A Simple Guide to Making the Most of Hand Me Downs
Hand-me-downs can be quite convenient, especially when you cannot afford to buy new clothing every couple of weeks or months. Some people are even starting to seek out hand me downs by shopping at thrift stores or garage sales. Hand me downs offer tons of options and can give any outfit a distressed or retro look. With fashion trends such as the flannel shirt with shorts outfit, hand me downs offer an opportunity to rock the trend, without breaking your bank account balance.
- Know What You Spend On
Hand-me-down or not, you need to know when you should spend money and you should not. For example, let’s say that you come across some nice-looking hand-me-downs at a garage sale, and on a whim, you decide to buy some pieces because they are cheap. If the quality of the material is poor, they will simply hang around in your closet, not being used. In order to turn them into something usable, they need to be in wearable condition.
- Use Your Scissors
A pair of scissors can be quite a magical item. You can turn a long shirt into a short skirt. Pants can become shorts. Long-sleeves can become T-shirts. T-shirts can become tank tops or crop tops. You may even turn a sweater into a jacket if you want to. All you have to do is cut in the right places, and you’ve got yourself a new item.
- Update Clothing for Different Seasons
We’ve seen this trend all over: shirts that look like they are short-sleeve worn over a long-sleeve, but in fact, it is just one faux-sleeve blouse. Say you get one of these blouses in summer, but the sleeves make it almost impossible to wear. The good news is that you can easily recycle it by cutting off the sleeve and turning it into a regular T-shirt. You can also create your own faux-sleeve by taking an old T-shirt and attaching the sleeves from another hand-me-down to it.
- Personalize the Clothing
Perhaps the hand-me-downs that you got are nice but are quite boring. They don’t have that “new” look anymore. In that case, you might want to try personalizing them. If you have a way with stitching, then you may create a few cute patterns there. Or perhaps you can add a few sparkles or sequins. You can also get some fabric dye and bring some color into the clothing. This may be a good chance for you to use the wrap tie-dye technique.
- Store Them Properly
It comes as no surprise that hand-me-downs are no longer new – which means they already are far enough ahead in the wear game. To make sure that you make the most out of them, you should store the seasonal clothing in vacuum-sealed space-saving bags. This will leave no chances for mold to grow, moths to attack, or for the clothing to get an even funkier, older smell.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to hand-me-downs, no one wants to feel like they are getting the shorter end of the stick. That being said, there are still ways for you to get the most out of your items. You just need to use your creativity.
