Holes / worn patches (from aging, not intentional) in clothing

[1001 others]

If you notice your clothes have holes or worn patches in them, do you:

1. Mend them yourself (either by hand, iron-on patches or other means)
2. Send them away to be mended
3. Throw them out and buy new
4. Not mend them, and keep them aside for gardening/cleaning/painting/what-have-you

Just curious to see what others do.

I do 1. (with iron-on patches in most cases; occasionally I'll do it by hand).

 

[Giggling Squid]

Depends what they are. A combination of 1, 3 and 4

 

[265]

4. Not mend them, and keep them aside for gardening/cleaning/painting/what-have-you

I use my old socks as polishing clothes for my motorcycle.

 

[Pinkblush]

I don't give worn/damaged clothes to charity or use them for cleaning so I chuck and buy new.

 

[Scorpihoe]

I throw them and buy new, especially if it’s something cheap. Like the poster above, I wouldn’t give worn or holey clothing to charity

 

[ChloChlo]

I used all the old socks last year when you couldn't buy toilet roll for anywhere.

Coats I usually give to the night shelter just down the road.

Anything else my neighbours daughters take them, even with the odd hole as they like customising them. I only keep one set of rag clothes for painting/decorating else I will end up with loads.

I'm useless at sewing but if it's something I really love or was quite expensive for me, I'll give it a shot. My ex MIL was a witch but I couldn't fault her ability to mend clothes!

 

[WilmaHun]

I'd never give anything with holes or anything which generally just looked tired and worn to charity.

I tend to throw away and buy new, especially if they were cheap clothes in the first place. I'd only go out of my way to repair it or have it repaired by someone else if it was either an expensive garment.

 

[ChloChlo]

Has anyone ever had real luck with dying their washed out black clothes black again? I have tried that Dylon stuff on a few occasions and have been very unimpressed, the dye will last one wash, if it even takes. I've only ever dyed Jersey items like tracksuits and Tshirts. Works better on jeans perhaps?

 

[WilmaHun]

Has anyone ever had real luck with dying their washed out black clothes black again? I have tried that Dylon stuff on a few occasions and have been very unimpressed, the dye will last one wash, if it even takes. I've only ever dyed Jersey items like tracksuits and Tshirts. Works better on jeans perhaps?

I've done it on black jeans and it worked quite well.

 

[Gertrude]

Recently I've been trying to mend my own clothes, especially if it's just a hole or something like that. Have just become very conscience of how much I used to buy and throw/give away. I still eat meat, so I feel like this is my way of helping the planet, haha

Has anyone ever had real luck with dying their washed out black clothes black again? I have tried that Dylon stuff on a few occasions and have been very unimpressed, the dye will last one wash, if it even takes. I've only ever dyed Jersey items like tracksuits and Tshirts. Works better on jeans perhaps?

I once tried the Dylon stuff on a pair of faded black jeans and it completely ruined them. It made the texture of the jeans really rough and stiff. Washed the jeans multiple times but nothing changed. Really annoyed because other than being faded they were still wearable. before I did this.

 

[Kim Mild]

I downgrade clothes to clothes for loungewear/ house work / decorating if they are too scruffy to be worn out .

I may consider taking them to a seamstress if something I really liked needed repaired but I've never needed to .
I have asked family to stitch school uniform/ put buttons on ( I can't sew) .

Some worn clothes/ bedding go in the textile bins or charity bags(in the hope it gets sent to be used as rags if it can't be reused).

I get my boots reheeled and resold if needed.

 

[lemonlime]

Mend them. Except those worn patches around the thighs of jeans and torn knit jumpers, I don't know how to fix them myself. I give them to a seamstress so they can be mended properly. Only stuff that are past the point of saving by any means (decade old faded, worn out, unwearable stuff) go into the trash/textile recycling, unless I need cleaning rags. Shoes get their heels/soles replaced, if it can be done. I'm not very rough with my clothing anyway so even the cheap fast fashion stuff tend to last for a very long time.

I only give away the wearable clothes that I don't like/don't fit me anymore and they either go to a family in need or a clothing bank/charity.

 

[1001 others]

Has anyone ever had real luck with dying their washed out black clothes black again? I have tried that Dylon stuff on a few occasions and have been very unimpressed, the dye will last one wash, if it even takes. I've only ever dyed Jersey items like tracksuits and Tshirts. Works better on jeans perhaps?

I use "Persil Black" on dark clothing which works great.

I tend to buy super-cheap casual clothes from The Warehouse (NZ store) - cotton tops and singlets are only $7 (very cheap for here), and they do the most incredible range of CoolDry leggings for $17, or standard black leggings for $12. Everything washes up great but because I typically wear them to death, little holes do appear in various spots.

Pre-lockdown, I would have just thrown those items out, but the hassles with getting stuff delivered during that period as well as stock levels being highly impacted (they still are; most of this stuff either comes from India or China), made me want to repair them and once I realised how easy it was to do (mostly with little iron-on patches which I bought 100 of in varying colours for $5 from a market), I decided to keep doing it.

I'm quite handy with a sewing machine and know how to sew buttons, etc., but I used to only bother repairing my good, and work, clothes ... besides, it was hard to sew up holes on my casual clothes as it would make most of the clothes look a bit weird (pulled-in).

One pair of leggings had a few holes around the knee area (I suspect from our washing machine), which I ironed a little gingham patch into last week; they actually look kind of cool now.