Ideas for saleable crafts from junk/recycled materials please

[ArbitraryHaddock]

I’m a member of a group which meets at an ex-lawn bowling green. This is run as a community resource for local people and entirely funded by charity and grants. We are all quite crafty and would like to hold a Christmas fair to raise funds towards keeping this project going.

Obviously, we’re all affected by the cost of living and realistic enough to recognise that no one is going to be paying cost of materials plus profit. So, we would ideally be trying to upcycle, recycle etc to make things as cheaply as possible.

Anyone have any good ideas, Pinterest links, etc, please? So far we have someone making earrings out of scrabble tiles, and someone else is going to be selling small houseplants they have propagated. Any ideas much appreciated. Thank you.

Unpick old hand-knitted or crocheted items for the yarn.
Make fat bundles from old cotton clothes for patchwork.
Sell the buttons from the old buttons from the clothes.
Sell unwanted but usable crafting goods.
Offer a repair cafe
Teach crafts
Sell unused knitting and sewing patterns & supplies that are surplus to requirements
Sell old crafting magazines and books
Doughcraft or papier mache christmas decorations.
Knitted Christmas decorations

Are you allowed to sell edibles?

Someone was looking for Scrabble sets on a local freegle site

Home grown lavender dried and made into bags.
Home grown catmint dried and made into 'mice' - would need to be cat-proof.

How about cute toys made from very soft wool jumpers (boil them so that they become felt) or from cotton jersey.

Lavender bags are very good at keeping away clothes moths and keeping stored bedlinen fresh. They'd sell.

Fingerless gloves made from the sleeves of old soft sweaters.

Oh, thank you for these excellent suggestions! I will take all these ideas to the team. I have tried to felt woollen jumpers before, but you have to be quick to find 100% wool items in charity shops these days! Thanks all!

@ArbitraryHaddock , You can make fingerless mittens/wrist warmers from cashmere/merino sweaters or cardigans that have moth holes in the body.

You can also repair wool jumpers that have a moth hole or two. (I think that the Toast clothing company shows some repaired items)

Your group could probably do demos on different crafts. I can't crochet and am not picking it up from online tutorials, but I probably would in a 1-1.

I think that 'vintage' is popular with youngsters, so maybe thinks like aprons might sell.

Potted herbs and chilli plants would probably be popular.

Dried flower arrangements. Pressed flowers.
Homemade soap and candles.

Personalised items would probably sell, especially if you could do some in advanced with the Theo, Noah, Sophia and Evie type names, and maybe one or two more unusual names, and have someone do more unusual names in situ.
If you had a fairly unusual one, if someone knows someone with the name, they'll probably buy it.

I went to a small craft fair in a church hall last autumn and particularly remember some jam made from a local apple, and came away with some seeds.
I would definitely have bought fudge or toffee, and I think home made pickles might be popular.

Long lasting Christmas wreaths made from things like holly, pine cones and evergreens.

Old fashioned paper chains made from paper - old wrapping paper, magazines, brochures etc

Macrame plant holders

Plant labels

Bunting (maybe Christmassy colours) from fabric scraps

Teacup candles using charity shop teacups.

Knitted/crochet decorations

Cut up old towels and trim with bias binding to make reusable face wipes - sell in a bundle with a little cotton or crochet bag for washing them.

Fabric scraps to make coasters/table mats/napkin rings. Larger pieces of fabric to make table runners.

Christmas decorations from costume jewellery

I made some really pretty holly table pieces by soaking the leaves in bleach, then brushing off the green with a small paint brush and leaving just the leaf skeleton. It dries in a bronze colour and if you flatten slightly when wet holds a nice shape. Add some shiny red beads and quite a nice looking decoration that can be made well in advance if Christmas.

There are loads of YouTube videos on recycling for craft. Once you search for one more you will be given links to more.