pair of shorts upcycled

Water Bottle Carrier with adjustable strap

Scotty Dog Bag

Witchy Bag Upcycled from Shorts

You can read my report about how the school carnival stall went and what I learnt from it here.