I already found a good article. Check it out! I'm gonna do the blue sweater just like this one. Cool.

Here is a link that might be useful: including the rose

I do that too - it may take me a long time to get around to it, but right now in my sewing room is a dress that I'm planning to alter: it fits well, it's a great colour, but I hate the neckline, so I plan to alter it. I altered two skirts recently, which had high waists that I found restricting after all these seasons of comfortable low waist styles. So I took the waist bands off, adjusted the fit to be just below the waist, and added a new waistband facing.

I also just unpicked a sweater I knitted last year: lovely yarn, but I realised I wasn't wearing it, because the sleeves dangled into everything. So I've just made it into a different sweater altogether.

My mother made us endless wardrobes of doll's clothes from scraps, and made all our clothes. She grew up during WW2 and only knew 'make do and mend', with new clothing heavily rationed, by 'coupons'. There's a photograph of her aged 21 wearing a wonderful wool plaid jacket. She told me her aunt had made it for her from a blanket.

I grew up with make-do, possibly because of the "Depression" and possibly because of a Scottish heritage which made a lifestyle out of making do.

No Barbies at that time, I sewed the doll clothes myself, by hand. I haven't any memory of not being able to sew or darn.

I rarely alter my clothes -- never did, preferring classical styles of good design and material, and having a mostly unchanging figure. Mend, yes, I still can 'sew a fine seam' and blind-hem and replace a zipper with the aid of only a few swear-words. But by the time my clothes are worn out, they really are worn out; they progress from crisply ready for office work, to limply ready for yard work, to threadbarely suitable as a coverup when painting. It isn't long until only the paint spatters are holding the material together and then they become rags to use when staining wood or applying wax. Yesterday, I finally threw away a rag which began life as a sleeve on lace-trimmed blouse, about thirty years ago. *That* was good material.

I remember embroidering crazy quilts made from sections of my father's wool suits. The suit's seat, elbows, knees and collars would be too worn to wear to the office; so eventually a brother would get a jacket or pants made from the larger still-good sections while the scraps would be saved for piecing into a quilt.

I don't unpick yarn nowadays, although I certainly did when I was young... a hole-y child's sweater could provide enough yarn for three or four mittens. Now, it seems that sweaters are acrylic or some other chemical name, and the threads aren't worth the effort to unpick.

We weren't poor, or even low-income. Looking back, I suspect that monetarily the family would rate as upper-middle class, although the lifestyle would have been familiar to a budget-conscious back-to-the-lander. Then, thrift was simply a way of life, which has stuck to this day. I am equally unable to throw out stale bread or to wear new jeans when mowing grass, lol.

Interestingly, there are a number of on-line sites -- the code word is usually 'frugal' which apparently lacks the implications of poverty that some associate with 'thrift'. Most of the web-sites are yawnable, but there are a few good ones. For young-uns who want real-life, up-to-date, usable ideas for help in living well [which is not the same as living extravagantly], I do recommend a book, "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn, which is a compilation of the newsletters she produced for several years. She combines practical money management tools with familial anecdotes in a way that makes for fairly easy pick-up, put-down reading.

Rob ~ invest in a large packet of tiny gold safety pins. Each garment kept should have a tag pinned to it, showing the most recent date worn. Anything not worn for three years (the experts say two years) should be donated to someone who can use it. Clothing kept for sentimental value should be safely packed instead of hanging in the closet.

Good to know I am not alone Sara. Cool idea about the blanket; hope that didn't plant a seed in my head :) That's actually how I kinda got started. I had an about-to-be-falling-apart-in-places sheet on hand, and just saw the possibilities. Then I used several old pairs of blue jeans, which I cut up and made into a jacket (with hot pink buttons and hot pink top stiching, it was totally fab). Later, it became full fledged outfits where I bought the pattern and material new, but that just wasn't me. I still do it, but not as much as recycling. I'd rather buy an already made thing and transform it. I really liked it when the main character in Pretty in Pink did that; related greatly.

One thing I have found... by accident... if I leave {{gwi:195065}} in my machine, I just pick up the pile and go at it. I do all the machine work in minutes, never having to change the bobbin or upper thread, and then use the colored thread for handwork such as buttons, hems, finishing... Keeps the pile moving. Heck I don't even quilt, so I don't know why I got it in the first place. Mabye something with lace?

My newest endevor is t-shirts. There are so many in our house! And there are so many t-shirt video tutorials, it aint even funny.

Here is a link that might be useful: starts at 4:21 minutes (but gosh I'd make mine longer)

Hey Meldy! Frugal. At first maybe. But now I don't have to. Hm, I think I just do it more for fun and to help keep the planet "green". But I've always done it. I can't remember ever thinking, why bother, I can just get a new one. That's a constant battle between my husband and me. It's a problem with this generation; we are an instant bunch whose attention span could fit on the head of a

You get the picture. I just don't want to be like that. I have had the same car since 1990. I recycled a newer engine into the good looking body about 8 years ago. last year was a transmission and now we'll find another good looking body, since the 18 year old one is dying. Same as our house. Our tiny tub and vanity will hit craigslist when we finish remodeling the bathroom. We'll reface the cabinets in the kitchen when we move on. Recylcers seem to be the counterculture these days.