Back to School Make-Overs for Last Year's Clothes

Teenagers can be ruthless when it comes to ridiculing each other, whether it’s about clothing, haircuts, or the boy you’re dating. Although some teenagers take for granted that they’ll be getting all new clothes and shoes each year, when school starts, others aren’t so fortunate. Those less fortunate worry about being ridiculed by showing up wearing last year’s outfits, but that’s not necessary. If your budget is a little low when it comes to purchasing new school clothes, consider doing a make-over on some of your clothing from last year. You can easily make clothes look completely different and no one will notice they’re last year’s.

Items of clothing with a plain look, such as denim, are much easier to rework than, say, a plaid skirt that’s multi-colored. With denim skirts or jeans, something simple like adding a printed pocket or two can make the skirt or jeans look completely different. If the jeans or skirt already have distinctive decorations, you can sometimes remove them and replace them with something new and different. For example, if you have a pair of jeans from last year, and they have brocade ribbon around the bottom, remove it and add a ribbon with a different pattern. Use the new ribbon to outline the pockets, too, for a convincing new pair of jeans.

Solid-colored tees can get a make-over in many different ways. There’s iron-on transfers, fabric paints, and sew-on appliques for starters. You can also use spray-on tie-dye solution that’s inexpensive and simple to do. Or, just take a pocket from an existing shirt and sew it on to the plain tee shirt. The shirt will look completely different than it did last year.