When engaged in applied arts, needlewomen sometimes use new and often unnecessary materials and objects. Since the advent of nylon material, they began to make crafts from old tights.
The manufacturing process of such products is quick and does not require financial costs. Thanks to the structure and properties of the material, a variety of products are obtained that are used in everyday life and for decorating premises. This type of class is accessible even to beginning craftswomen.
Braided rug
Even if you are far from needlework, you can definitely weave a small rug from an armful of old tights for the bathroom or hallway.
- Cut the tights into strips 2–4 cm wide. Depending on the width of the strips, the mat will be denser or thinner. If the tights are of different densities, make wider strips (3-4 cm) from thin ones (20–40 deniers), and cut thick ones (70 deniers) into narrow strips 2 cm wide. In this case, the finished product will have the same thickness and look better.
- Place the ring from the first strip in a figure eight pattern on two fingers: thumb and index.
- Place a ring from the second strip on top (you no longer need to make a figure eight).
A chain of tights is woven on the fingers
- Remove the first ring from your fingers. The second should remain in place.
- Place the third ring on your fingers and remove the second. Acting in this way, you will get a dense chain of elements
- Next, a rug is formed, for example, by rolling the chain in a circle, like a “snail.”
Chains can be connected in the most intricate patterns
- In order for the structure to hold, it must be fixed with hot glue or thread.
Video: how to make a rug from old tights
Let's prepare our hands
To improve contact with tights, use a mixture of a handful of sugar and a small amount of vegetable oil.
Hands are rubbed with these components, then they are washed with running water so that the material does not cling to nails or fingers. The skin will become smooth, no puffs will form.
Flavoring sachets
Nylon tights can be used to make sachets - scented pads. They effectively neutralize unpleasant odors and create a good mood.
- Sew small bags (about 5x5 cm) from nylon.
- Place dried herbs and flowers inside.
- Add 2-3 drops of essential oil to each bag.
- Place the filled pads in different rooms inside furniture (cabinets, chests of drawers, bedside tables).
From thin nylon tights you can make pillows to scent the room
Which scent to choose:
- Citrus aromas are good for the kitchen: orange, tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, bergamot. They cope well with unpleasant odors and create a feeling of freshness.
- For the bedroom, it is better to choose soothing scents. For example, rose, violet, lavender or fir. They will set you up for healthy sleep.
- Lavender and chamomile are a good combination for a child's room.
- The aromas of coffee, cedar, pine, and tea tree are good for the hallway.
- During the off-season, you can put mint, lemon balm and rosemary in bags to prevent colds and increase immunity.
Vase
A small original vase can be made from a straight or convex glass and openwork tights.
Put fishnet tights on a convex glass and get an original vase
For this:
- Cut off a section of the tights that has retained its appearance (without holes, puffs, pilling or other unsightly defects). The length of the workpiece should be 3–5 cm greater than the height of the glass.
- Pull the workpiece onto the glass. And straighten it with your hands so that there are no distortions.
- Carefully trim off any excess material that extends beyond the contours of the glass.
- At the top and bottom along the perimeter of the new vase, fix the openwork on the glass using double-sided tape, regular glue or glitter.
For fixation, you can use multi-colored decorative glue
For flower pot
When a plant grows in one pot for a long time, it seems to grow into the walls of the pot and replanting it cannot be done without damaging the delicate roots. In order not to harm the plant, initially when planting you need to put a stocking in the pot, and only then add soil and plant the plant. The next time you replant, removing the plant from the pot will be easier and painless for a green or flowering planting.
Decorative flowers
The elastic properties of nylon make it easy to stretch it onto various frames. This feature can be used to make various decorative items, such as flowers.
General procedure:
- Use soft wire (aluminum, copper) to make a petal shape. The circuit must be closed.
- Cover the wire with nylon. For fixation, you can use a needle and thread or glue.
You can make an artificial flower from wire and nylon
- The color of the nylon can be changed if necessary, for example, using acrylic paints. And for decoration use beads, rhinestones, sequins.
Using special acrylic paints, nylon can be given any color.
Crafts for children
Handmade toys for children are very popular today. Such crafts are made by craftswomen to be sold as souvenirs. Many people themselves love to do handicrafts and make toys exclusively for their family, their children and grandchildren, or for gifts.
