Make them into blouses? Shrugs? Cute cover ups?

"Make them into blouses? Shrugs? Cute cover ups? "

Why would I do that? They're beautiful dresses. Someone else will enjoy them and feel like a million bucks in them (even if I don't make a penny). Plus, I can't sew...

To be able to continue to wear them. As you said nobody else wanted them, and it sounded like you still did 😉

I've been known to do the above. It has extended the wear of something I've loved greatly more than once.

I hope whoever receives your beautiful gifts will enjoy them as much as you have!

If they were mine, I'd probably just store them away. They must be lovely.

Did you try TheRealReal.com yet?

When I went on Google to look at the images it looks like DVF sells her dresses all the time?

There's one site that looked really interesting to me. And if your stuff is still as mint as I bet it is, they might be incredibly interested in buying it from you.

https://www.renttherunway.com/shop/designers/diane_von_furstenberg/alexio_wrap_dress

I didn't think of those places - thank you both!

If you give them to the GW or the SA or one of the thrift markets , what will likely happen is that they will be swooped up by someone who is in the business of reselling and may have deeper connections than you do. Or, they might end up in someone's sewing room, cut up and sewn into purses, bags, teddy bears and other home made items, often of questionable value, questionable quality, and questionable need. The world is awash in old clothes and other textiles. Most of it has very little, if any, value to it. The only cash value is what you can get someone to pay you for them, and that is no quarantee of any value at all.

But it will most lkely end up in a vendors cart who will try to resell in a different market or someone standing ready with a pair of shears and a cheap sewing machine ready to make yet another purse or teddy bear of questionable value or desire.

Expensive clothing like that is in the same catagory as the old china cabinets and collectibles that many are finding that the next generation does not want. The world has moved on and changed, for better or for worse. Unless you can eat it, keep warm with it, or cure a fever with it, there is no real value, only percieved value at that one moment in time. So many of the material things that we buy have no lasting value, no matter how much we paid for them.

I'll bet that a lot of folks are cleaning out the closet at this time of year. After all of the holiday madness and excess of stuff I find myself recoiling from it. I am more determined than ever to pare down my life even more and double down on living an even more simple and uncluttered life. I bet the thrift shops get a lot of stuff this time of year. Even in just this century, the world has changed, drastically.

I can relate. I worked in a formal office setting for more than 30 years and dressed accordingly, but have been retired for several years now. I really don’t have any use now for the blazer-slacks-pencil skirt ensemble I agonized over spending $$$$ for years ago. Or the scarves and sweaters and shirts that I bought to mix or match with it. And even if I did, I’m pretty sure every piece is out of style now. So sad.

I’m reminded of an elderly relative, a former schoolteacher, was doing some closet cleaning. She said she had a modern style white blouse that she was sure I would want. Well, it may have been modern in 1985 when she retired ….

Feeling a twinge of guilt and disappountnent tells me you are not ready to give these clothes away.

Don’t.

There are many things that took me many years to part with. Would I ever wear them again? No.

But, looking at them brought me back to a different time, a memory of my younger self I was not yet ready to part with.

I'm sure you have other things to donate for now.

Is there anything like a Dress for Success any place near you? We're a small community and we have one. I had 'outfits' and DH had some suits, sports coats he just didn't have need for any longer and I took them all there. One suit and a couple of jackets with nice pants and he's fine - I think I've seen him in a tux once in the last 4 years and he rented it. Dress for Success was thrilled to have them - to donate to persons wanting to join the work force and without office clothing or even job interview clothing.

I still have some things of my own I'm pondering now. Silk, linen, some nice pieces that are still in style and require dry cleaning which has become expensive. Some of my items are dusty shouldered and should be cleaned before even donating....

" Or, they might end up in someone's sewing room, cut up and sewn into purses, bags, teddy bears and other home made items, often of questionable value, questionable quality, and questionable need. "

Whether we question the value or the need of the new items isn't important - reusing is the second best thing we can do to reduce waste (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Even if it makes it into a succession of 3 cheap teddy bears, that's better than rotting in a landfill for that same amount of time (and some child may love that home made teddy bear!).

