Keeping Kids in Clothes

[StaciMM]

Before Christmas, my 2 school aged kids were getting to the point where ALL their jeans (even pairs that were only a couple of months old) had holes in th knees. I was thrilled when they each got 4-5 outfits for Christmas from family, as that allowed me to NOT buy clothes for them.

Well, a little while ago I ironed on patches over the knees of a pair of jeans that my Dd got for Christmas. Just over 2 months old, and one knee is gone and the other close behind! How can someone so little do so much to wear them out? And, they're decent quality jeans. Not unusually thin or anything!

I did put a patch on each knee, so they 'match', and she is not yet to the age where she is really worried about her clothes. I still feel bad about having her wear patched jeans though I'm NOT going to buy her new ones every 2 months.

If anyone has any suggestions on where to find colorful, patterned patches-let me know! I'd rather do something other than blue or black jean material.

[pink_amulet]

Walmart has a great craft section, they have all the girly stuff, and fabric. Try your crafts stores..Hobby Lobby, Joann's and Micheal's. So many people are making or designing their own clothes so the stores have great selections of patches and decorations.

I have 2 boys, 10yrs and 5yrs, I shop at the local thrift store. Now I have talked to many people and I guess my thrift store is not the norm...LOL I can go to my thrift store and come home with 2 HUGE bags full of clothes and outfits for $20.00. I LOVE it!! I guess the people that price these things have no ideas about brands. Every time I go I get Gap, Gymboree, FuBu, Nike, Polo, Tommy, Izod, just to name a few. My boys are so well dressed even I get jealous...LOL I have to admit i refuse to pay regular price for clothing for my boys. Last time I bought NEW items with store tags was Christmas, and that was because every year they get matching pj's.
When I started shopping at my thrift store about 3 years ago, my mom asked how could I afford all the designer clothing, and told her the prices and she didn't believe me. We just went last Friday to the thrift store and I got a pair of BRAND NEW Tommy jeans for $1.20..YES $1.20. Hubby got a Columbia jacket very nice for $4.50 (it was half off day)..Still $4.50??..hee hee!! There was NOTING wrong with them ....and yes I am VERY picky!!..LOL I live in an area, in which the population is not "educated" on name brands I guess.
I told my bestfriend about it and she said she doesn't have one by her. I got her little girl, who is also 5yrs, a Gymboree jumper (for 90 cents), and a cute corduroy jumper for $1.50(it was new with the tags still) My bestfriend gets all my boy hand-me-downs, and her family can't believe the items.
I have gone and bought stuff, and sold it on Ebay once I made over $250, on items I paid only $35.00 for!! Nice huh?..LOL

Check out your local stores!! Good Luck!

Pink

[robivi3]

Pink, we did our share of consignment stores when our boys were young, nothing wrong with it and thank God for them.

[StaciMM]

My Walmart only had basics for patches. There is a Michael's/craft store-I'll see what the have!

[Minnymouth]

IDEA!!!

You can take plain white patch material (heavy denim or cotton), transfer pictures or designs to the patches (off pc transfer paper, then iron or sew on jeans....

Your kids will have jeans 'LIKE NOBODY ELSE - THEIR OWN DESIGNER JEANS...............

Just a thought, and they'll probably LOVE THE IDEA!!!!

[StaciMM]

Minny, I think you're assuming I have at least a small amount of creativity! Unfortunately, you're mistaken!

[SinkingFast]

Our girls are teens, so they don't care about holes. The more the better actually.

But they have taken up writing on their jeans. With colored, permanent ink markers, glitter pens, and such. I guess it's kewl. One loves paint splatters. She's got a pair of jeans devoted to paint splatters.

Friends will write things on their jeans too.

Maybe you can find some different color fabric patches and cut them into shapes that will cover the holes. Stars, hearts, crescents moons, whatever. You can edge the patch with glitter glue or contrasting color fabric glue to add some flair. Draw some sort of pic. Write things.

Multi color patch work seems to be acceptable for an off or fun day of clothing with teens these days.

[StaciMM]

(I'm not ready for teens! I don't think I ever will be...)

Luckily for me, she turns 6 today. In her class at school, they earn stars for being good. When they collect 10, they get to go to the 'treasure box'. Yesterday, she picked out something for me. Its a purple pen with a heart (that squeaks) on the top, and a bunch of fuzzy stuff around the top of the pen & the bottom of the heart.

