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I've no idea what could be done with man made fibres but old cottons and linens can be used to make charcloth which is useful for fire starting.
Also cottons and linens could be used to make paper, an old process involving water and hammers to pulp the fibres although not the easiest thing to do at home.


Pete

Patching up other clothes and items, with funky results!

I've just made an apron from an old skirt!

Im taking inspiration from Japanese folk textiles - boro and sashiko - to create different and new items from pieces of used or worn out cloth

boro


a little bit of info here http://furugistarjapan.wordpress.com/20 ... lk-fabric/

and sashiko for the decorative over stitching/quilting




I am hooked on this frugal, imperfect and absolutely beautiful but unique way of repairing and using up fabric scraps. Currently working on my first quilt using up lots of leftover fabric scraps in blues and whites :)

Bunting

Poppets

Rag dolls

Lavender pillows

Homemade jam lid covers

Dolls clothes

Fancy dress

Im with the patchworkers and rag ruggers,have made one for each of us,made the boys out of old jeans but they weighed a ton and gave you a hernia when you shook them! of course old mens pants {as in worn out pants not pants from elderly gentlemen...although...} make brilliant dusters and old cotton shirts and sheets make great strainers for jellies and jams.

I am using an old shirt as a filter between my greenhouse downspout and my water-butt. Soon gets clogged up with crap though and I have to scrape it off.

Ohhh, rag rugs! My latest obsessive hobby. I had the colours all picked out and cut up to make a winter themed one, then winter came and went and between three homeschooled kids and the farm it just didn't quite get made. Now it is Spring and I have to tweak some of the colours to make a Springy one.... Or I could just aim to get the current one made by Winter next year....

Finding the idea of charcloth quite interesting :-)

Also started a ragrug two or more decades ago and never finished it !

And you can always use old clothes/carpets etc as loft insulation.

A Bulgarian friend of mind used ripped bits of tee-shirt to tie my tomatoes to their stakes....
my mum always used to cut up old clothes for (dish)cloths, but I think it depends on the fabric.
And there's always the rather pointless (to my mind) circular bits of second-hand cotton cut up and attached to home-made jam pots.

dave45 wrote: And you can always use old clothes/carpets etc as loft insulation.

A Bulgarian friend of mind used ripped bits of tee-shirt to tie my tomatoes to their stakes....

The ties for tomatoes brought back memories, my parents did that. Actually my father would tie pretty much anything up with a bit of rag.
The use for insulation also reminds me of a roof that I was involved with that we insulated with slabs of Irish wool. Very nice to fit as there was no itching, in fact one lad fell asleep on it once, although it did smell a little bit raw. However, a couple of years later it was ripped out and replaced with fibre glass as it suffered an infestation of moths.I had some of the left overs and did a small section of my house with no problems as yet so fingers crossed.


Pete

Tights make good garden ties and they tend to blend in well and are soft against the stems. I know someone who has used them to strain bits of "skin" out of household paint. They might be a better option for the downpipe use that someone mentioned earlier.