We’ve all had a bit more free time on our hands lately to pick up new hobbies. Some people have taken up cooking and baking, while others have learned how to crochet. And then there are those special few who have not only learned how to sew but how to turn everyday household materials into beautiful outfits.
From creating dresses from duct tape and diapers (yes, diapers) to using Ikea bags to make fashionable sneakers, everyone has put their creative minds to good use. We put together a list of our favorite items that are sure to get your creative juices flowing. So, without further ado, here is our list of creative outfits created from household items!
Not Playing Around
This dress is not playing around. Everyone knows that a full deck has 52 cards, but we suspect that it took a whole lot more than that to make this unique and beautiful gown. This ball gown —fit for any masquerade ball — includes rows of Queens, Kings, and Jacks, as well as a corset lined with the red checkered back of the playing cards.
But that’s not all! Ever so creative, this lady made a mask and crown that matches her entire outfit. It’s a fabulous idea, amazing execution, and we’re giving her a ten out of ten for this dress. We know what we’re dressing up as for Halloween next year! If our version turns out even half as good as hers, we’ll be happy.
An Extra Beautiful Dress
Do you have a friend who is absolutely obsessed with chewing gum? Or someone who always seems to have a pack of gum in their purse without fail? If so, you have to tell them about this dress! The designer used cardboard packaging from Extra gum to create a beautiful (and creative dress), complete with detailing made of metallic wrapping.
There also seem to be “gems” made out of small pink candies, or maybe even gum, which is a sweet touch to this dress design. The color is stunning, because come on, who doesn’t look great in pink. But for those who prefer a different color, maybe the designer can make one in spearmint green or peppermint blue?
Not Your Mother’s Jean Shirt
One of the worst feelings in the world is putting on a pair of your favorite jeans only to discover a hole that seemed to grow overnight. Even if you manage to wear your jeans for another few days, you just know that they’re inching towards the point of no return. But instead of throwing away your ripped jeans, why not try to turn them into something fashionable?
These designers did just that. They took two pairs of ripped jeans and were able to create a fashionable corset that will look good on anyone. This just goes to show that you truly can make anything out of old jeans. What would you make with old jeans if you had the chance?
“Stuck at Prom”
This beautiful prom dress was designed and created by 17-year-old Christina, who designed dresses for three years before she designed this one. She used duct tape as her go-to material for this beautiful light purple dress, complete with white vines and colorful flowers. But Christina didn’t create this dress because she was bored.
In fact, the duct tape dress was designed for the Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest. High school students are encouraged to create unique promwear with Duck brand duct tape. The winner is then awarded $10,000 in scholarship money! We wish that we knew about this contest back when we were in high school! While Christina didn’t win the competition, she sure stole the show.
Nice and Easy
This beautiful dress was created from a bed sheet that the designer found at a thrift store! This smock dress is light and airy, making it the perfect addition to your wardrobe for those hot summer months. And that beautiful flower pattern is sure to go with almost any accessory.
The designer, Madison, uploaded her creation to Reddit, where many Redditors commented that they also owned that same set of bed sheets when they were younger. They also said they are going to try Madison’s design. This just shows how powerful the Internet can be in bringing people together.
A ‘70s Throwback
This designer was able to create a beautiful sundress and headband combination from none other than her grandparents’ old kitchen wallpaper! How creative is that? When her grandparents decided it was time for a renovation, this designer did not want this beautiful pattern to go to waste.
So, instead of throwing it away, she insisted that her grandparents give her the wallpaper. After finding a pattern online, she threw this dress together. She even had enough material left over to make a matching headband. We love this ‘70s retro vibe. Do you think her grandparents have any more wallpaper they’re looking to get rid of?
Better Hold on Tight!
We all have that drawer stuffed with pantyhose that are either too small or are totally unwearable because they have so many snags. Well, if you’re tired of throwing out your old tights, this woman’s design will definitely interest you! Instead of throwing out her old tights, she decided to get creative.
