How to Recycle Old Sweatpants

Don't throw those old sweatpants away. Recycle them.

Does the idea of throwing out your old sweatpants seem like a waste? Then don't. Recycle them into something useful. Ideas for recycling old clothes abound. Since some clothes are not fit to even give away, people have come up with clever ideas for reusing them, so they do not end up in the landfills. Turn old sweatpants into shorts, pillows, purses, rice hot packs, potholders or even wine bags. If you have limited skills and have a medium or large dog around the house, recycle those old sweat pants as a toy for Fido.

Things You'll Need

• Sweatpants
• Scissors
• Needle
• Thread

Instructions

1. Make old sweatpants into a plush pet pal. Fold pants at the mid-seem so that one leg is laying on top of the other leg. The sweatpant legs should be fully outstretched.

2. Cut one pant leg off just below the crotch.

3. Cut the other pant leg off, using the first cut as your guide. You will now have a pair of sweat shorts and two cutoff legs.

4. Roll up the shorts and one of the legs into long, cylindrical shapes and put them inside the other cutoff leg. Make sure to leave about 3 to 4 inches of room on either end.

5. Grasp one end of the pant leg about 3 or 4 inches down and start sewing that end shut. Use wide stitches and gather the material closed as you sew. The end you are sewing should start to resemble a peppermint candy wrapper

6. Wrap the string several times around the area you just sewed. Continue to sew, making sure you are looping your stitches under what you have already sewn to secure them.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 on the other end of the pant leg. Your toy should look like a large piece of rolled candy and feel like a lumpy pillow,

Tips & Warnings

• You can draw or sew on eyes or add other frills to make the toy more interesting.

References

• All Free Crafts: Recycling Denim: New Uses for Old Blue Jeans

Resources

• Free Patterns and Projects to Recycle and Repurpose