We all have a bunch of sarees of our mothers and grandmothers that are too old to be used but too precious to be thrown away at the same time. Not just because they are made in timelessly old, precise techniques but also because they’re so full of memories that we just can’t throw away.
The next time that your mother or grandmother decides to throw their old sarees away, stop them…for we have some beautiful ways in which you can revive and re-use them. Here are 16 such ways listed out to reuse old silk sarees.
1.Changing the Old Sarees to New Sarees
You can actually change the old sarees in such a way that the very same sarees can be made to look like new sarees. A few means by which you can do that are:
A) If the damaged border is the reason that you’ve stopped using the saree change the saree by removing old border and adding new borders like kundan, zardosi etc.
B) If instead, the border of old saree is good and saree is tattered, design a new saree by adding the old border to a new fabric like chanderi or kota silk.
C) Block printing old plain sarees can change them into brand new, beautifully designed sarees.
D) Two old sarees can be combined to design a half and half saree – a design that has become very popular lately.
2. Anarkalis
Change your old sarees into long and gorgeous anarkalis. With sarees being of the length of a whole six to seven yards, it is easy to make a floor length anarkali out of it. And f you’re wondering how you can transform old Kanjeevarams into anarkalis, take a look at these shiny and resplendent anarkalis made out of kanjeevaram silk cloth.
3. Kurtis
If kurtis are your go-to clothing, make kurtis out of the old sarees that have been lying unused. Get creative while making the kurti adding a fabric here and there and do a bit of designing so that it looks contemporary. You can even use your old kanjeevarams to make grand, festive kurtis and other sarees to make simpler kurtis.
4. Saree Dress
Dresses that are made out of Kanjeevaram silk cloth or any other hand woven silk like chanderi or banarasi are all the rage now, not just in India but throughout the world. So go ahead and make a saree dress out of all the old sarees that you were going to throw away. You can make a skater dress, a formal dress, a cocktail dress or a maxi dress out of these sarees. Here’s a gorgeous collection of saree dresses to give you ideas. Go ahead and get creative!
5. Skirts
Making skirts is perhaps the easiest way to revive old sarees while still retaining all their charm and beauty. Long flowy skirts are the way to go but you can also go ahead and give short skirts a try. Some beautifully ethnic skirts can be made out of silks where as regular sarees can also be used to make some really pretty short or long skirts.
6. Lehengas / Half Sarees
A technique that’s been practised from the olden times, converting your saree into a half saree has always been the norm. This is also a great way to keep the saree’s charm and beauty intact while changing the way it looks completely. The dupatta can also be made out of the saree if there’s left over cloth after using the saree for the lehenga.
7. Palazzos and Pants
If you can use your old sarees as lehengas and skirts, you can also go ahead and make a palazzo pants or even regular pants out of them. Sarees with thick zari borders can make for great palazzo pants.
8. Dupattas and Scarves
If the sarees aren’t in good shape, you can still use them without throwing them away by making dupattas out of them and least of all – scarves. Kanjeevarams and other silks make for some lovely dupattas while sarees made out of lighter fabrics can be used to make scarves.
9. Home Decor
What better way to use your beautiful-but-old sarees than to decorate your home? Make curtains, pillow covers, bed lenin, table covers and any other home décor material you could think of out of your sarees as that sure is a great idea. All it takes is a lot of stitch work and some patience.
10. Kids Lehengas and Frocks
Making cute little lehengas and dresses out of your too-old-to-use sarees is a great way to revive them. They’ll look great on kids and it is also going to take very less fabric in case there are parts of your saree that was damaged.