Textiles student upcycled her late grandfather's clothes into fashionable garments to save them

A textiles student who didn't want to throw away her late grandfather's clothes has upcycled them into fashionable garments.

Issy Spurway, 21, has hand-made the pieces from a bag of her late granddad's clothing tops.

The old bloke clobber was transformed into cool designs and garments expected to be worn by youngsters.

So far, Issy has upcycled over 100 garments, many of them her late grandfather's.

Issy, a student at Loughborough University, said: "When my grandad died I didn’t want to throw his clothes away and I didn’t want to wear them.

"So I made them into something I could wear and take a piece of him with me.

"I actually think helped with the grieving process as I know he would have loved it."

Issy documents her upcycling process on the social media app TikTok.

Videos show her cropping, hemming, gathering and draping garments.

Issy's grandfather passed away suddenly in November 2020 of a stroke and the following January she started upcycling his clothes.

Issy said: "I find that upcycling is all about looking at the already existing features of a garment and working with these to suit a personal style or to make a certain outcome.

"So each time it would be different depending on the garment."

Issy thinks that her videos have been so popular because they resonate with people.

She said: "The videos about upcycling my grandparents' clothes in particular did really well.

"I think because a lot of people love their grandparents and keep their clothes as sentimental pieces after they’ve passed."

Issy, who's from near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, honed in her sewing skills during the pandemic in her spare time.

She started upcycling clothes to practise her sewing skills but also because it was cheap and shops were closed.

She said: "I wasn’t particularly good at sewing but over the months I improved and before I knew it had quite a following."

Issy gained traction online in the 2020 lockdowns and even made tutorial videos for one of TikTok's own campaigns.

She said: "TikTok UK reached out to me and I worked on a few campaigns with them, doing sewing and upcycling tutorials.

"Once I got to university I had a lot to focus on so I stopped sewing for a couple of years.

"Although I was still learning lots of techniques as part of my course so my sewing was still improving."

Issy has now taken up employment with an upholstery company in Oxford - while finishing her degree.