I confess, I love clothes! I love shoes and handbags, costume jewelry, and art. As a creative individual with limited funds, I have scoured thrift shops for years on the hunt for bargains. When my sons were young I clothed them in second hand, like-new clothes that saved us so much money and they looked great! I would look for interesting things, like t-shirts with cool graphics that could be cut and appliqued onto jeans, etc. to create entirely new and original looks.
As the oldest of six children, times were tight when I was a child. We often received boxes of hand-me-downs from others and were happy to get them. My grandmothers sewed clothing as well. It is no wonder that I learned to be frugal and yet use my own creativity to imbue freshness into older, no longer fashionable articles of clothing.
Today, as an empty nester, in addition to many other creative outlets, I continue to re-purpose outdated clothing. This also helps saves hundreds of pounds of fabric from ending up in waste sites. It is sometimes a slow process to find things that will work in a refashion project, but the results are worth it! I often find great items for as little $.50 that others overlook.
I encourage anyone who might never have considered it to give it a try! Get those creative juices flowing and strut your shine!
Source: ReFashionista
My daughters like to "design" some of their own clothes, which often means they will be either cutting or adding something to their clothing.
When my children were growing up I used to take all my husband's, and my old jeans and shirts and make simple shorts with elastic bands for my kids. Then for my girls and myself I would make little sun tops out of strips of material here is how that is done. Here's how...
Recently, I saw a lovely blouse on a lady. I complimented her on it. She replied, "Thank You, I bought this along with several other blouses, at a sale, all having long sleeves, I took them home, cut the sleeves off and made me all summer time blouses." She most likely saved a lot of money by doing this.
Some clothing can be repurposed into other articles of clothing with a little alteration. Here is a neat idea about how to turn a blouse and skirt into a dress.
Sweaters can be used in a variety of recycled crafts. This page has ideas for making new and creative crafts using sweaters as material.
This is a page about altering pants into capris. Give an older or unused pair of long pants a new lease on fashion life by cutting them down into capris.
This is a page about recycled summer tops. By reworking some of your other clothing, such as long sleeved shirts, you can make some really cute tops for summer.
This is a page about making shorts out of pants. Bring new life to a worn out or out of style pair of pants by making them into shorts.
Use an old sweatshirt to repurpose into a jacket. Here is a great design for how to turn a sweatshirt into a jacket.
This page is about shortening men's shirt sleeves. Altering the length of sleeves can add extended wear and save you money.
I have made shorts and blouses from a large bed sheet, also curtains, pillow cases, etc. It's often cheaper than fabric from fabric store.
