Selfsufficientish.com

possum wrote:old fleeces - the obligatory cat bed

Not just old fleeces - my cat preferred woolly jumpers (so do I)... And I'm sure dogs would love them, too!

ina wrote:

possum wrote:old fleeces - the obligatory cat bed

Not just old fleeces - my cat preferred woolly jumpers (so do I)... And I'm sure dogs would love them, too!

Finlay has fleeces, wooly jumpers, an old quilt cover, and an old sleeping bag to sleep on! he still prefers my bed though

oooh...along the same lines - use old clothes for small animal bedding - i had a female rat that loved an old school shirt. She used to sulk when i put it in the washing machine!! I had two male rats who used to fight over a pair of my dad's old pants - i'd only chucked them in teh cage to stop my dad wearing them again and the boys were on them like a shot arguing over who got to sleep in them...

Natural fibres can be put in the compost heap.

Reasonably sturdy old clothes make good cushion covers, too - have been meaning to make some from jeans for a while...

Or you could make them into these:

http://www.morsbags.com/

(There must be a thread on here already about these, but I haven't been on for ages, so forgive me!)

Jane

I'm sure i read somewhere about people in ancient times making quilts and bedding out of old clothes - they'd stuff rags inside a sack to make a quilt type thing (well, not a sack, but a quilt cover type affair thingy).

If they are cotton, such as shirt cotton, they can be cut into squares, edged and used as handkerchiefs or headscaves (if you have a big enough square or a tiny head ). Cotton hankies are great and are not unhygenic as long as you change them every day. I do resort to loo roll if I've got a cold but otherwise its cotton hankies.

I made a great apron from a very wide legged pair of jeans simply by clever cuttingand sewing together They had loads of great big pockets on so it very usefull ... well as long as I dont fill the pockets or I cant move ....

Unpick trouser seams up to the crotch. Insert panels of material and hey-presto, you have a skirt.
I also save all sorts of cotton material to make patchwork squares for quilts and I have been known to make baby clothes from old mum & dad clothes.
Sarah

Thomzo wrote:Natural fibres can be put in the compost heap.

Any idea how long typical items i.e. a cotton shirt or woollen jumper would take to rot down in a compost heap?

Can be ages. I tend to just put in the tiny scraps that can't be used for anything else.

Zoe

Cut the sleeves out of old jumpers, pull up over your arms and you have two sleeves to keep your good clothes clean if you're doing any dirty
jobs.

.

When my daughters were small and I was always hard-up (back in the 70s/80s) I used to get dresses for fat ladies to turn into pretty clothes for them, it saved me a small fortune. I'm still upcycling 'cause of hating waste.
Here's the latest idea from last week
http://theroundhouse.freeforums.org/rec ... t2065.html
Sometimes being a bit top heavy has it's advantages ;)

now I like that idea
I always use old bra strap to make straps for new vest tops
made a great hand bag out of my old leather motor cycle trousers
and the rest of the leather I use to finish padded foot rest witch start as a wooden wine box,
phone cases, re cover palm of bike gloves to

Aprons.
Body bands for doggies that have problems with urination.