In a few simple steps, this lady turned her old, mustard yellow pantyhose into a fabulously detailed headband. This is a very cool idea, and depending on how many tights you own, you should be able to make a headband to match every outfit in your wardrobe.
How Dew You Dew That?
Are you a huge fan of Mountain Dew? Well, we’re pretty sure that this woman is the company’s number one customer. Even though this gown was made for a contest instead of an actual dance or ball, it sure looks like it took a lot of time.
The woman who designed and created this interesting ballgown has shared that the top of the dress is made from recycled bottle labels and plastic. The bottom is made from over 300 wrappers that were then sewed onto a petticoat. This dress sure is impressive! We hope she won the contest!
A Flower to Behold
This beautiful dress looks like a flower that’s come to life. The designer of this dress says that it was made at least 80 percent of bed sheets, with the remaining 20 percent taken from left-overs from other projects she previously designed.
The different colored layers look like the petals of a perfectly designed upside-down rose. Even though this dress may not be practical for a real event (it looks very poofy), it is still a gorgeous dress. We wonder if the dress is hard to walk in or if it’s heavy. Regardless, this designer deserves an A+!
Black and White and Read All Over
Well, a newspaper is usually black and white and read all over, but, for this article, we’ll also argue that a dictionary works too. This amazing design was created with lots of creativity and (hopefully not) lots of papercuts! This designer created a dress from a torn-up dictionary.
If you look closely, you can still read the words in alphabetical order. How cool is that? The top part of the dress was made by intricately folding the pieces of paper into small fans and other geometric shapes. The details continue down to the skirt, where the dictionary pages are more spread out.
She’s All Boxed In!
Have you ever wondered what you should do with all of your left-over cardboard boxes that don’t fit into your recycling bin? Or have you wanted to make something from the boxes but have run out of creative projects? Well, look no further. This designer has the perfect solution!
The designer made this funky, quirky cocktail dress from recycled cardboard. The skirt is compiled of layered cardboard, which was spray-painted with different shares of blue and purple. The top of the dress is a bit more detailed. It is made of different ripped pieces of the “ribbed” side of the cardboard box, creating a one-of-a-kind dress!
All Dressed in White
There sure are a lot of bizarre competitions out there. However, nothing seems to beat this Toilet Paper Wedding Dress competition! The competition has been going on for over 15 years! And while there were plenty of amazing entries, nothing came close to the 2019 winner, Mimoza Haska.
The South Carolina native made this crocheted gown, complete with flower details, completely out of toilet paper! We wonder how long this dress took the designer to make. Good thing it didn’t rain on the day of the competition, or else it would have been a complete disaster.
A Beautiful Butterfly
Cardboard is pretty easy to work with. In fact, anyone can work with cardboard. However, it takes a real artist to create something as intricate and exquisite as this cardboard dress. According to Reddit, the designer created this piece by using Titania from a Midsummer Night’s dream as her inspiration.
The dress’s design is very complex and includes multiple layers. The designer used several different tools, including a laser cutter, a hot glue gun, and a sewing machine to create this masterpiece. Honestly, someone better get this designer an agent! They’re destined for bigger and better things.
Up In the Air
When a picture of this dress was uploaded to Reddit, the designer received well-deserved praise for her ability to turn a used parachute into a gorgeous gown. This memorable design would win, hands down, the Best Dressed on any red carpet.
What makes this dress even cooler is that it wasn’t what the designer originally had in mind. The designer actually drew a layered ballgown in her concept drawings. However, as she was finishing the dress, she decided to go with something a bit more dramatic. Well, this parachute dress turned out fabulous.
For True Fans Only
This Dungeons and Dragons fan sure is creative! They were able to customize a denim jacket with pieces of fabric and other random materials that were scattered around their home. The designer even cut scrap pieces of leather into the shape of an icosahedron.
This is also known as a D20 in Dungeons and Dragons, or excuse me, DnD terms. The designer also added some buttons to the design to give it more texture and depth. Using materials found in your house is a great way to customize any piece of normally boring clothing.
