Would you ever guess these leggings were made from my old maternity shirts?!? Join me today as I upcycle new clothes from old for my daughter.

My daughter Peyton is about to turn 6 years old, is as tall as a 7 year old, and as slim as a 4 year old. This makes it INCREDIBLY hard to find pants that fit her in the waist AND length!

I bought Peyton new Fall/Winter clothes back in August. I had to buy a size up to get long enough pants and immediately took in the waist on every pair. By last month she had already outgrown the length of every one.

In the past few months I’ve been thinking about the current overabundance of textiles and throw away culture it has created. I talked more about it in THIS VIDEO. We have more clothing (specifically cheaply made clothing) available now than ever before. This means clothing is cheaply made and sold at a cheap price encouraging people to buy and buy a lot and when something starts to show wear it is thrown out instead of being mended or repurposed. It is a stark contrast to the make do and mend mentality of the WWII era and prior.

I love hearing stories of how clothing was taken in, let out, patched, redesigned, and even passed down to others. The clothes were made well and made to last. You can see examples of this on Abby Cox’s channel.

But, back to my frustration over ill-fitting store bought clothing, combined with a desire to cut down on textile waste. I was inspired to look through my old maternity clothes and do a bit of upcycling.

I found two coordinating shirts and used them to make a pair of new, perfect fitting, LONG ENOUGH, leggings for Peyton!

Now obviously a maternity shirt alone isn’t enough material for a pair of leggings. So I did a bit of creative piecing giving the leggings contrasting cuffs.

Come along and upcycle with me as I transform two maternity shirts into the perfect leggings! Watch the full video HERE!

I still have an entire box of leftover maternity clothes, so I’m planning even more upcycling projects! Let me know if you are interesting in seeing those as well.

Make sure you’re following me on Instagram for more sewing updates. Until next time, Happy Sewing.

Whitney