Resources / Crafts
Upcycled Earth Day: A Thrifting & Upcycling Experiment
About this project
For years, I've loved following artists who transform secondhand clothes and scrap fabric into beautiful, one-of-a-kind garments. To celebrate Earth Day this year, I decided to try it out myself with a simple project—printing on secondhand clothes. This blog post documents my experience thrifting clothes and my printing experiments, but just a head's up: what I thought was a simple idea quickly turned into a much bigger thing so this post got kind of long. If you want to skip around and check out specific parts, here's a look at what's inside:
Why I started Thrifting
Late last year, feeling both cheap and guilty about buying new clothing, I started exploring the world of thrifted clothes. Now, let me start by saying I’ve always loved thrifting when it comes to furniture and household stuff. But I’ve been more wary of thrifting clothes, mostly because I don’t find joy in digging through racks hoping to serendipitously find something I like, that is in good condition, that is also my size, AND actually looks good on me. It’s a needle in a haystack situation.
However, with more companies and individuals selling used clothes online, you can search for exactly what you want. Friends, if you haven’t tried it, you should. It has been a delightful experience. At the end of this post, I’ve listed some resources and tips with links to my favorite thrifting websites where you can buy or sell clothes. Not only have I saved tons of money, but I’ve also found clothes I absolutely adore. It feels good on all counts. Plus, it has led me to experiment with upcycling.
As an artist who loves a good tee, I’ve had a hard time not designing shirts to sell in my shop. The primary thing holding me back is my desire not to contribute more to the fast fashion problem. T-shirt consumption creates a ridiculous amount of waste. Sourcing sustainable, responsibly made clothes is possible, but it is also expensive. Plus, why make something new when there is so much excess out there? So, I’ve been exploring what it is like to put my art on thrifted tees as opposed to making new ones.
To get started, I pulled out some scrap fabric for test pieces and bought a couple of gently worn shirts online for my finished pieces. At this point, I was primarily focused on making an Earth Day-themed illustration for a regular t-shirt. From experience, I decided screen-printing or stenciling would be my best option for transferring the design. I already had supplies I needed, I just needed the art. So off I went to doodle for Earth Day.
Making the Artwork
Well, the project turned decidedly not so light-hearted when I chose to create animal-themed designs to build awareness around endangered species. I started Googling reference images and discovered a staggering list of at-risk plants and animals in my home state of North Carolina. I’ve lived here my whole life and wasn’t aware of how many native species are endangered. Instead of sketching simple designs for stenciling onto my tees, I found myself illustrating entire scenes. Every plant and animal in this sketch is endangered or at-risk in North Carolina.
I eventually got back on track with my original goal for the project, but I’m sharing this drawing and side story because this one bit—being aware of what is happening in the environment right around me—has been the most impactful “aha” moment of this project for me. It seems obvious, yet it’s so easy to overlook.
The Final Art
Working from my first rounds of sketches, I refined my artwork so it could be cut into stencils. I had fun hand-lettering “Earth Day Every Day” and using a woodcut block style for the drawing. Again, knowing I was going to be stenciling and possibly cutting out the smaller designs for block prints, I made the drawing fairly chunky. This makes it easier to cut and print. The final art included a large design for the front or back of a shirt and four small designs that could be used for a front pocket or badge.
Screen Printing with Vinyl Stencils
The main design ended up being a bit involved than originally intended. Oops. But I loved it so I figured out a way to make it work. I've screen printed a bunch before (trial by fire printing 5 yards of a 5-color pattern in grad school) so it was a technique I was comfortable with and already had supplies for. I decided to experiment with using a vinyl stencil on the screen instead of emulsion because I wanted to avoid all the chemicals and I don’t have a safe way at home to wash out my screens.
Earth Day PSA: Chemicals from screen-printing are toxic and harmful to the environment if sent directly into the sewer system. Plus, they can clog up your plumbing. Which is expensive. If you do use these chemicals, handle them safely and use a water filtration system when cleaning up.
Cutting Out the Vinyl Stencil
I used a Cricut Maker to cut out the vinyl stencils. Since this is the first time I’ve done it this way, I experimented with one of the little designs and found that it saved boatloads of time to cut the design, use transfer tape to apply the vinyl to the screen, and then weed the design directly on the screen. On my first attempt, I tried weeding the design before transferring, and it was a nightmare. All the little bits stayed stuck to the transfer tape, and it was quickly scraped.
To weed the vinyl, I used a seam ripper (using what I had), which worked amazingly, and a pair of tweezers. Since I was weeding directly on the screen, I had to be careful not to poke down and instead push across to ensure I didn’t accidentally rip the screen. Fortunately, it never even came close to being a problem because the vinyl I was used super easy to clean up (Oracal 651 Permanent Vinyl and the "Premium Vinyl" setting for cutting on the Cricut). Then it was just a matter of pulling the prints.