A Chip Dress
It seems that more and more high schoolers are turning away from traditional prom dresses. Gone are the big skirts and plunging necklines. These new, creative designs are taking over. The designer of this funky Doritos dress says that it actually took her over three years to finish!
The Doritos bags are carefully sewed together to create a layered skirt and tight corset, complete with unique black straps that definitely tie the whole look together. It is impressive that someone so young is capable of creating something often seen on shows like Project Runway.
There’s Always Another Use
There’s a lot of clothing made from jeans nowadays. There are “jorts,” which is a creative name for jean shorts. And now there’s a term for a jean dress, a “jress.” But this designer took the jress to a whole new level with 12 different pairs of ripped jeans and a pair of overalls.
This designer created a jean ballgown, or as we like to call it, a “jallgown.” According to the designer, the jallgown is as heavy as it looks. Luckily she’s wearing it at the beach on what looks like a cold, windy day.
It’s a Stinky One
This dress might not be up everyone’s alley, and it may even bring back some memories of not-so-fun diaper changes in the middle of the night. As every parent knows, a lot of money is spent on diapers. So, this creative mother decided to put some extra diapers to good use.
She gathered all of the diapers her baby outgrew and turned them into a long ballgown. Diapers were layered in such a way that the little cartoon drawings are visible, adding some much-needed color to this piece.
Not for Sleeping
One of the most impracticable items in the world has to be the air mattress. After just one night, the entire bed loses air, and you’re bound to find a hole somewhere. Even if the air mattress doesn’t have a hole,
it’s so uncomfortable that you’ll be questioning why you spent so much money on it in the first place. Well, this creative designer decided to take an air mattress and design a futuristic-looking dress. The designer says that she looked to singer-songwriter Björk for inspiration, which is clearly reflected in the dress. It took her less than a day to complete it.
Colors of the Rainbow
This dress was made for someone with an insane sweet tooth. In celebration of her high school prom, Cristal collaborated with a candy shop called Candyality to design a dress worth talking about. The candy shop had previously created dresses out of wrappers for art festivals and other cool events.
For her custom dress, Cristal decided to go with empty Skittles bags. The logo was used to create the top part of the dress, while the designer used fuller bags to create a poofy skirt. This dress is hands down the perfect gown for all those Skittles’ fans out there.
This Costume Is Un-Bead-lievable
Cosplay is huge. There are cosplay conventions held all over the world, like Fan Expo, Comiket, and Comiccon, among others. These conventions involve people dressing up in costumes of their favorite characters from comics, TV shows, movies, or books.
This designer decided to take her costume to the next level. Instead of creating a normal Wonder Woman costume from fabric, she used fuse beads to set herself apart from the rest. “Now, I’m off to make the gauntlets, boots, a sword, and a shield,” the designer posted on Imgur. “Hopefully, I won’t run out of beads.”
Showering Her with Praise
Our views about shower curtains seem to come and go as the seasons change. When it’s warm, everyone wants something airy and light. During the colder winter months, however, people want warmer colors to trick themselves into thinking that the weather is a lot warmer than it actually is.
Instead of getting rid of her shower curtain, this designer threw together this dress, despite being a complete amateur at sewing. She even managed to sew in a few hook and eye stitches, which made the dress look a lot more professional. Very cool!
Trash for a Dress
With weddings costing thousands of dollars nowadays, many brides say that they aren’t interested in spending too much money on a dress. It makes sense, especially because the bride wears her wedding dress for only a few hours.
This Reddit user posted that she made her wedding dress from recycled plastic. She made her dress out of trash bags, butcher paper, and plastic table cloths. Apparently, after a horrible fitting six days before the wedding, the bride was forced to think on her feet and throw a dress together at the last minute.
Dress and Necklace Combo
This designer and Etsy seller used a recycled Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) blue tarp that she found lying around the streets of New Orleans. After rounding up the pieces, she cleaned them and sewed them together to create this dress and necklace.
