Slipping into your favorite pair of jeans is an awesome feeling. You wear them for date night, a night on the town or just when you’re running errands. Face it – you would probably sleep in them if you could. Those jeans have been through a lot, but you’re not saying goodbye. What if one day you see your delightful denim fell prey to a dreaded disaster? Maybe you lost a button, or the zipper fell off. Don’t fret because there are tailoring supplies and ways to fix your favorite fashion staples, instead of having to part ways with your most treasured garments. Investing in these supplies and learning how to mend some common clothing mishaps will not only let you hold onto your clothes longer but will positively impact your clothing waste reduction.
Fixing Holes
These are one of the most common mishaps that can pop up on all types of clothing. There are many ways you can address this issue such as ironing on patches to the inside of the garment to cover up the hole, especially if it’s smaller. If you’re comfortable sewing and have a bigger hole, you may have to darn the hole which requires cutting away the pieces of fringed fabric from the hole, sewing the hole together and then covering the stitches with additional tiny stitches on top of the sewn-up hole that match the background fabric.
Fixing Collars
Since you sweat more where a collar hits your neck, these can get discolored and fade quicker than other parts of shirts and jackets. Don’t fear, you can replace the lining of a worn collar by opening the stitches, turning the collar inside out, sewing in a new liner and restitching the collar back together. It’s like doing surgery. Work from the inside out to successfully update a collar that’s as good as new.
Fixing a Worn Waistband
Yoga pants are the best. They’re comfy and make working from home that much better. However, they don’t do their purpose when the waistband loses its elasticity or gets too loose. If this happens, you can buy new elastic and insert it back into your pants. When sewing in the updated waistband, you can add durable stay tape to the back of the waistband to ensure it stays stiff. Replacing a waistband is a straightforward fix that can make your pants fit like new again.
Fixing Buttons
It’s terrible when these fall off your pants or favorite cardigan. However, they’re easy enough to replace, as long as you have a button handy. This fix doesn’t even require a sewing machine. Simply, string a decent amount of thread through your needle, tie a knot to catch the end of the thread in the needle, insert the button in the needle and start sewing through the fabric until the button is secured before tying the thread again and cutting off the excess.
Fixing Zippers
Zippers get jostled around during wash and dry cycles and go through tear due to the constant tugs of zipping and unzipping the garment. If your zipper does fall off, you can replace it. It’s a more difficult feat that requires some careful problem solving, but there are different ways to identify your exact zipper dilemma and how you can find a solution.
While shopping for new styles is lots of fun, having that special garment that’s been through many magical moments is hard to part with. When disaster strikes, you can look to buy buttons, zippers or thread to help fix the fashion, instead of resorting to throwing the item away. You can make your clothes last longer by finding a simple remedy.
