DIY clothing hacks

Hey guys, its me again. Last Monday's blog was veryyy long, but sustainable clothing is a topic that I'm very passionate about, as I care about the environment, other people, and of course having high quality clothing. Luckily this blog entry will be less long, however I will be expanding on the topic, today I'll be writing about DIY'ing your clothes, since that's a topic I touched on last time. I felt motivated to write about this after leaving a comment on a new scene kids blog offering advice about clothing, so here's a bigger list of tips and tricks!

Bleaching & dying- To start us off, here's the one of the easiest options, all you'll need is bleach or dye, your garment, and maybe some paintbrushes. Take an old, or unliked piece of clothing and use dye to change the colour of it and add new details or just to make it more loveable, or use bleach on darker clothing pieces to add patterns and designs to the fabric with a paintbrush, you can also use dye on these designs to get rid of the obvious bleach colour.

Lace cut outs- Got some of grandmas shirts or any thrifted lace clothes? don't know what to do with them? Sew them into something cooler! You can cut another shirt, or some pants and add a snazzy lace detail. You can use them to widen jeans that are too tight, add a flare, or create a more interesting sleeve design, I'd recommend looking for ideas on the internet before adding your designs though.

Normal cut outs- Use scissors to cut funky patterns into clothes, I've seen some inspo on pinterest such as skulls, spider webs, and spines, as well as more 'normal' things like butterflies, you will most likely need to draw your design onto your clothes before cutting it out too, to avoid mistakes.

Painted denim- We all love the look of affliction jeans, and other similar brands, however not everyone has money to throw on a pair of 50-80 pound pants, so simply painting your own set of jeans can be just as good, and way more affordable, AND you can also bedazzle your pockets with some gems and glue.

Customising band shirts- Customising and taking from band shirts is super easy, all you need is basic sewing knowledge, scissors, and a dream. If you want to change up the style/look of a band shirt then you can cut it up at the sleeves, neckline, or anywhere else before hemming the rough edges. If you like a logo but not the actual shirt you can cut the band's design off and grab a shirt of a similar colour and sew the design anywhere you like on that, or you can cut text like the bands name off the shirt and turn it into a patch to slap on a jacket or pants.

Sewing & embroidery projects- Sewing and embroidery is very simple and easy to do, using these techniques you can create patches and new designs on shirts, it can be as easy as cutting out a star from an old piece of clothing and sewing it onto something more wearable, to creating a whole new garment using other pieces, so its super adaptable for your own skill level.

Heat transfers- Using heat transfers, you can add designs, logos, text, and patterns to your clothing. Can't afford that Tripp shirt you want? just get a picture of it, rip the design from the picture, and voila! you can turn it into a heat transfer. All you need is some transfer paper, which you can buy from a craft store, a printer, an iron, and maybe some scissors, then all you need to do is print your design onto your transfer paper, cut it if you need to, heat up the clothes you want the print on, and then put your design onto the garment, heat it, and peel the transfer paper away. You can find lots of tutorials online, or your parents/relatives might be able to do this.

Creating jewellery- Making your own jewellery is a fun pass time and something that can make your outfits feel way more personal to you. You can make bracelets and other bits of jewellery by thrifting some ugly old necklaces or rings from a store and pulling them apart, using string to stick your favourite beads back together. The hardest part of this is seeing the potential in gaudy old thrift store jewellery, however you just need to keep on going and the skill will come with time. 

Best of luck with your DIY'ing

XOXO Carla