The dress was designed for an auction to raise money for America’s Westland organization. This piece sold very fast, proving that any kind of material can be repurposed for a piece of clothing. Hopefully, the person who bought this dress gave a generous donation! The designer also placed third in Etsy’s Upcycle Recycling Contest.
Bursting with Color
This is another one for all those candy lovers out there. Do it yourself-er Emily spent over five years creating this colorful off-the-shoulder dress! It took her four years to gather all of the Starburst wrappers. Luckily, Emily’s husband loves Starbursts, and she claims that most of her candy wrappers came from his trash.
In fact, Emily used over 10,000 Starburst wrappers to create her dress. She organized them into different colors before ironing them flat and folding them. If she needs another 10,000 wrappers for a second dress, we’d be happy to help a girl out!
Pop of Color
Water balloons are a lot of fun to play with during the hot summer months. However, once fall begins to settle in, the water balloon package will remain in the toy drawer until the next warm day, which is most likely several months away.
Instead of letting her unused water balloons sit around until next summer, this designer decided to create a dress fit for a queen. Her balloon dress features every color from the rainbow, making whoever is wearing it stand out in a crowd. It also looks like this dress required very little to no sewing work as all the balloons are tied together.
Nothing Like the Present
Going into the holiday season, we always tend to go overboard with the wrapping paper. There are just so many pretty colors and cool designs that it’s hard not to buy them all! So you end up needing to save it all for the next season, and the cycle of buying too much paper begins again.
If you’re like us, then you probably have way too much wrapping paper. Well, instead of hoarding it all away in your closet, you could design something like this Reddit user did! This designer decided to make a dress that Mrs. Claus would be jealous of.
A Soda Can Dress
This is an interesting one, especially since we’ve never given that much thought to the metal tabs that open soda cans. Well, this Imgur user sure has. She posted this photo of her prom dress, and let’s just say it’s a very cool idea. It’s made of thousands of soda can tabs!
We wonder how many cans of soda she had to drink to make this dress. While most of this dress is grey, the neckline and the dress straps have an assortment of colors. Her date wore a grey suit, which complemented her dress quite nicely.
Up, Up and Away
This is another high school student who decided to make a statement. This high schooler decided that she would make a dress out of inflated balloons for homecoming. In the end, she created a cool blue and pink cocktail dress.
Her one-of-a-kind concept and amazing execution seemed to wow everyone at homecoming, and she ended up winning the competition for Homecoming Queen! It’s one thing to make cute balloon animals at children’s parties, but it takes a completely different level of skills to make a whole balloon dress. You go, girl!
Three Shades of Grey
Anyone who has been a bridesmaid knows that being a part of the bridal party can cost a fortune! And don’t get us started on bridesmaids’ dresses. Most of the time, they fit horribly and cost a lot of money. What makes the whole situation worse is having to pay for an ugly dress that you’re only going to wear once.
Well, lucky for these bridesmaids, the bride was thrifty. She saved everyone money by deciding to turn lace tablecloths into dresses. Not only were the dresses cheap to make, but they turned out fabulous! We hope that money-saving techniques like this will become the norm for weddings.
Is That a Shirt?
Many people don’t realize that there are several ways to customize your outfits by creating different items of clothing using old t-shirts. Let’s be honest. We all have a pile of t-shirts we keep in the back of the closet for that one day in the distant future when they may come in handy.
Well, we’re here to tell you that day has come! You can actually transform your old t-shirts into stylish headbands that look good with every outfit in your wardrobe. It’s also a great way to hide your greasy hair on those days that you don’t wash your hair.
A Chef’s Favorite Accessory
Overalls are all the rage today. But with styles changing with each season, what are you supposed to do with those overalls that have gone out of fashion? Instead of throwing them away, you can repurpose your overalls like this designer!
This woman transformed an old pair of overalls into a very cool and fashionable apron. She even detailed the edges with blue, red, and white floral print fabric. Not only is this a great idea for yourself, but it’s great as a gift. We don’t know about you, but we’d be very happy if we received this as a birthday gift!
