Sprucing Up Second-hand Items

As a young girl living in Japan, I remember my parents going out one day and picking up some free desks that someone was giving away to be used in our home. I thought they were the coolest desks, and enjoyed using mine all the way through high school. These hand-me-down desks weren't the fanciest, nor were they on the front cover of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, but they were sturdy, functional, and didn't put a big dent in the budget, if at all. And that's how I remember growing up. We almost always had second hand or homemade furniture, and my parents didn't buy a brand new sectional for their living room until they had been married for nearly 30 years. My parents taught me that money is better spent on wise investments, service, and family vacations.

And so I suppose this thrifty mindset is in my blood. Adelai was so generously gifted with an entire wardrobe of clothing for the first 12 months, and 2/3rds of the clothes are second-hand, which I appreciate very much (my wardrobe is 75% hand-me-downs too!). However, some of the items had little holes where a tag once was, or some stitching coming undone in a hem, or even a stain that a soak in OxiClean couldn't remove. My natural instinct is not to throw away these items, but to use my creative and thrifty mindset and fix them up. It's amazing what a sewing machine and a little needle and thread can do.

I had leftover appliques from a decade ago that my mom used on my skating dresses that worked perfectly as a patch for little holes in baby sweaters and shirts. A little sparkle never hurt a baby girl, either :).

I have a thing for baby track suits, so when I noticed that an inch of the bottom stitching was undone, I did my best to find the same stitch on my sewing machine and voila! Not perfect, but it looks way better than a gap in the seam.

Little sew-on sequins made a great cover-up for stains in the matching Puma bodysuit.

And although none of these fixes are perfect, if nothing else, at least I could say I practiced my sewing skills.

We have been so blessed with countless things, I find it a joy to fix up what I can so that I can maximize the life of every piece of clothing, both in my baby's wardrobe and in mine.

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