Often such products are made with the participation of children themselves, because for them it can be a fun and useful pastime. Toys in the form of dolls or animals are expressive because the “sculpting” technique is used to create the image.
Doll
Do-it-yourself dolls from tights are made to decorate the interior and often serve as a talisman. Needlewomen make different types of dolls:
- for puppet theater;
- tumblers;
- baby dolls;
- kettle warmers;
- butts;
- frame.
To begin making dolls, nylon material is prepared - boiled in a bleach solution (500 mg per 1 liter of water) for 15 minutes. After this, the nylon becomes lighter, more elastic and softer.
The prepared material is cut out to the required size, sewn together in the form of a bag (torso) and stuffed with padding polyester. It is suggested to use a plastic bottle for the frame.
The limbs and face are made using thread and needle, by stitching and pulling the thread to shape, or sewn separately. Beads are sewn onto the face - these are the eyes, and a mouth is embroidered from red thread.
For hair, wool yarn is used, from which different hairstyles are made. The threads are first glued to the gauze, and then the gauze to the doll’s head. At the end, clothes are sewn and the toy is dressed up.
If craftswomen sew a lot of dolls for sale or to create a family museum, they develop their own style and the toys turn out similar, but with some nuances. Such products are called “families”.
Flowers
Nylon is better suited for making flowers than other materials due to its softness, delicacy and transparency. The technique for making flowers is based on preparing wire frames of stems, petals and leaves, and then covering them with nylon fabric.
The flower details are secured with thread, glue or adhesive tape. The nylon is pre-dyed or colored tights are used. Rhinestones, beads and sparkles are suitable for decorating flowers. Making flowers will allow you to show your imagination and skill, as well as surprise your loved ones and acquaintances.
Stuffed Toys
Children not only love to play with soft toys, but also, together with adults, to make them, for example, from tights. Such products will decorate the interior of a children's room or can be used as gifts.
Old women's or children's tights of different colors are suitable for making them.
Usually they make animals or heroes of fairy tales and cartoons. The approach for all products is the same: bags are sewn for the torso, limbs and head, then filled with holofiber or padding polyester.
Then the parts are sewn to the body. Ears are cut out of the canvas, a nose is made from beads, and a mouth is made from threads. Then they make clothes from bright fabrics and decorate the toys.
Evergreen toy
Needlewomen have come up with such an amazing toy that is also a plant. They call it florik (hedgehog). It is a product in the shape of a hedgehog.
To make such a craft from children's tights, you need to take a long part, cut off 20–22 cm, fill it with sawdust (1/3 of the volume) and soil for indoor flowers, mixed with grass seeds for the lawn (2/3 of the volume) and sew up on both sides.
After giving the workpiece the shape of a hedgehog and decorating the spout and eye with beads, it is placed on a plate and watered with water. After 2 weeks, green grass will appear on the back of the toy - this is the florik.
Camera filter
If you are interested in photography, try using tights to create an interesting effect in the frame.
- Cover the camera lens with a stocking.
- Take a photo and notice the result.
Using nylon tights, you can achieve interesting effects in photography. - Play with the density and colors of the tights. Thus, thin (20 den) beige nylon creates a fog effect. And thicker black tights plunge the photo into darkness.
Useful tips
- Start collecting tights early.
- If you have some free time, immediately make threads and wind them into balls. This way you will have enough material to work with. There will also be an opportunity for color experiments.
- You can diversify the color scheme if you first dye your nude tights with fabric dyes.
- Try not to tighten the fabric, this way you will maintain the lightness and airiness of the nylon in the product.
All of the above methods are perfect for fabric ribbons made from old socks, knitted T-shirts or T-shirts.
And if you alternate not only colors, but also different textures of ribbons prepared in advance, your rug can become a work of art in the hand-made style.
How to knit a snood scarf
Shorts pattern for beginners
Plant garters
Tights will also come in handy for owners of summer cottages.
- Cut strips from stockings and use them as garter material for cucumbers, grapes and other garden crops.
The elastic nylon will hold the stem in the desired position without injuring it. The elastic material of the tights can be used for gartering plants - For heavy fruits, the fabric of the tights can be used as support so as not to load the plant stems.
A heavy pumpkin fruit can be supported with elastic tights
Characteristics of nylon material
Nylon is an elastic material made from a synthetic polyamide substance. In Russia the term “kapron” has been adopted, and abroad it is called:
- dederon;
- nylon;
- perlon.