There is a slow but increasing number of textile recycling programs run by municipalities in Canada - reusable products are collected by various charities (eg Salvation Army), and the rest are sent to facilities for shredding and fibre reclamation. Twice a year or so I'll go out of my way to donate my unwanted textiles (including ripped towels, stained shirts and single socks) to a nearby program. Ask and promote a similar program near where you are!

Oooh, I really like the idea of Dress for Success. The dresses are all dry clean only, though -- do you think they would still take them?

Can you sell them on eBay? I am thinking about selling a few of my furs there.

mxk3 - they happily took DH's dry clean office wear and I'm sure a few of the women's suits (couple were pants suits) I donated were dry clean. I try to buy most of our things in the launder at home range with him retired, when a monthly trip to the dry cleaners used to be the norm. Ours even delivered no fee. Now I only use that perk if its something like drapes (they will take down and rehang), occasionally my largest table cloths that I don't want to iron on a sheet on the floor. 😊

Here's a few other online sales suggestions.

Poshmark My daughter sells here, and does well. (And she doesn't have designer clothing.)

Mercari

And then there's always Etsy & eBay.

Recycling by rendering the existing textile into its smallest bits and reforming it into something for some large scale use is one thing, but cutting up old textiles to make things that are of little or no use is quite another entirely differnet matter. Some want to think that they have saved some textile from the land fill, but the realiity is that they have cut it up and sewed or glued it into some configuration that is of very little value or desire and it is still heading down that road that leads to the landfill. The idea of using something old or of excess to fulfill a need is quite different,

It is a bit like other generic matter in that it cant be destroyed by rendering it into its basic elements. Often that bit of textile is now loaded with something else like paint, or glue or some embellishment that makes it unsuitable for real recycling of the fiber. Or, the maker has included a memory of a loved one and you are now emotionally incapable of discarding it because of that, but you have no use for it. Good intentions, yes., but think about it again.

Yes, you can make needed things from old textiles . But unless it serves a real purpose, it is just shape shifting landfill.

But what about art and creativiety you might ask. Then there is that. But a lot of this is not art and is of no real use. The stuff is already here so why not use it to do whatever you want with. But to think that it makes a difference in the mountains of textile trash or is serving a need that you might, othewrwise, purchase something for is a nice story that we tell ourselves.

The best we can do is to alter our consuming habits and not buy so much in the first place. Probably it is too late now to stop the environmental damage from this over consumption that most all of us contribute towards.

The world has changed and the workplace has changed. With fewer people in the office or the public eye, clothing has relaxed, and that is a good thing. The kind of clothing that people want to wear is more casual care and I understand that dry cleaners have taken a real hit. I welcome the change in what people wear and never did understand why men have to wear those awful suits and women had to wear those darned panty hose and dress shoes.

What it boils down to with dressy workplace clothing is that it becomes something of a uniform that takes away the individual and tranforms the individual into an identifiable employee. Time for a change.

It is unfortunate that there is so much of this old stuff that is cascading down the road towards the resell shops. Restyling a garment is a skill to have and is quite popular now. We throw away so much good stuff, of all kinds!!!!

Not long ago I found myself in one of these vintage clohting stores trying to simply give away a classic mint condition Pendelton wool coat . There was another woman my age with an armfull of high end clothing and some fur pieces. They wanted none of it, not even for free!! The young women that they sell to dont want those things. We were both in disbelief that these things had no value!

I think that old advice about buying investment wardrobe pieces is being challenged in our quickly changing world. Now days a better quality tshirt over a Walmart one is probably of more real value than a tailor made dress shirt, or skirt or jacket. You are much more likely to wear the tshirt, whereas the other things will just age in your closet until your kids clean it all out.

Yes, you can make needed things from old textiles . But unless it serves a real purpose, it is just shape shifting landfill.