[13inOR]

Those are all great ideas! In my case we have had a similar struggle-my son was 12 when we started our chapter 13 (no disposable income!) and he is now 14 and has had the hugest growth spurts of his life in this time period (lucky me) with the exception of his first year....he was constantly outgrowing his pants. We have an Old Navy here and they have the BEST
clearance sales several times a year. It is the norm to get shirts for 1.49
and nice jeans or cargo pants for 3.99. It was an absolute lifesaver for me.
I would always buy some of his current size and some of the next size to hold
him till the next clearance. That worked out great.

I also feel your pain, I remember when he and my daughter both were between K and 3rd grade probably, the were constantly wearing out the knees of their jeans--they were always worn out before they outgrew them!
Sears has a policy that if you buy an item and it wears out before the child
outgrows it, they will exchange for the same item in the same size. That
included jeans with holes in the knee! Thats another way to stretch your clothing dollar.

[Kam]

My 12 yo DD wears pants with holes and rips in them. I've seen HS girls wear worse! My oldest DD finally threw out pants that were daisey dukes in the making from the back end. At one time, Sears or Pennys (looooooooong time ago) made jeans that were reinforced in the knees. Maybe one thing you might want to do to jeans that are not torn yet is reinforce them in the knees (on the inside of the legs). This might buy you a few more weeks of use.

[lilgoose]

If you have any doubts of having enough creativity to make something "new" out of something "old"....go to eBay and look at all the "designer" boutique custom made outfits....

People take new over'alls and create all kinds of "new" looks out of them!

http://clothing.ebay.com/

Search these items numbers for examples:

6855385968
6853116025
6853140296
6852226025
6852246422

I could go on and on with what is on there, but as you can see, you don't need to have talent, just a great imagination! Use coloring books to make your "patches". There are coloring books out there that have very little detailing and some really cute pictures. By this I mean to use them as patterns to create a new embroidered applique. Look on the internet to see what you can find. You don't have to have lots and lots of creativity to do this. Find what you want to use, take with you to your local sewing/fabric store and ask for directions and help. Most will be more than happy to help out and answer all your questions!

Good Luck and maybe share a pic or two of your NEW CREATIONS!!

[SinkingFast]

Those were some cute outfits, Lil!

And the "patches"/appliques on the pants, you don't even have to sew those. You cut the fabic pieces in the shape you want to get the look you want. Like that one looked like a little sail boat. Use double stick pellon.

Double stick pellon has "sticky" on both sides. Iron the pellon to the back of the piece of fabric you're using as your patch. Then iron the patch to the pants. You can finish off the edges with colored or glitter fabric glue. Or you can leave excess fabric around the edges of the patch fabric and frey the patch all around.

My daughters have done the ribbon and strings/fringe thing to the bottom of old jeans without any stitching. They punch holes for the fringe and knot them in place. Then just go around the pant leg and glue the ribbon in place for the finishing touch.

One daughter takes T-shirts and makes unique tops out of them. She cut one apart at the seams all the way up the sides, thru the armpit area to the end of the sleeves. Then cut the top of the sleeves thru the neck hole. She cut smaller pieces along the edges, like tear-offs on an ad flyer you'd see at the grocery. Then she hand tied the front and back of the T back together. Totally neat looking top.

Daughter is always on the lookout in clearance bins for odd shaped, strange colored buttons, big and/or gaudy looking buttons and fasteners. She'll take a collection of those she's selected to pull together for a fashion look, and sew them onto jeans, a top, or a jacket. Sometimes she uses the same color thread. Sometimes she'll use a totally different color thread for effect.

[lilgoose]

Those all sound really cute! What about some pics? I am going to have to become a little more creative. I look at those clothes and the prices that people are willing to pay and it amazes me!

I think I just need to sit down and put forth the effort.

Sounds like you have a budding designer on your hands....Just keep encouraging!

[jane taylor]

kids and clothes

My teenage son left a pen in his jeans pocket and it burst in the dryer earlier this week!!!! There's very little in our clothing budget right now and we certainly can't afford to replace everything. Thank goodness we were able to get the ink out of the dryer effectively and safely!!