Jean Genie

I had an unfortunate incident last week. I crouched down to get something from a low cupboard and heard an almighty ripping sound. On closer inspection the previously tiny tear in the knee of my jeans had split right across leaving a raggedy hole of the type which doesn’t suit a (almost) 38 year old woman.

Anyway, I was about to chuck them, but then saw sense and realised that there would be loads of ways of recycling them, so that’s what today’s post is all about. A kind of round up of uses for old denims.

Perhaps the most obvious way is to turn them into either shorts (easy, just snip of the legs ) or a skirt (trickier, but still straightforward). At least this way you still have something to wear.

If you’re not so bothered about that, then the world’s your oyster so how about making a tote bag, a rag rug or some handy little storage pot things. No? Then maybe a pair of denim slippers, a coffee cup holder or a cushion cover?

Little scraps and oddments are best for trinkets like corsages, hair clips, hanging decorations, coasters or stuffed toys whereas the back pockets can be perfect for purses, bags, wall storage hangers – really anything that requires a ready made sleeve or pouch.

It’s probably worth pointing put that you’ll need a sturdy needle on your sewing machine for most of these makes, by the way.

Once I started googling ‘uses for old jeans’, I found myself a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities. To be honest, some of the ideas were totally naff but others were brilliant. All I need to do now is decide what to do with mine. Of course, I could just patch up the hole or relegate them to ‘mucky job wear’ status, but that’s a bit dull, right?

Tell me more…

AW wardrobe (part II)

I say part II, although part I never really existed. Well, it did but half of it disappeared. Anyway, the point is, that I have already written on this subject, but not managed to successfully post it, so I’ll try again. Phew.

There was a definite chill in the air on the school run this morning. In fact there was a force 10 gale blowing across the playground. As soon as September comes around, summer has gone in my mind. I love that autumny feeling not least as it means I get to think about clothes. I wore my new parka for the first time yesterday and it was just right. I’m going to use it as a starting point for the rest of my AW buys (which sounds as though I have a huge budget when I really don’t at all). No, what I need are a few ‘key’ pieces, but I must admit to being a bit confused by the what’s in the shops right now.

As far as I can gather, I need to buy the following:

Jeans – Skinny? Flared? No idea.

Trousers – like the peg/tapered style ones, but can’t get them over my calves and have no clue what the alternatives are.

Casual skirt – like the maxi style (and am tall enough to manage one), but can’t help but feel that a long skirt would drive me bonkers.

Tops – by which I mean everything from t-shirts to cardis. Don’t usually find these too hard to buy, but must be careful.

Above all, I want to buy clothes that go with other clothes, so that when I’m getting dressed in the morning, I can just grab a couple of things from the wardrobe and they will look good, no matter what. I couldn’t do that right now. None of my current clothes are multi taskers, so I regularly find myself in the situation where I have the bottom half sorted (you know, clean and ironed), but the only suitable top half will be in the washing basket (grubby and creased). This has got to stop.

The thing is that I like the idea of certain clothes, but for various reasons they’re not for me. The reasons are usually either that I’m too old or that my lifestyle is not compatible. I’ve come to realise that my wardrobe needs to be about 98% practical, with maybe 2% of glamour. I also want to be stylish without being a fashion victim.

Anyhow, with all of this in mind I intend to do a bit of online research and then perhaps head out for a bit of a spree in the coming weeks. Is it just me or does that sound exhausting?