Patchwork and upcycled clothing has seen a recent rise in popularity. This may be due to a more conscience consumer, looking for more more eco friendly practices. I’ve committed to not buying my clothing new. Instead I enjoy thrifting with my children. In fact, many of the young women I work with in my church also find this a fun way to buy their clothing. We share our finds and favorite places to shop.
It may help that I like a hippie/bohemian style. My husband does call me his hippie wife. Or maybe it is because I love scrappy. Either way I’m embracing it. So I’ve dived into my scraps and made pants. Then I took some fat quarters and made a skirt. More recently I’ve taken two of my favorite jeans. Both were getting thread bear. In fact, they had a hole or two. I cut out patches using my Accuquilt Go and a heart die. Next I reinforced the area with fabric I cut from an old pair of my husband’s jeans. Then appliqued the hearts over the holes using a button hole stitch. Finally I added lots of embroidered flowers.
My sister enjoys buying wool sweaters from thrift shops. She then unravels them and weaves beautiful scarves. I want to follow her example. Except instead of sweaters I’m thinking men’s shirts. I want to cut them up and make more patchwork skirts. 
Allie, one of my young women from church is doing this with dance ware. She is an amazing ballet dancer. Like me she wants sustainable clothing. Plus she has found the cost of new dance ware to be rather expensive. So she is going with upcycled clothing. Not only does she do this for herself. She is repurposing old leotards, adding embroidery and selling them. Be sure to check out all her work.
