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Today, as an empty nester, in addition to many other creative outlets, I continue to re-purpose outdated clothing.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
How can long wider strait leg women's slacks be updated to look contemporary?
There are so many cute things kids are doing these days to style their clothes and make them look more contemporary. One way to get a lot of ideas on this is to go to life hacks for clothes and take a look at how simple and easy this one could be. Furthermore, a lot of the older styles in clothes are coming back.
I wear those now! It's how you pair them up. With wide straight leg, I use a thick belt and solid coloured top, and accessorize. It's fun to be a blast from the past :)
Use an old sweatshirt to repurpose into a jacket. Here is a great design for how to turn a sweatshirt into a jacket.
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.
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.
I've been looking for tops for my white skirt and ivory skirt and looking for print skirts. One day, I found a dress with a print I liked and thought, "I wish this were a skirt." That's when I realized I could cut it in half and make a skirt.
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 page is about shortening men's shirt sleeves. Altering the length of sleeves can add extended wear and save you money.
You don't have to throw away your favorite sheath-style dress just because you outgrow it. All things old can become new again with a bit of imagination.
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.
I have been asked to help adjust a dance recital dress for a toddler. She is three years old and the size 6 dress ordered for her was the largest size available. It is too small particularly in the torso and sleeves. The skirt I think will be OK.
Here is what it looks like. The top is pink satin with a Peter Pan collar. It buttons in the back to the waist. It has short puffy sleeves with elastic edging. The skirt sits at the natural waist and has multilayers of underskirts. The main outer layer is cotton. I measured the child in the dress and we need additional inches across the back and in the sleeves.
I would love to make these adjustments without too much cutting. I was thinking I may be able to add a piece of satin (maybe with some spandex?) to the back between the buttons and the buttonholes and then open the seams of the puffy sleeves and add some extra fabric to enlarge the area around the arm and armpit. Or maybe opening the sides of the top and inserting stretchy fabric all the way from the sleeve to the waist and leaving the back area as is; that is, leaving the buttons alone. Any other ideas out there? Thank you so much for any help!
By Joanieb from NY
I don't see how a size 6 dress can be too small for a three year old. My daughters and grandkids were all large for their ages, but never had that problem.
Also aren't all of the dancer's dresses supposed to be identical. Any alterations that you make will have to be done so that they aren't noticeable.