Leaf It Out
A lot of modern fashion designers try to incorporate nature into their designs. However, what happens when nature actually becomes the design? Well, that’s exactly what happened to this beautiful ball gown. This dress is the result of four different designers, who all made this fashionable gown out of 5,888 leaves.
In total, the dress is just under seven feet long! Seeing that we all spend so much time cleaning up our yards in the fall, it’s great to see that our leaves aren’t going to waste. The designers also included a great ombre effect from the top of the dress down to the bottom. Exquisite work, guys!
Draw the Curtains
Bohemian weddings are in vogue today. With this style comes flowers, wood, hemp, and lace. Lots of lace. So, anyone who wants a bohemian wedding is sure to incorporate lace into their wedding dress.
This bride went as far as to use lace table cloths and curtains for her fabric. This is a very good idea for anyone who wants to look good on their special day while saving a lot of money at the same time. This is a very refreshing trend, and we hope that brides continue with it for years to come.
Monkeying Around
If you’ve accidentally ordered too many socks and didn’t have time to return them, don’t worry! Instead of overstuffing your sock drawer, you could make a cool dress like this one here! This dress sure looks like it will keep you all nice and cozy during the freezing winter nights.
And this designer didn’t use just any kind of socks. She used sock monkeys! The cute faces are scattered along the skirt, adding a nice pop of color and cuteness to the entire design. The designer also decided to add a nice red bow to the neckline of the dress, which complements the red fabric used for the monkey’s mouth.
Jean Baby Bibs
One thing that new mothers struggle with is trying to find clean bibs. It seems that whenever they need a clean bib, they can never find one. However, instead of running out of the store to waste money on new bibs, you can actually make some out of old jeans!
If you have any left-over denim from old jean shirts, jeans, shorts, or jackets, you can easily repurpose the material into a baby bib! Not only is it thrifty, but it’s also very stylish. Jean is also a very durable material, so these bibs are bound to last through multiple wash cycles.
We’re All Mad Here
When it comes to dressing up for costume parties, we all feel the pressure to show up in the coolest, most stylish outfit. Many times, we end up buying an overly priced costume from the store that doesn’t look as great as we thought it would, and we end up wearing it just once.
Well, this designer decided to take matters into her own hands. She decided to put her own household items to good use, and she created a very cool costume. She layered different shades of orange plastic cups for the skirt. The mini hat is made up of left-over felt, cardboard, and card stock.
IKEA Streetwear
IKEA is known to be the land of inexpensive and practical furniture. However, after seeing these photos, they may want to expand their storefront and start selling streetwear. The designer behind these cool and trendy pieces used her recycled Ikea shopping bags to create cool hats and shoes.
While using plastic Ikea bags for a bucket hat and boots may sound like a disaster waiting to happen, this designer executed her design flawlessly. Recycled fashion never looked so cool. We wonder if these items are for sale. If so, we definitely want to buy some!
Safety Always Comes First
Safety pins are great because they have so many different uses. But we bet you never thought of using safety pins for a stylish necklace! Well, this designer decided to take several safety pins and pin them onto a layered chain necklace.
The result was an edgy, hip piece that is nothing short of fashion genius. So not only does she have a ready-to-wear necklace, but she has a very unique piece that we’re sure no one else has. The only reservation we have about this piece is that it looks very heavy. But there’s always a price to pay for fashion!
Next Level Streetwear
This next design deserves an award from the fashion police. It’s creative, original, and very stylish. When we see caution tape while walking in the street, we always assume that it’s due to an unfortunate event.
However, this designer decided to flip the script and turn caution tape into something refreshing and new. While this piece is not for your everyday wardrobe, it is sure to turn heads on the street. Kudos to the designer in charge of putting this dress together. We’d definitely have to give it a ten out of ten!
