Fashion Fixes: Revive & Refresh Your Worn out Wardrobe
Gif via the Frontlash.
If you’re like me, you form true attachments to your clothing pieces, regardless of whether it is a sentimental thrift store find from travels or a basic t-shirt from Forever21. This love for fashion begets the all too familiar horror stories and heartbreaks of your favorites becoming worn out, dingy, or worst of all–broken. To help you get the most out of your closet favorites (and save you some cash too), here are some of my go-to fixes to revive and refresh your wardrobe staples.
The Problem: Dingy Whites
Pardon my intrusion on Billy Mays’s legacy with this tip, but I literally swear by Oxiclean for getting the “tough stains out,” so much so that I have a designated glass jar for my Oxiclean stash, embossed label-maker label and all. This is admittedly a very much grandmotherly piece of advice, but it is also a very cost effective solution that works to keep any light colored clothes fresh and bright!
For those pesky armpit stains (I’m in this one with you 100%, no shame!), I’ve successfully followed a little kitchen chemistry DIY tutorial with hydrogen peroxide and baking soda.
The Problem: Boring Pieces
Continuing on with my grandmotherly advice, there’s nothing a little embroidery or patch can’t fix. We’ve seen a plethora of embroidery and patch paraphernalia throughout the fashion trends of late, so why not personalize your hopping onto this bandwagon with a little DIY magic. My favorite place to find neat patches (though, I have also DIY’d some in the past too!) is Depop, with @maddiemcloset, @slowcity, and @flovvers as some of my favorite patch-carrying boutiques.
Image via @maddiemcloset on Depop
For some direct-on-the-garment sprucing up, I am personally a sucker for embroidered details on anything, with my personal pride and joy (and painstaking DIY process) of the denim jacket I embroidered my name across the back of.
There’s also a gold mine of inspiration in “Thrift Flip” videos and tutorials; the lavender sprig accent in this video is my next embroidery project to try out (read: procrastination for my mountain of readings).
The Problem: Broken Shoes
The trick works best on this type of shoe to sole connection!
Image via Pinterest
As someone who literally wears their shoes to death, I often fall into the problem of the sole peeling off the base of the shoe. While a good cobbler can fix this very easily, I am a stubborn DIYer at heart and will refuse to pay for fixes I can do myself.
For this DIY-via-the-hardware-store-edition repair, the star of the show is two-part epoxy–both easily found for a couple bucks and boasting a waterproof “never gonna give you up” strength. I’m fully aware of how completely insane this tip is, but trust me, I have done it on an other-wise perfect pair of thrifted boots and it works impeccably.
The Problem: Rips Not on the Seam
Nothing pains me more than this fashion tragedy; unlike the much easier to deal with tear along a seam (you can stitch these babies up easy-peasy!), the tear in the middle of the material requires a bit more round about solution. Again, I often seek out thrift flip or up-cycling clothes videos for some inspiration on what to do with whatever garment needs some TLC.
For baby holes, refer back to the magic of patches to add some flair and cover the tragic rip.
For the severe cases (read: we’re talking point of no return, has to be discarded to prevent unsightly exposure types of rips), let your fashion inspiration flow and see what can be done with the fabric that remains. I often get rips in the legs of pants that get caught on protruding screws or other snaggy objects, and I’ll chop off the legs and make some shorts out of these otherwise discarded clothes. Dresses I’ll chop into skirts or shirts, and shirts I’ll shorten the sleeves or crop the length of. Get creative and see how you can upcycle your clothes!
Featured image via.
