Stocking up on simple DIY style

It’s nearly the end of October, and that means it’s nearly the end of Buy Nothing New month. I think it’s a great idea but seeing as I so rarely buy anything new anyway (well, not when it comes to fashion, at least), I have never actually signed up. For me, it’s more like “Buy Nothing New Lifetime”! Anyway, to atone for my sin of overly passive participation in this worthy cause, I thought I’d show you a ridiculously easy way to make a “new” scarf from something that often gets thrown out. 

As you might have realised by now, I have an aversion akin to the pathological when it comes to throwing any kind of clothing away, even when it’s at the stage where most other sane people would have relegated it to the rubbish bin, or at the least, to the bag of dusters*. So I’d been going around with wrinkly elephant legs in these baggy wool mix stockings for several seasons when I finally decided they were never magically going to regain their elasticity and I should stop wearing them. 

Well, stop wearing them on my legs, anyway. But on my head – that’s a different matter.
How I made them into legwear into headwear was so easy that I hardly need to show you what I did, but for the record, here it is.
I cut the pants and foot sections away from the stockings as the part I wanted to use was the middle section (ie the leg):

This left me with two kind-of rectangular bits of material like this…

 … which I then wrapped around my head as so:

 Ridiculously easy!

I’ve left the rectangle of fabric as-is, but you could neaten it with an overlocker, or attach fringing to the ends or beads along the edge for a different look (I recently admired Julie Christie’s pared-back peasant style in Dr Zhivago, and haven’t had time for any DIYs that involve effort, hence this super simple version). You could also sew the short ends of two of these rectangles together for a longer scarf to wear as a winter turban or wind around your neck – if you like a patchwork effect, add bits from other stockings too. 
As for the leftover bits of stocking, you can wear the pants part over your undies in winter to keep warm (not particularly sexy, but practical!), and the foot sections make great dusters. Of course, this might give you other ideas as to how to use old stockings…

*One of the greatest mysteries to me is why anyone would actually BUY a pack of dusters??! That’s what rags made from old towels and clothes are for!

ストッキングに穴が開いたら、どうしますか？直しますか？それとも捨てますか？私は普段もちろん直す派ですけど、ウールのストッキングが古くて緩くなったら私でも大体手上げです。それで考えたのは、脚できれいに履くのは無理にしても、その生地実体をどうにか使えないかな、と。脚の所を切りはずしてみたら、 普通の薄いニット地の用になることが分かりました。「ストッキング」ではなくて「生地」として考えたらいろんな使用法が思い浮かびますよね？私はまず切るだけでも使えるとても簡単なヘッドスカーフを作りましたが、ストッキングの量や色によっては縫い合わせて長いマフラーでも作れるし、他の使い方も沢山あるはず！そして、足の部分は雑巾で使えるし、お尻の所はパンツの上に履けば、冬は暖かく過ごせます。古いものでも捨てないでリサイクルできるのは嬉しいですね〜