Duvet cover. I once had a polyester/cotton duvet cover which got faded on the top but the lining was in excellent condition and was excellent quality too so I made a pair of freebee long pyjama bottoms of the underside. The pyjama cord was made from a sheet off-cut. Seven yeas later they’re still going […]
I am not a knitter, so op-shop or passed on jumpers etc would be used like knitted material and cut down to make anything from kids clothes, to patchwork throw rugs or to line oven cloths and pot holders. If you are smart and utilise the ribbed areas well shrunk woollens make brilliant leak proof […]
Rodders from Rotorua asks, “I am a bachelor and find that my clothes always smell musty when I take them out of the drawers after a while. What do I use to keep them smelling nice?”
Gran’ would go to a second hand clothes shop and buy two or three knitted garments. She would undo them, wash the wool and rewind into balls, then knit into multi-coloured jerseys. And with the left over wool she would make soft toys. This is far cheaper than buying new wool.
I’ve just finished fixing” a pure wool jumper bought in a jumble sale for $1. It had a very dirty neckline (probably because it had bene knitted too tightly) so I undid several rows and reknitted it on larger needles, discarding the last few inches of wool. Result, a $150 pullover for $1.
My savvy sister has saved me heaps on buying baby bibs. As the proud single mum of a beautiful nine month old, I was finding the costs were really adding up! So my sister (who has three children of her own) came to the rescue. She used some old towels, cut them up and made […]
We have a clothes rack on a pulley above the wood stove so we are heating our house, drying clothes, cooking food and heating hot water all at once. We grow our own firewood also so the only cost here is the petrol for the chain saw, since there’s not enough hours in the day […]
Add layers if you live in a cold climate. It you’re a gal, wear a petticoat and long-johns underneath. Fetching I know, but sexier than frostbite and large heating bills. Wear a number of layers of cotton, then a woolen layer over the top.
I found some good bras at an op’ shop, they were two small four my use so I unpicked the hooks and eyes and sewed them onto my bras. So no more getting hooked up in the broken hooks on my bras. The op’ shop bras were only 50 cents each, Have a go.
Buy machine washable garments. “Dry clean only” labels are a protection for the manufacturer. Only a small percentage of clothes cannot be hand washed if done carefully. Pressing of clothing at the dry-cleaners costs a fraction of the full dry-cleaning price.