I’d venture a guess that humans have been recycling fabric since the dawn of time.

Silk rag rugs are hand-loomed in India by weaving twisted strips of old saris.

When you have to weave for weeks to make one item of clothing (not to mention gathering the wool or harvesting the cotton or tracking the deer), once made, you would never choose to waste the cloth.

By contrast, today we often throw out clothes with the slightest need for a mend. We throw out clothes because we have too many. We throw out clothes because they just aren’t cool anymore.

Now designers are thinking up new ways to cut up existing fabric to avoid waste, and other methods to keep extra fabric at a minimum. As we “Oooo “and “Ahhh” over these new technologies to not waste fabric, let’s take a minute to respect our ancestors for finding creative ways to do the exact same thing.

From quilts to rag rugs, potholders to aprons, stuffed toys to pillows, our predecessors have been finding creative ways to turn bits of fabric into functional masterpieces for generations. Here are a few ideas from around the world.

• Indian silk “rag” rugs: Silk rag rugs are hand-loomed in India by weaving twisted strips of old saris into wide gorgeous rugs. They are substantially brighter that their American-European counterpart, as they are made from bright silk saris that are often adorned with metallic paint and thread shining through.
• European/Country rag rugs: This craft was brought to the United States, likely by European immigrants, although it is hard to tell from where and first became popular in the 1890s. Some type of rag rug was likely the original American floor covering. A rag rug can be made from any material sewn into strips, although organic materials such as cotton and silk are the very common. Getting its name from what it can be made from—old rags—the name conveys the charm of these classic rugs. In the Old South, rag rugs were mostly cotton, leftovers from textile mills. Strips of scrap material can be woven in a rectangle on a loom, crocheted, or strips of fabric can be braided and then coiled and sewn in concentric circles, creating large circular, oval, and even heart-shaped rugs.
• Pieced and patchwork quilts: The quilt is as old as ancient Egypt, and has remained popular throughout history. The patchwork quilt only came to prominence after the 1840s when industrially produced fabric made it common and affordable, and while often the quilts are very ornate (and not made from scraps), women in the American interior and frontier preferred to use fabric scraps from used clothing and especially leftover scraps from other things they were sewing. The story of the quilt in America is particularly strong in the abolitionist movement, among the Amish, and in the Midwest. Certain quilting techniques are traditionally very “American,” but variations on the quilt can be found around the world.

I plan to keep plumbing the depths of this movement, but it has been much harder than I thought to track down ways that people around the world recycle their fabric. But that is not because they are not recycling — they are. Truth is, from Tulsa to Timbuktu, men and women will reuse fabric for a thousand things not just out of choice, but out of necessity. A lesson for us all.