Get Creative with Your Old Clothes
Unless you’re cleaning out your wardrobe every year, you’ll undoubtedly have clothes from a few years before. Even if you’re buying and replacing them, there are always items of clothing that will be older and outdated.
But how about those of us who still have old clothes from several more years before?
Sometimes those old clothes have nothing wrong with them. They may have just fell out of style with you or popular culture. If you have a large amount of clothes that you can see yourself wearing again, don’t throw them out just yet. Get creative!
Some months ago, I found a pair of dark high-waisted jeans that I bought as a college freshman. Judging by the condition of the jeans, I could tell I rarely wore them. But it was summer time, the dark color was my favorite, and I wanted to wear them again. I got out some scissors, cut out some holes, and sandpapered several areas of the jeans. I hadn’t bought a pair of distressed jeans in months, but now I had a pair and they were my favorite pair of jeans all summer.
I found another pair of old jeans and did the same with them. Of course, I used the sandpaper in different areas and cut out less holes, creating a different distressed style.
Next, were tees and old T-shirts. While I didn’t have many old T-shirts, I did find a plain navy blue crew neck shirt. I had probably worn this shirt only in my house a few times, but nothing was so wrong with it that I couldn’t wear it out. Since I wasn’t fan of the super round neckline, I took my scissors again and cut just below the neckline on both ends. When I tried the shirt on again, I was able to re-adjust it for an off-shoulder style. I found several more old shirts and repeated the technique. I also found one shirt that was little tighter than the others, but the scissor trick made it fit once more again!
During the summer, I also found a tube dress I last wore in high school. The dress was still nice and fit but the bottom half was too short, and I knew I couldn’t wear it as a dress again. I had several ideas on possibly cutting it and sewing on an elastic band for the waist area, but that would be too much work. Instead, I wore it with some jeans one day, tucking in the ‘dress’ part and no one even noticed. Everyone thought it was cute tube top. I’ve never even bought a tube top before, but I had one now.
Lastly, I fixed a pair of shorts I intended on giving away. I don’t wear shorts often, but the ombre style was popular last summer and the summer before, and I decided to dye them. Colorful shorts can be so hard to find sometimes and dying the shorts was the best alternative.
Creatively styling the old clothes in your wardrobe will save you some closet space. You won’t constantly need new clothes when you can reconstruct the ones you already have. Some good tools for redesigning clothes are: scissors, dye, bleach, sandpaper, pins and much more. These ideas aren’t just limited to old clothes, but they will save you money from buying new items. Why buy ripped jeans, when you can make your own with sandpaper and scissors?
Have fun trying these ideas!