If it is needed then it is serving a real purpose.

They're beautiful dresses. Someone else will enjoy them and feel like a million bucks in them (even if I don't make a penny).

Donate them. But a couple of people have mentioned that perhaps you are not ready to let them go. You are getting plenty of helpful suggestions but reject them all.

Why not think through the matter and decide what you really want to do. If you don't make a penny but other people will enjoy them, is that enough?

I do believe that the fiber reclamation thing TV mentioned will become more important in the future. That will help in letting us have guilt free environmentally kind fashion.

Do you know about the DVF rewrap program?

Info starts here;

https://wwd.com/sustainability/business/dvf-rewrap-resale-program-iconic-wrap-styles-70s-fashion-1235648661/

" but cutting up old textiles to make things that are of little or no use is quite another entirely differnet matter "

Wow, such hubris to decide what is of little or no use to someone else! Such disdain for reusing things....."shape shifting landfill" is short-sighted, because everything reused is another thing that isn't purchased.

DVF dresses are not out of style at all - quite the contrary; that style hasn't changed over the decades - it's a pure classic.

"But a couple of people have mentioned that perhaps you are not ready to let them go. You are getting plenty of helpful suggestions but reject them all."

Where in this post did I reject ANY of the suggestions other than cutting them up and sewing them? I can't sew. You also must have missed the fact that I listed already on Poshmark.

"DVF dresses are not out of style at all - quite the contrary; that style hasn't changed over the decades - it's a pure classic."

Yes, if you have somewhere to wear them. I don't. I wish I did.

"Do you know about the DVF rewrap program?"

I did not! Thanks for mentioning it!

Toronto, you have to understand that a lot of this stuff really does not get used because there is no real use for it. I have been a reuser and remaker of things by entire life and an avid thrift shopper in the past. I have made too many rag rugs to even remember. You miss the point. The point is to use it to a purpose that will prevent you from buying something to use for that purpose.

I would never go out and buy heart shaped doodads, for instance. Why? Because there is no real use for heart shaped doodads. Still there are a lot of heart shaped doo dads being make that have no use. They are quick and easy and give the sense of actually doing something. They will go to the landifll as trinkets, never used. There is a great value in reusing things for new purposes. But unless there is a need for that thing, it is nothing but shape shifting before it hits the landfill. That is just the reality.

I have had this experience of making the most beautiful thing/things from scraps and reclaimed yarn and all manner of things, only to fiind that I put it away and never used it. Why? Because I really did not have any use for it. But I had the reclaimed materials and it was so beautiful or just cute how to resist making this or that? So, once I realized that, I quit doing that. Just because I can does not mean that I should.

Excess is still excess, and non useful is still non uselful , it you dont need it.. Cutting up an old piece into trinkets that eventualy get discarded is no different from throwing away the garment. Acutally, the garment may be more valuable as a garment rather than trinkets. Especially with a bit of restyling, which is popular now and is probably one of the best uses for a quality garment, to try to update the style and find a new way to wear it. That is very popular right now!

With all of these sewing machines around and no fabric stores to walk in to, many are left with having to resort to "fabric mining" at the thrift store to find fabric to sew with. I used to love to do that and sometimes still take a stroll through on half price day and currently have one very large dress of fine quality cotton that I intend to sew some new pj pants to replace the thread bare ones.

I used to keep multiple large bags of scrap fabric, but no longer do that. I have done my share of scavenging and remaking all kinds of things .I used to have reason to be out and about the neighborhood on garbage day and have dragged home and rescued many a great item from the curb. I have been at frugal living, scavenging and reusing for a long time now. But I really do think that it is a lie that we tell ourselves when all we are really doing is changing the shape of it before it hits the landfill. There is a lot of that going on. Still there are a lot of used textiles to make things from. but dont be deluded into thinking that anything is being saved from the landfill or the incinerator, no matter how many little trinkets and tiny little bags.

mxk3, good luck on finding something to do with them. I think taht the hardest part of paring down and getting rid of unwanted things is what to actually do with them once you have made that decision. Have you seen the mountains of donations around the back of the GW? It is enough to make you weep for humankind! What gross excess we wallow in!