One Woman’s Trash…
Plastic trash bags are great for many reasons. They’re durable for even our heaviest trash; they can be used as protection when painting a wall; and they can even be used as raincoats for anyone who forgot to bring one to work.
But we didn’t know that trash bags can actually be used as the material for a cool dress! Usually, when people try to use trash bags in fashion, it ends up looking like a disaster. However, this designer used trash bags in a very stylish, avant-garde way. From the hat to the green bow details, everything about this costume is great.
A Wooden Dress
Wooden clothespins are a household essential. While they are commonly used to hang wet clothes that just came out of the washing machine, they can be used for other things. This designer deiced to use wooden clothespins to create a full corset dress, complete with wooden coat hangers.
While this piece doesn’t look very comfortable, it is a very stylish and cool idea. We can’t stop staring at this wooden piece. It looks so professional that it could be hung in a museum. We wonder what the rest of the dress looks like or if the designer created any cool accessories from clothespins as well.
A Mask Fit for a Queen
Masks have now become a necessity. But just because we have to wear one every time we leave the house doesn’t mean that we have to look like everyone else. It’s just another opportunity to showcase our personality. The designer of this cool mask had that very idea in mind when she made this masterpiece.
She decided to make a mask out of an old dress she had lying around the house. The mask is perfectly safe and is cut to the right proportions. This just proves that you can look stylish while keeping everyone around you safe and healthy.
Hands Off This Dress!
What should you do with a pile of old leather gloves that you find in the back of your closet? Should you save them for a rainy day? Throw them away? Donate them? Well, if you don’t donate them, you should definitely consider sewing them into a dress like this one here!
This dress is so well put together and chic that it deserves to be shown on an episode of Project Runway. While we don’t know how comfortable this dress would be to wear (it looks very tight and short), one thing is for certain: No one will be able to resist getting their hands on this piece.
Map It Out
With the rise of GPS and smartphones, people aren’t using maps like they used to. However, that doesn’t mean that map books should become extinct. In fact, maps can be repurposed for many different things. Take this dress, for example.
The designer decided to take a map of southern New England and turn it into a very quirky but stylish dress. Not only is this design one of a kind, but it also has a second purpose. The person who wears this dress, or the people around them will never get lost.
Button It Up
Most of us have old buttons that we’ve accumulated over the years. Instead of just keeping them in a box in your sock drawer, why not use them to create something beautiful? Most of these buttons are too pretty to stay hidden.
Well, that’s exactly what this designer did when she decided to create a necklace from old buttons. While this isn’t the finished product, we can see that it’s going to turn out very funky and chic. We can see ourselves wearing this for our next party. It’s also a very easy design that you can make at home.
Repurposing Stylish Curtains
IKEA has a lot of really cool products, and their designs and prints are always spot on. Instead of using these cool prints for what they were intended for (bedding, curtains, etc.), many people decided to use them to create cool outfits.
In early 2020, this Reddit user decided to buy curtains from IKEA and turn them into a vintage-looking dress. The black and white design has a minimalistic leaf and tree pattern, which she used to sew this dress. We hope that this designer starts selling these designs soon because we definitely want one.
That’s So Vogue
This Imgur user posted her latest design, and it’s out of this world. The model is wearing a dress made out of pages from a magazine. The top of the dress is made up of flat pages, while the bottom skirt is made out of rolled-up pages.
Ironically enough, the designer says that this dress ended up making it into the pages of some of the magazines that were featured in her dress. Very cool! We hope that this designer will soon make a name for herself! What do you think she’ll make next?
2020 as a Dress
2020 sure hasn’t been easy. Most of us haven’t gotten out of our sweatpants and leggings while we waste the day away on multiple conference calls. Many people have turned to art to express how this year has affected their lives.
High schooler Peyton decided to create a dress out of duct tape and enter her piece into the duct tape prom dress competition called Stuck at Prom. Peyton used 41 rolls of duct tape to create a dress that perfectly embodied 2020. Her masterpiece took around 395 hours to create, but it was all worth it. She won the competition (and $10,000)!