Upcycle Living

During these movement-controlled days, besides worrying about the shortage of surgical masks, the accumulating disposal of the one-time use masks is also a concern - not to mention the money we would have to keep spending on buying them. As I have more than usual free time on my hands, there is really no excuse why I shouldn't look into learning to make some washable reusable face masks for ourselves. After studying the structures of the existing surgical masks and what other people have shared online, I have made a few for the people around me. What I have done is to add a pocket to some, in order to slot in a filter pad if needs be. Another add-on feature is the adjustable clip-on straps so that there is no need for elastics bands over the ears. The main reason for this is that the elastic bands would dig in to the back of the ears and could be painful over time. Secondly, I am making all these with existing materials I can find in the house, and I just do not have them at hand. ...

No matter how careful I am, I sometimes buy things that I end up not using much - like this brown velvety halter dress. I bought it for some special occasion but it has not been worn much since. As you grow older, the chance of getting invited to parties and going to gigs reduces tremendously; this dress became too dressy for just going out in the day. After a few drafts on the drawing board, I've decided that I will make a simple knapsack out of it. The halter neck tie around strap is cut off to make into a thin scarf, and the length from above the waist and down is cut into this: The bottom hem is sewn together to make the base The top bit is hemmed up to leave openings for the drawstring Each corner of the bottom is sewn into triangular flap to make a depth on the base Leftover fabric (from the top bit of the dress) made into pockets on the inside of the bag. The rest of the leftover fabric is used to make a pocket on the outside, complete with zipper (a ...

The previous tenant left behind some very illogical blinds in our bedroom: one side shorter than the other. This left an uncovered corner which allows strong sunlight coming in at 7am which makes the room really hot. We can't even have a lie in on weekends and waking up to bright light gives me migraine for days. The flat came as it is and we're not allowed to incur any unnecessary cost to the landlord and we really don't feel like spending money on replacing some blinds that are still good. So I thought of putting some curtains over it to screen off the sunlight whilst softening the mood of the bedroom.I tried looking for some simple, plain coloured ready made curtains to go with the window size. Unfortunately, the simple-looking home decor market in Malaysia seems to be catered for very rich people only. So I gave up and went to look for fabric in a fabric store instead. Lucky for me, I found some a plain off-white thick material and a chiffon-like material with pretty fl...