So many things that once had value no longer have that value and it is a hard thing for many of us to realize. What? No one wants it? How could that be? It is good stuff that cost us lots of money and hours of our life to pay for it. Sadly, that is the reality.

My garage is the place where it all goes to stay before I can actuallly get it moved on out. This time of year so many of us are shoving stuff out that the donation centers are over whelmed. Even the local humane society is saying that they can take no more old blankets and towels because they are over whelmed with donations. The new years purge is on and it is not a pretty sight! You will feel so much lighter after you cleared space in your life. That is my experience. I let go of a lot of old expectations and obligations, too. So freeing!!!

" Toronto, you have to understand that a lot of this stuff really does not get used because there is no real use for it. "

Yes, a lot of stuff doesn't get used, just like a lot of food in people's fridges never gets eaten.......but that's not a reason to stop reusing textiles, or stop putting leftovers in the fridge in case someone (not necessarily you) will use them. There is in fact a use - or reuse - for them in many cases, but too often people use the excuse that it's too hard or that "no one would want it" because they don't put any time or effort into finding someone/someplace that will, or finding a way to compost those leftover leftovers that don't get eaten.

You're just so judgmental about what other people want and how they feel, you can't imagine how someone would like something made with recycled textiles (probably not even realize how some of those recycled textiles are used). For example:

" I would never go out and buy heart shaped doodads, for instance. Why? Because there is no real use for heart shaped doodads. Still there are a lot of heart shaped doo dads being make that have no use. "

You apparently can't conceive of how some people might really like a heart-shaped doo-dad simply because it makes them smile when they see it on the shelf, or because it's the first thing they every won in a school contest and that alone makes it important to them. Their reasons aren't yours, and that's all you need to know rather than judging their heart-shaped doo-dad on the shelf in their room. Maybe in 10 years it won't make them smile any more, but it added something positive to their lives for 10 years - and that ain't nothin'.

I'm not against the push to encourage people to buy less, but I won't encourage people not to allow the things they no longer want to be reused and recycled. In fact, buying less means reusing and recycling more, sharing your discards because someone else might want them for whatever that isn't your business. Last night I was with a group of people who sew their old chicken feed bags into smaller gift-sized bags that are used by local charities for their Christmas parcels. Is that bag needed? Technically no - they could deliver the Christmas foods by hand, piece by piece, from their office to their car to the shelves of the elderly in their kitchen, but putting it in a bag to hand to the person makes a lot more sense, and so I'd say it's "needed". Why not recycle those chicken feed bags into something else before it hits the landfill, and it means a whole bunch of bags that the charity didn't have to buy.

I think it's outrageously rude and selfish to think you know better than strangers how they should live, what they find useful, and what they need or don't need in their lives.

Yes, a lot of stuff doesn't get used, just like a lot of food in people's fridges never gets eaten.......but that's not a reason to stop reusing textiles, or stop putting leftovers in the fridge in case someone (not necessarily you) will use them.

Not wanting to derail the thread too much, but I rarely throw out food. Leftovers get eaten the next day, or when I make a big pot of something I freeze portions for future meals. Lots of stuff like the unstuffed cabbage I made recently actually tastes better to me the next day.

" finding a way to compost those leftover leftovers that don't get eaten "

A note about how to deal with leftover food pieces easily and cleanly (as well as peels, egg shells, chicken bones, etc), even indoors and even if you don't garden or want the compost itself.......My sister just got an electric "food recycling" machine - hers is the FoodCycle, but there are other brands. She doesn't want an outdoor composter because of wildlife (they live out in cottage country), and a indoor worm composter would not survive her pets.

Her machine crushes, heats, and dehydrates food waste to kill bacteria and reduce the volume by about 90%, and it uses less than 2 kWh per cycle (which is < 25 cents in most places). The cycles are long (8 hours), but it results in dry wood-chip like material that can be stored for many months if you need to keep it until the snow melts.

