Are you OS with clothes

Austin_Allegro

If I may make a man's contribution...I find the following useful:

Keep clothes classic, so that you can wear them until they fall to bits.

Repair things - iron on patches etc are great for reinforcing stuff. I do things like sew up holes in socks (darning is not worth the effort) and darn pullovers. I also do my own alterations like taking up trousers with wundaweb. I also do my own shoe repairs with stuff from Woolworth's.

Get good quality stuff. Eg, I have a pair of Cheaney brogues which cost £120 but which have lasted me five years. Pennywise is sometimes pound foolish when it comes to clothes.

Sort your wardrobe out each season and ditch stuff you haven't worn for a year. If you can't sell on Ebay, donate to charity. Things you can't donate, like old vests, socks etc can be cut up for cleaning rags, mending etc.

Wear old clothes around the house and whenever you're doing anything that might get them damaged - I learned the hard way by spraying bleach down the loo when wearing good trousers.

Get a steamer to clean clothes. Dry cleaning can be harmful and it's expensive. Steaming and a good brushing is usually enough for most non-washable items.

Make sure you have anti-moth protection in your wardrobe.

I use charity shops for most things except shoes and underwear. Make sure you 'plan ahead' and buy out of season bargains. If you already have a good coat but see another good one going really cheap in a classic style, it's probably still worth buying.

Buy abroad. Despite Primark, clothes are still quite expensive in the UK. I order made to measure suits from a company in Thailand. Off the peg suits don't fit me and I need to look smart at work as I have meetings with govt. ministers etc. I would prefer British tailors but they charge at least £500 for suits.

kezz

Pandora123 wrote: »

Kezz, what kind of patterns do you use for your 40s dresses? And where do you get the fabric for them?

:A

Hi Pandora, I buy original 40s patterns from ebay or online, there are lots of them about as dressmaking was very popular then. Fabric is a little more difficult, I just keep my eyes peeled for vintage looking prints, again on ebay and in various fabric shops locally. I have yet to source a really good supplier. If your thinking of having a go yourself please feel free to pm me if you think I can be of any help.
Kerry

Ches

My thanks to everyone who replied to this thread it has given me some ideas to organise myself and my wardrobe a bit more.

verynewmoneysaver

I too am a bit of clothesaholic, but I buy mainly from charity shops, ebay which I have recently got into, sales and outlet shops. I still buy too many though, and keep trying to cut back. I haven't got much room to keep them so regularly go through my wardrobe and get rid of stuff I've not worn much. I have sold a couple of things on ebay, but mostly I give it back to the charity shop. I keep the out of season stuff in the wardrobe in the spare room. But everytime I'm in town I can't resist a look in the charity shops!

Hardup_Hester

For my 40th birthday I was given money, which amounted to £120, I bought 6 pairs of shoes all Van Dal as I have wide feet. I still have 4 pairs left, the other 2pairs wore out. I'm 56 soon, I have bought a few pairs of cheap shoes, I have 2 pairs of black suede stilettos that were 99p a pair in Makro & also a pair of black beaded party shoes £2.50 also from Makro.
I buy my clothes from Charity shops & try to keep a list of what I need tucked in my handbag.