“I make up to £2.5m a month turning old towels into dresses”

A self-taught TikToker to sew earns between £2,000 and £2,500 a month turning old towels into dresses. Scarlett Hawkes, 28, has always loved fashion and sewing since she was 14.

After dropping out of college, where she was studying womenswear, she decided to continue teaching on her own. Getting her basics from YouTube and Google, Scarlett launched an Etsy shop during the coronavirus pandemic.

At first she was recycling some clothes from her mother Nicky, 57, but found her niche when she turned a Heinz tea towel with ketchup into a dress. Scarlett loved her creation and launched AFRAYED Upcycling in December 2022.

Now, she spends five hours each time transforming beloved tea towels into dresses, jumpsuits, jackets and skirts. According to Scarlett, she earns between £2,000 and £2,500 a month from her creations; she sells her midi dresses for £148 and charges extra for personalisation. Her jackets start at £115.

Scarlett, from Liverpool, said: “I used YouTube and Google to teach myself. It is a free resource. People enjoy the uniqueness of each item.”

Scarlett has been doing her own alterations since she was a teenager and studied womenswear for two years before dropping out in 2017. She added: “I felt like I wasn’t being taught the things I wanted to be taught.

“From a young age I’ve always loved sewing. I’ve always loved thrift stores and car sales.”

Scarlett went traveling after leaving university but started sewing again when she returned in 2020. She said: “I ended up cutting up my mum’s old clothes. I decided I wanted to get into sustainable fashion.”

Scarlett has set up an Etsy, creating lots of patchwork outfits – like a jumpsuit – and shares her patterns online @afrayedupcycling. But her breakthrough came when she saw an old towel she loved.

She said: “I had a Heinz ketchup tea towel from eBay and thought ‘let’s incorporate it’. I like Heinz ketchup. People absolutely loved it.”

Now Scarlett makes all her clothes out of old tissues – which she finds on eBay and Vinted. She added: “It costs between £8 and £10. You don’t want a human tea towel in a dress.”

Scarlett also makes custom designs, where customers can send in the napkins they want to include. She said: “I really enjoy working with other people’s ideas and fabrics. A lady recently wanted a 1960s towel for her 60th birthday. I made a chilli on her dress. I love adding details.”