Screen Printing
For the most part, screen printing with the vinyl stencil went super smoothly. I mixed up my own inks using PROfab color concentrates with base extender, along with some of Speedball's white fabric screen printing ink. Both are water soluble and super easy to clean up.
My only early mishap was using a round-edge squeegee on one of the pocket prints. It squished way too much ink through and made for a blurry print. Fortunately, I was able to wash the ink out while it was still wet so the shirt wasn't ruined. PHEW! It was stressful there for a minute. Switching to a sharp-edged squeegee solved the problem. The rest of the prints came out beautifully with super crisp edges and zero bleeding.
Lessons Learned & Tips:
- Test First: Always test your tools and check ink coverage and washfastness on scrap fabric.
- Squeegee Choice: Use a sharp-edged squeegee (plastic or hard rubber).
- Act Fast: Wash out mistakes before the ink dries.
- Cure Properly: Check your ink requirements for correct drying and heat setting for washfastness.
- Limited Prints with Vinyl Stencils: If you stick with one ink color, you can make dozens of prints in a single production run with a vinyl stencil. If you need to wash the screen and switch colors, it gets dicey. I was able to gently rinse between inks without losing the vinyl, but too much water ruins it. If I do this again with multiple ink colors, I would try using the stencil to apply drawing fluid/screen filler since that is safer and more eco-friendly than emulsion.
My Earth Day T-shirts
Earth Day Every Day! I'm so happy with how these shirts turned out. Once I got through my early stumbling blocks, making these shirts was so satisfying. And I already have ideas for my next upcycled shirt project!
Before I share more resources and ideas on upcycling, I’ll pass along the suggestions to try out thrifting clothes to fight fast fashion (if you don’t already!) and take a moment to get to know your local community’s native species. Maybe you can find a local conservation group you can donate to or a clean-up event you can participate in. Even these small, conscious actions are a powerful way to collectively preserve and protect our environment. To quote The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, “I know it may seem small and insignificant, but it’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.”
Resources & Ideas
If you are ready to try your hand at upcycling textiles, I've rounded up some thrifting resources, inspiration from other artists, and my favorite fabric printing and embellishment technique books from my bookshelf to get you started!
Resources for Thrifting & Recycling Clothes
Tips for Thrifting Online
Stick to brands you trust and know what size you wear. Be aware that most sellers charge shipping and restocking fees which can make trying on and returning multiple items expensive. If you're unsure of your size, try on the brand at a local store first.
Places to Thrift
In-person: Check out your local thrift shops
Online: ThredUp | Poshmark
Places to Donate Clothes
Support your local charities, Goodwill, and Salvation Army.
Places to Recycle Clothes
In-store: H&M and Madewell stores have in-store drop-off boxes for unwanted textiles.
Online: Trashie | Retold Recycling | Blue Jeans Go Green (denim recycling)
Other Artists making amazing things with recycled textiles
Lily Fulop / Mindful Mending
Lily is the author of Wear, Repair, Repurpose and has all sorts of inspiration for breathing new life back into clothing. @mindful_mending
Allison Mckeen
Allison is a Maine based interdisciplinary artist who makes super fun upcycled clothes using block prints. @allison.mckeen
Zero Waste Daniel
Daniel is a New York based clothing designer and zero-waste lifestyle pioneer makes upcycled clothing & accessories for all. @zerowastedaniel
Warble & Woosh
Kitty designs slow made, small batch clothing using wide range of upcycled textiles including quilts, tablecloths, and clothing. @warble.and.woosh
Book recommendations
For more detailed instructions or inspiration for surface design and embellishment techniques, I highly recommended the following books (all on my own bookshelf). Fun note: Susan Brandeis was a professor and mentor of mine in graduate school. She introduced me to the world of surface design and taught me how to screen print. She has since retired from the College of Design at NC State, but in retirement has continued to be prolific in her work and published three books (listed below)! They are all phenomenal and worth checking out.
The Cumulative Cloth, Wet Techniques: A Guide to Fabric Color, Pattern, Construction, and Embellishment by Susan Brandeis
The Cumulative Cloth, Dry Techniques: A Guide to Fabric Color, Pattern, Construction, and Embellishment by Susan Brandeis
Lena Corwin's Made by Hand: A Collection of Projects to Print, Sew, Weave, Dye, Knit, or Otherwise Create by Lena Corwin
Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens by Lena Corwin
Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches by Jan Eaton
The Intentional Thread: A Guide to Drawing, Gesture, and Color in Stitch by Susan Brandeis
