Make Do and Mend

catznine

culpepper wrote:

OH buys from Millets and charity shops.He has a lot of discarded police shirts(they throw them away rather than mend them)
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We have the same problem re excess unifom shirts (have just had to bleach a couple that oh left pens in!) Hope they will still be usable! What do you do with the material? I have used some to back cushion covers and in patchwork. I love the idea of recycling stuff like this as it seems such a waste to throw them away.

Queenie

catznine wrote:

We have the same problem re excess unifom shirts (have just had to bleach a couple that oh left pens in!) Hope they will still be usable! What do you do with the material? I have used some to back cushion covers and in patchwork. I love the idea of recycling stuff like this as it seems such a waste to throw them away.

My dh's uniform shirts I have a) removed all the buttons from to go into my button box, b) used the shirts for 'aprons' over my clothing when painting, gardening, kids paint overalls for school, c) used the fabric for: serviettes, dining table placemats, quilt squares, make into letters of the alphabet to applique onto towels with a different coloured satin stitch; one of the sleeves was recycled into a carrier bag holder for the shed and some other clothes which were unserviceable have been used to wrap fragile Christmas ornaments for storage. Strips have also been used in my rag rugs

Sarahsaver

Im sort of thinking out loud here, would it be worth doing this...
i have a jacket i got from the second hand stall a while back for 50p, its a next one, beautiful fabric, but there is a shoulder pad missing so if i wore it as it was it would be a little wonky. Whats the going rate for repairs these days? I can sew but im not too hot on clothing alterations. It needs dry cleaning too. Been having a clear out and i thought this one may be worth salvaging. I spose it is, i have no idea how much jackets cost in Next but i expect its a lot more than 50p!!!

Mrs_Thrift

How about taking the other shoulder pad out instead? Just a thought - that's the lazy way I'd try it anyway, hehe!

Bargain_Rzl

Whats the going rate for repairs these days? I can sew but im not too hot on clothing alterations. It needs dry cleaning too.

My fantastic local dry cleaners are the cheapest I've ever found - they clean 4 items for £6 and are not fussy about what they will and won't take(used to be 3 for £6, but they thought, why not just improve it! If only more people could think that way!) and they also do all my repairs for £2 (hems) or £5 (zips, including the zip itself).

If you've got a place like this, you might be able to get the shoulder pad fixed for very little - don't forget that the shoulder pads themselves would have to be paid for on top of that.

moggins

Wish I had a dry cleaners like that!

The youngest has had another growing spurt and I only have two pairs of trousers that fit her. I've just bought some gorgeous things on e-bay for some bargain prices but I'm going to have to get busy with a needle to take the waistbands in for some trousers I bought in Primark.

Why do they never make clothes to fit skinny kids

Sarahsaver

my daughter is the same. You can spot her in a crowd - she's the one constantly pulling her trousers up. Expensive trousers have button elastic in - from gap or adams, you should be able to get this elastic in your local haberdashery, then the trousers will be adjustable;)

moggins

We have a really great little stall in the indoor market, I must go and investigate.

Why do they always assume that little girls have podgy bellies? I have a family of whippets!

maryb

my 9 year old is really skinny and also tall so trousers that are long enough fall down!! roll on summer when she lives in skirts

what I do now is sew some 1 inch wide tape along the inside of the back waistband of cheap jeans and thread some buttonhole elastic through then sew two buttons either side of the tape. It only takes five minutes and means I can have jeans for her like the adjustable ones in Gap

Glad

always had a problem with my skinny long legged daughter, end up buying her GAP from their outlet shops, but found that MATALAN is pretty good, their clothes are made for skinnier kids, I get her school trousers from there