With Spring around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about what you might wear when you’re not having to swaddle yourself in so many layers.
This is a great time to gather together inspiring ideas for spring looks. I recently gave a talk on fashion inspiration to a group of young carers who are upcycling an outfit. I shared my fashion ethos of re-purposing and reusing items rather than giving them away or throwing them away.
Here, I’m sharing five ideas to help inspire you to get creative with your clothes and accessories.
Souped-up Sunglasses
Add some sparkle to your sunnies by gluing on gems (perhaps from a broken necklace?), or add some colour by painting them with nail polish. This project is really easy and requires only glue, some bits to stick on, and imagination. I stuck pipe cleaners onto my sunglasses but that might be a bit too over the top for some people!
Handbag Facelift
Use leather paint to touch up the corners of a handbag that has become a bit scuffed, or add decorative elements to your bag if it has a scratch or some missing paint. I’ve added tiny fake flowers to my old handbags, but you could use rope, old jewellery or ribbons.
Stick flowers or a bow to hair clips to give your shoes a new look.
Shoes to take you places
Stick flowers or a bow to hair clips and pin them onto your shoes to give your shoes a new look. This helps tie in colour schemes too, you can add details that fit in with other aspects of your outfit. Shoe repair places will also fix up scuffed shoes or you can buy your own leather paint and do it yourself.
Two different leg colours are all the rage now.
Ideas for tights with holes in them
If one leg has holes I cut off that leg and wear the other leg with a different coloured pair of tights. Two different leg colours are all the rage now and you can pay a lot for a pair of two colour tights, but it’s far more rewarding to do it yourself. I often use tights as a hairband or a hair bow, you can use the leg with the hole in it to make a bow and pin it into your hair. I once made a fabulous hat out of a yogurt lid and a pair of tights (you’ll find the video tutorial for this on my Instagram). Failing all of these options, add a cup of oats to the cut off tights leg, tie a knot and throw it in your bath, oat milk is gorgeous for the skin.
Natural dyes can be found in your kitchen and in nature. From this…
To this… using natural dyes!
Stains as fashion statements
If a loved piece of clothing gets a stain, consider staining the rest of it using natural dyes like beetroot juice or turmeric. Boil wash the piece of clothing then while the clothing is still wet, steep overnight with the beetroot/turmeric juice and half a cup of salt. Squeeze excess water, allow to dry, then iron the item to set the dye. Be sure to wash separately or you’ll end up dying more items of your clothes! There are lots of other natural dyes to be found in your kitchen and in nature, have a look in the library or online for more information about using natural dyes.
If you have any questions or comments, get in touch with me on social media, I’m @TarynDeVere everywhere.
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