For those of you who don't want to - or can't - compost at home, I highly recommend looking into them. They're not cheap, but they're very useful for places that don't have municipal composting.

Our son worked for a small college in Delaware years ago. He worked with students to teach them how to apply for jobs, write resumes and how to interview. He did mock interviews with them. He also on a regular basis would give them some of his suits, shirts and ties so they had "an interview outfit". Maybe a college near you could use them? A women's shelter for women trying to get their lives back on track and need professional clothes?

Is the guilt because you paid $$$ for it in the past... or because you still like them and feel you have nowhere to wear them, a pity. If it's the former- bag them up and let them sit till March- give you time to sit and think on them, and donate them in nice timing for someone elses spring surprise when you donate them.

If it's the latter... why not wear some of them sometimes? I had to look up the name, but most of what pops up looks like random nice, not special event nice. So sure, wear a pretty dress to go shopping, run errands, go out to eat. Be overdressed for the mundane, whatever. If you like them and they look good on you, go for it. If you have a couple faves, bring them to the fore of your closet. Pack others back and sit on those for a while.

I too live semi-rural. I tend to keep stuff in the vacuum bags- and I rotate through stuff. Some things I've thrifted up long ago and I know I'm not likely to see it again. So I keep it. Sometimes I wear it for fun. Why not, most of my life is more jeans, but sometimes it's nice to look nice just because.

If you make something with no purpose from something with no purpose, all you have done is to change the shape and it still has no purpose. I really dont think that little heart shaped trinkets are making an impact on happiness.

There is no reason to not use our cast off textiles. By all means, use them. I have all of my life and I learned it as a way of life from my depression era mother who was a queen of recycling before the term ever even came into modern use. She was an avid scavenger and extremely frugal and fiercely independent. but, she never made heart shaped trinkets. No one ever needed them. Everything from the house that they lived in to the clothes, the quilts,, the rugs, pillows, and jars of canned vegetables were all a result of their skills and independence and ability to build, scavenge or grow so much of what they needed. But, they still never needed heart shaped trinkets to make them happy. They had real things in life to find happiness in.

I really dont think that little heart shaped trinkets are making an impact on happiness.

I still have various trinkets made by my children while they were young and they still make me happy.

But, they still never needed heart shaped trinkets to make them happy. They had real things in life to find happiness in.

Why are you trying to restrict the ways in which people find happiness? I f one can find happiness in something innocent I say go for it.

A longtime friend has now moved her 'professional life' wardrobe three times. This pales in comparison with the 6,000 pounds of books her professor husband has carted with him, for which shelving had to be created in each new location.

She will never wear any of these clothes again. He can only comprehend a few sentences at a time.

No one wants her clothes, and no library or collector wants his specialized library, but these possessions are testaments to their lifetime achievements. That is their 'use'.

Heart shaped trinkets can indeed have an impact on some folks happiness, and disdain apparently. I'm feeling really confidant that the OP isn't going to be making any heart shaped trinkets out of the dresses. Seems more of a matter of keep them and wear them or donate them for the OP. Since they said the dresses were silk jersey, that is a poor choice of fabric to make heart shaped trinkets of anyway- it's great for clothes, not so much for most crafting applications.

The OP has said they like the dresses, feel great in them. They currently seem to have little purpose because of... because. No real reason to wear them, they are pretty. So then it's a choice of why not wear pretty sometimes because there is no real reason not to wear them, why not be pretty just because and put them to use. Or donate them to someone else that will want them. For wearing or other.

As I stated earlier, I'm in the camp of why not wear it? If it makes you feel good, why keep it stashed away for a pretty day? But then, I sometimes wear pretty just because. Use the good crystal and the old wedding silver for daily use, the dear tea set often. I use them now because they are of value to me, and of more impact because they are part of my regular life. I donate a bag or two here and there as things are just taking up space. Sometimes pick up a thing or two while I'm at the shops dropping things off, lol.

