Every one's heard the sustainability motto: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
When it comes to reusing my reuse has been limited to glass bottles and jars and wrapping paper. This week though I tried my hand at upcycling. Upcycling is the process of taking something that's unwanted and making into something more useful or of greater value.
My upcycling involved some old t-shirts and an old quilt cover. With the old t-shirst I made cloth wipes and burp cloths and with the quilt cover I made some wet bags and a nappy stacker.
It was with great trepidation that I started cutting up the first t-shirt. For me there's something about cutting up a perfectly good t-shirt even if I have no use for it any more. But once that first cut was made and the first cloth wipe and burp cloth were sewn I had a great sense of accomplishment - I had saved myself some money, given a new life to some old t-shirts and made something useful.
Once I had the hang of it making the nappy stacker and wetbags from the quilt was a piece of cake. The nappy stacker I made was completed upcycled - from the fabric to the cardboard base (an old cardboard box) and the "dowelling" rod for the top which was made from a load of disposable chopsticks that we'd never used from takeaway.
