Great ‘Take care of your wardrobe’ Hunt

I have a change-of-season look through my clothes and shoes. I sort out anything that needs dry cleaning or repair and throw anything that's not paying for the space it takes up. I've found a pair of expensive leather shoes in the cupboard; the soles are hardly worn but they're badly scratched. I'm thinking a brown dye will make them good as new for the winter.

i tend to sell some of my wardrobe on sites such as ebay and renew it also from ebay or charity shop least that way i am only spending money i have made from selling old clothes

I have a 'capsule collection' of work clothes ie basic items like skirt / trousers / jacket /couple of blouses / cardi in classic shapes & toning colour (I'm going with navy atm but it was black a few years back) that I can mix & match and use different accessories with. Saves buying lots of garments, everything matches & I can always put together an outfit quickly.

I iron carefully & love to starch my blouses - seems to add extra life. I also handwash tights after each wearing. I used to keep them in the freezer, but I got fed-up with DH's jokes :rolleyes:.

I do the running repairs as soon as possible - I mend before washing to really save nine stitches! - and I keep all the spare buttons in one place so I can't lose them. I do have a small sewing kit in the bedroom for emergencies.

As a kid I hated having to wear 'home made' clothes & resented being given an 18th birthday sewing machine (bratty me wanted a gold necklace ) but I can now alter or even remake garments, replace zips etc so DD & I sit down at the start of a season & plan our alterations so that we can use what we've got. Recent highlights include long skirts into shorter ones, trousers into cut-offs, a dress into a skirt, Kidston floral tea towels into a shoulder bag ....

I love dying things to get more usage: I've just dyed DD's rubbed cream satin 'posh frock' shoes a vibrant red, ready for the Christmas parties. They'll be black in January

Oh, and a properly fitting bra makes clothes hang better

I like to keep my shoes in their original boxes where possible with the pictures facing outwards at the bottom of my wardrobe and never put them away dirty. I also got some of those clear plastic boxes (meant to be for shoes) free with some large storage chests, and I keep my good handbags in those.

With clothes, always do repairs/replace buttons as soon as you notice that they need doing; hang dark coloured clothes inside out on the washing line to stop them from fading in sunlight; where possible, try not to use the tumble dryer on anything at all as it causes 'wear and tear' on garments.

I'm another who likes to swap seasonal clothes around in the wardrobe - make sure that they are clean and repaired first - and store them in suitcases with some lavender bags till needed again.

Patchwork_Quilt wrote: »

Similarly, I dyed a load of clothes in cotton and linen this summer so that they would all match. It meant I had several new mix and match outfits instead of various random bits of clothing that didn't go together.

Excellent idea. I have lots of linen clothes and some stuff is almost near as dammit in colour but does not match. I'll be dyeing them now thanks for the tip.