" I really dont think that little heart shaped trinkets are making an impact on happiness. "

As I said, you think everyone should feel the same way about everything as you do. Yes, trinkets do have positive impacts on some people, and the fact that you can't see that is your problem, not theirs.

" But, they still never needed heart shaped trinkets to make them happy. They had real things in life to find happiness in. "

Oooh, more hubris to cast disdain on those who's lives you don't understand or don't agree with. Why does it matter to you what makes someone else happy, and what makes you think it's OK to judge where someone else finds happiness, whether it's the heart shaped trinket, or the memory that the trinket inspires.

Who says that the trinket inspires? These are just trinkets. Why to expect that they are imbuded with meaning or inspiration or memory? Who's memory, and by what means does that happen? They are merely cute and sweet and a popular shape and image for crafters, and thats it. Attached meaning or significance is fabricated in our own imagination . And, are we really that fragile and trivial that a trinket will set the happiness meter in our lives? Creating needless trinkets and other purposeless and unneeded objects is not saving any thing from the landfills, and that is my point. It will all get swept up in the river of trash in due time.

And, are we really that fragile and trivial that a trinket will set the happiness meter in our lives?

Why are you persisting in demeaning what makes some people happy?

The hearts thing is also kind of off topic. No one is making trinkets, no one is suggesting making hearts.. till claudia started the rant. It's one that has been done in other threads before. Any kind of crafting that isn't a certian kind of tailoring with certian kinds of fabrics is considered pointless garbage to them. I'm not entirely sure why, but I have seen this line of commentary before. Their happiness is found somehwere else. For whatever reasons, it seems other people shouldn't have other happiness in other things.

" These are just trinkets. Why to expect that they are imbuded with meaning or inspiration or memory? Who's memory, and by what means does that happen? They are merely cute and sweet and a popular shape and image for crafters, and thats it. "

Wow, you're still so dismissive. That's not it, and people have given you examples and personal stories galore......Why do you insist on invalidating other people's experiences?

" Creating needless trinkets and other purposeless and unneeded objects is not saving any thing from the landfills, and that is my point. "

Yes, we all know your point by now. We just don't agree with it, yet you continue to beat us over the head with it. You ignore our comments and just repeat what you've said before, like a child having a tantrum who thinks that if they insist on something loud and frequently enough, it will become reality.

Back to the topic: Still no takers on Poshmark. If nothing sells by spring, I'll take down and donate.

You could markdown the price and wait for a few more days. If you donate, they probably end up on ebay or poshmark.

i went on a toot recently and cleaned out all of my dresser drawers and clothes in my closet i will never wear. everything went to goodwill. i saved one closet for last, that being the one where all of my late husband's favorite shirts, bath robe, cowboy boots, etc. have been living since his death in 2007. i stood there just looking as memories flooded back to me. i closed the door and walked away. i just cannot bring myself to do it. *sigh*

Excuse me, is Claudia refering to the fantastic idea I bookmarked about making hand stitched heart ornament from the good parts of old quilts? She is entirely wrong. I have a quilt that is not usable as a quilt from my grandmother. It was in her cedar chest and is from her mother or grandmother.

I do not want to throw it away and have just kept. I loved the heart ornaments and will be making them before next Christmas.

Sherry, exactly my thoughts! I took a screennshot of @oakley’s hearts made from old quilts. In fact I spent part of today cutting out 9 sets of hearts and 4 squares for pillows from a quilt that was made by my great-grandmother. The quilt was threadbare and stained in some places and I had tried to remove the stains years ago. I have several family members who will receive them and will be happy to have them as a family memento.

Claudia is presumptuous to assume no one values old family items as trash. Trash to treasure is always a possibility.

You also could frame the dresses as art for your closet or bedroom walls since they’re colorful.

Still no sale on Poshmark, even after 2 price drops. I'm just going to donate them next week and be done with it already.