3 ways to bring old clothes back to life

It is not uncommon to hear women lament that they have nothing to wear, or how they hate everything in their closet. Since not all of us can afford a shopping spree every time we want new clothes, we can unleash our creativity and find new ways to breathe life into old pieces.

1. Turn your old jeans into shorts.

·         Lay your jeans flat on a table or the floor and figure out your desired shorts length. You can go anywhere from right above the knee to create walking shorts, to just a two-inch hemline for short shorts.
·         If you would like a cuff on the bottom of your shorts, add an extra inch-and-a-half to your desired length. If you want fringe at the bottom of your shorts, don’t add the extra length. Take some tailor’s chalk (or if you don’t have any, use anything you can use to mark your jeans with) and draw a line where you would like to cut.
·         Using sharp shears, cut your shorts to your desired length following the line carefully.
·         If you want a cuff, now is the time to sew it. If not, your brand new shorts are good to go!

2. Turn your shorts into a skirt!

This works really well for high-waist shorts. And, try to work with shorts that are a bit on the longer side as they may become too short to use once you turn them into a skirt.

·         Remove the seams of the crotch area of your shorts until it is completely open.
·         Fold your shorts at the seam and make sure the bottom hem matches. Lay it flat on your table or floor.
·         Take a ruler and pins and measure from where your waistband starts all the way down to the bottom hem. This will act as your new seam. Mark your new seam with pins. There should be an excess amount of fabric to the side where the “shorts” part used to be.
·         Sew up your new seam and cut excess with a sharp pair of shears. Voila! A new skirt.


3. Turn an old shirt into an off-shoulder top.

Even your favorite t-shirt will become boring to you one of these days. Update it by turning it into an off- shoulder top for a bit of casual sexiness. You can wear it with skirts, shorts or jeans. Plus you can dress it up or down depending on your accessories.

·         Take any shirt, but preferably one that’s a bit loose so that it looks effortless when you transform it to an off-shoulder top. Lay it flat on a table or the floor and cut slits on the left and right sides of your collar. Use this as a guide.
·         Cut out the entire collar from one end to the other. Make sure you cut big enough that you can stretch it over your shoulder, but not too big that it falls.
·         Cut the seams off your sleeves to match the deconstructed look of your collar.
·         Lastly, if your shirt is too long, or if you want to keep to the seamless theme, cut the bottom seam of your shirt as well.



Have a fashion or beauty question for Erica? Drop her a line at ericaparedes1@yahoo.com
 
Erica Paredes has been working in the publishing industry for almost a decade as a fashion and beauty editor, newspaper columnist, stylist and make-up artist. Nowadays she juggles her time between food and fashion, beauty and travel plus mommy duties to her 8 year old daughter.


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