What to do with old leggings
What to do with old leggings
Table of Contents
Leggings are the type of fashion wear that you and all the other women in the world might be wearing more often than anything else. The other common names are yoga pants and stretch wear which are based on their purpose and use.
But the one thing everyone wearing leggings agrees on is that they tend to wear out in a short period of time. But the frequent use and extra stretch with batters from the washing machine might be vital contributors to their wearing out much quicker than you might have wished for.
If the color fades or becomes slightly wearing then women are often witnessed to be still using it, but only for messy chores. For tasks like planting seeds, cleaning the car, storeroom cleaning, or painting- in all these tasks the weary leggings still get used. But even after all these your leggings would last for a very long time as they will be still being used vigorously.
So it is common to have doubts which would make you ask- what to do with old leggings?. But whatever you do, don’t just throw them in the bin. You wouldn’t be even willing to part with your favorite leggings so soon just because of a small hole near the leg or a slight tear near the waist. So repurposing it will be the best option because these leggings you use so often are made of synthetic fabric.
These materials cannot be composted or broken down so they might get dumped somewhere in the form of microfibres. This damages the soil and even harms the water bodies when they reach the oceans and rivers. As you might already know how this kind of material can affect biodiversity it is important for you to know ways in which you can repurpose and reuse your leggings. There are several ways from a practical perspective which are eventually explained below.
- Different types of leggings in an advertisement.
Making awesome hair ties
There are several ways in which old leggings can be used but one of the favorites for most women is the making of gorgeous hair ties. Get your scissors ready for cutting the fabric of the weary leggings into head-turning hair ties. The hair ties will be severely soft and comforting which you will make out of old leggings.
The hair ties you buy from the market might not be always effective in maintaining a tight grip and staying in one position. But the leggings-converted hair ties are one of the best hair ties you will ever use which will maintain its place perfectly even when you don’t tie up a tight grip on your lovely hair.
Most women adore their properly nourished hair and don’t like to tie them really tight. Along with the hair ties you will make out of weary leggings you don’t have to punish your thick, long, and shiny hair anymore.
The leggings you should be using make sure it is properly washed and clean before you start with the repurposing process. When you will be making a hair tie don’t worry about the oldness of the leggings because after being made into hair ties they won’t be so bad after all. Experts suggest first laying out the leggings in a flat position with sufficient light in the surrounding. Then using a fabric scissor to cut out the shape of the hair tie will be needed. The best part will be the leg portion.
Use the lowest section to cut straight across about 2inch towards the inside. Cutting out from this portion of the leggings will provide you with perfect shapes. At least cut out three more reachings towards the thighs portion.
- A set of various hair ties.
Cutting self-made cleaning clothes
The best part is that you can make cleaning clothes out of the old leggings in any shape and size you require. Sometimes the requirement of mini-sized cleaning clothes arises which are not easy to buy or obtain. So you will be then able to easily wipe small paintings, cups, and even stationary objects.
The leggings would provide a new supply of cleaning clothes in the house. The synthetic microfibre will be perfect for cleaning television, tabs, laptops, and other screen-induced objects. There are two processes to cut out these cleaning cloths that will be very simple.
If you don’t want a hair tie, leg warmer, lampshade, or anything more stylish than a cleaning cloth then you can directly go into the cloth cutting. But if you want to make even one other thing then it will be best for you to keep the cleaning cloth cutting part in the end.
You can mark out the part in the desired shape and then cut the cloth out of the leggings. Use a permanent marker or chalk to mark out the portions. Then cutting them out properly with scissors for obtaining the cleaning cloth is the right process. The fun fact is if you use a permanent marker then your cleaning clothes also would be stylish with a border around.
The cleaning cloths will be much softer than the other you might have in the house due to the several washes the fabric of the leggings will have gone through. Using the butt portion of the leggings will give you a regular square kind of shape without even marking the leggings. These legging cleaning clothes would be suitable for any kind of cleaning and will even wipe paints, oil, and grease very well.
- A set of cleaning clothes made of the same fabric as leggings.
Saving the elastic for future harnessing
The elastic present in the waist of the leggings should be still in proper condition even if the cloth is weary. You can straight off cut the waistband with sharp scissors and keep it after stripping the cloth off the elastic.
After you cut the waistband, the cloth on top of the inner elastic would become torn off and thus it’s better not to keep the little upper cloth and just take out the elastic. The elastic present in the skirts does sometimes become easily loose and at that time you can use this legging elastic to fix it up. This elastic will also come useful to create your own skirt from scratch if you have a sufficient amount of fabric with the elastic.
The elastic can be used for fastening purposes inside the luggage. This would help keep your belongings fixed in the trolley. When you color the elastic in bright paint and draw patterns on it the elastic can be a great decoration object too. But even if you are not willing to make use of it immediately it is recommended to keep it in the house for some time. The elastic barely takes up any space and won’t be a problem to keep.
Making headband and shades of the lamp
Besides the hair ties, you can also try to make a headband out of your old leggings. You can easily customize the design and shape of it because the whole area of the leggings would be in shape to be utilized. Headbands might come across as a little more difficult than the hair ties but you can give it a shot.
If you have daughters then these headbands would be very useful as you will be having more than one spare to give them. Children often lose their headbands and like to have many options in design and color. As the fabric of leggings is stretchable they would be well suited for children keeping their hair in the right position.
The other most unique type of repurposing would be to make a lampshade out of the old leggings. For the lampshade making, you need to use the thigh portion of the weary leggings. Cut off the cloth from both legs of the leggings and stretch them onto the plastic lampshade present on the light.
Use permanent glue to fix the two separate cloths together. This is important to keep a little more cloth on the edges and not cutting exactly in the precise length of the shade. Then you need to fold the edges and stick them towards the inside. If your fabric print of the leggings was a well-designed one then it would the best outcome in making the lampshade stylish and gorgeous.
- A lady packing her luggage without using any elastic harness.
Warming your legs and cool storing solution
In the chilly nights of winter when you just have to put on multiple layers most often the legs just go with one layer. This leads to feeling cold in the legs and even might give you literally ‘cold feet’ for some important meetings. The old leggings which are not much of use anymore can surprisingly work to keep your legs warm.
You need to cut off the legs of the leggings up to the portion of the thighs. If your leggings have got a small hole or a scratch then you can still use them efficiently as a leg warmer. Using them as a leg warmer would indirectly extend the life of the same leggings by long duration.
If you need more options for your question of what to do with old leggings then you can also use it as a storage pouch. The old leggings can become a great storing solution if you want to consider the option. You have to first lay the leggings flat on a table or the floor. Then you need to mark the portion from which you will cut.
For use as a storage pouch, you need to cut out the legs part mostly. Measuring from the bottom the length you need to cut straight from the side in the mark based on your future use. Suppose you want to use it to carry your slippers in the luggage bag then cutting somewhere around the knee would work just fine.
- A picture highlighting different headbands.
If after cutting it out just stitch either of the open ends and the storage pouches would be discovered. Among all the answers you got here for your question- what to do with old leggings, don’t hesitate to try at least a few of them.
Conclusion
There remain a lot of ways in which your old leggings can still remain functional. Based on your need you can repurpose your leggings into a hair tie, cleaning cloth, a storage pouch, and lots more based on your choices. If you have some tailoring skills the old leggings can also be made into a tote bag. The options are several and you won’t have to wonder anymore about what to do with the leggings anymore. The leggings do get weary much quicker than other clothes because of their random and often used. But being a little attached to your clothes is very common and by using the several techniques you can still reuse them.
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