Nylon fiber is ultra-strong and, at the same time, lightweight. It was invented in Germany in the second quarter of the 20th century. Nylon fabrics are highly wear-resistant, durable and moisture-resistant.
Nylon fabric is not exposed to microorganisms and bacteria. Wash nylon products in warm water. Due to its high elasticity, nylon does not deform when the shape of the product changes. The elasticity of the fibers provides the fabric with strong stretch. Types of nylon differ:
- by thread weaving method: twill or plain;
- by transparency: colorless or with a yellow tint.
The more transparent the thread, the stronger the material. Nylon fabric has a dirt-repellent effect, but accumulates static electricity. The heat-insulating and light-resistant properties of the material are low.
String bags for storing vegetables
Nylon tights can be used to store onions, garlic, beets or apples. Under the weight of vegetables, the elastic material stretches well, becoming more spacious. And string bags with vegetables suspended from the ceiling of the storage facility become inaccessible to rodents (mice, rats, voles).
Nylon tights are suitable for storing vegetables
Mesh for painting Easter eggs
Thin nylon tights can be used for dyeing Easter eggs.
- Attach a sprig of parsley, dill or a small leaf of another plant to the egg.
- Wrap the egg in one layer of nylon so that the leaf is pressed tightly to the shell.
Pull the free edges of the nylon tightly with strong thread. Wrap the eggs in nylon - Dip the egg into the dye as usual. After painting, the part covered by the twig will remain white, and the openwork mesh from the tights will be imprinted on the other part of the shell.
The finished Easter eggs will have beautiful patterns.
The free edges of the tights can be left longer and used as a cable when dipping the egg into the dye.
Patch for mosquito net
Is the mosquito net torn? It doesn’t matter if you have old nylon tights and tape on hand.
- Cut a patch of the desired size from the tights.
- Use tape to secure it to the mosquito net. And rest assured that not a single mosquito will disturb you.
A patch of nylon tights will protect the room from midges until you purchase a new mosquito net
Why can’t you throw away old “kapronkas”?
Nylon and nylon, from which women's tights are made, decompose from 30 to 100 years. At the same time, they are toxic - when decomposed, they release harmful substances. By throwing tights in the trash, people pollute the environment.
An interesting fact: according to USSR standards, each woman is supposed to wear 5 pairs of nylon tights (stockings) per year.
Let's do some simple calculations. At the end of 2022, the female population in the Russian Federation was 78 million. Multiply 78 million by 5, and we get 390 million pairs of tights. The average weight of one pair is 47 g. A total of 18,330 tons of toxic waste.
Microfiber cloths for cleaning and polishing
Any tights can be used in everyday life for cleaning:
- cotton ones collect dust well and are suitable for wet and dry cleaning; By cutting the stockings from two pairs of tights and sewing them in pairs, you can make a large cloth-rag for washing floors;
- The nylon mesh gently cleans any surface: glass, mirrors, screens. For convenient polishing, you can put a stocking on the sponge.
- Wool tights are suitable for polishing parquet.
Pantyhose can be used for cleaning rooms and polishing interior items
Preparatory stage
Regardless of how exactly the old nylon tights will be used, they must first be prepared for work. The first thing you need to do is wash the item, and this even applies to tights that have just been lying in the closet for a long time. This will not only help clean the product from dust and small dirt, but will give the fabric a pleasant aroma.
The second stage - you need to inspect the stockings for holes and puffs. Problem areas need to be cut off, since most crafts require a whole canvas. But for some use cases, a product that has already been mended is also suitable, for example, when making a cover for a broom. It is worth considering that in everyday life you can find the use of stockings of different shades, not only flesh or black, but also colored ones.
There are no restrictions on density; tights of different thicknesses are suitable for making useful crafts.
Before starting work, tights must be washed and dried.
Filter for vacuum cleaner
Did a bead break or a small button come off? Tights will help you find it.
- Wrap the vacuum cleaner tube with nylon in 2-4 layers.
- Turn on the vacuum cleaner and pick up all the small parts from the floor. The tights will allow air and dust to pass inside the bag without hindrance, while beads and seed beads will be retained.
The vacuum cleaner tube, wrapped in nylon, will help collect small objects
