How To

Save and Sew Tips

Get really creative with our economical tips from Sue Locke to expand your wardrobe without spending a fortune. All you need is a little ingenuity and haberdashery!

1. Tap into your creative side and using plain material design your own neck scarf with pens and paints.

2. For a stand-out-in-the-crowd travel bag make your own by quilting some gold material.

3. Vintage maxi dresses are everywhere so scour vintage shops or go online and shorten one for Autumn to team with leggings.

4. One of Topshop’s biggest selling jackets has been the blazer.  Create your own by adding brass buttons and a nautical appliqué to a double breasted jacket.

5. If you’ve grown tired of this summer’s cropped trousers don’t discard them – next summer they can be chopped again into shorts.

6. If you have a beautiful swimsuit with a flattering neckline cover it with tiny crystal beads, team it with a full skirt and cropped cardigan and you have an Autumn outfit.

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7. Make a Hermes-style key ring for next to nothing. Simply sew two small tassels to a plain ring.

8.  Designer shop Browns in London is offering a two-tone jacket for over one thousand pounds. Make your own by stitching the body of a classic short fitted jacket in pale green and a peplum in a soft grey.

9. Give a summer sleeveless top a longer life by adding silk frills to the armholes.

10. Add an unusual yoke to a dress or blouse by weaving strips of equal-width ribbon together and stitching them to a backing material.