It’s great to see your kids growing up healthy and strong, but those growth spurts can take a toll on your wallet and their closets after awhile. Each time a season begins, do you find yourself having to discard or give away all the clothes your child has outgrown? If there isn’t a younger sibling — or if she’s just plain tired of big sister’s hand-me downs — then there are ways to stretch well-loved clothes a little bit longer. With minimal sewing skills, you can turn garments into other gorgeous items and prolong a trip to the clothing store just a bit longer. If it still fits and has holes or stains, then the garment may still be salvageable. A vibrantly colored t-shirt with a bleach stain can be turned into a cool tie-dyed top by stretching rubber bands around different areas of the shirt and either soaking in more bleach or another color of dye. Get crazy with a bleach pen and turn a solid tee into a graphic tee by drawing a design with the pen.

Keep in mind that bleach bleeds, and if you don’t want it to bleed onto the back of the shirt, then put a piece of thick cardboard or plastic inside the shirt before bleaching. Make a pair of high-water jeans into a pair of high-fashion cutoffs by cutting the legs off, then sewing some pretty scrap material along the hem to hide the fray. Scrap fabric can also be used with fabric adhesive to make cool patches for worn jeans – cut into whatever shape you like and apply over the hole. Got mismatched socks floating around? Cut the foot off and seal off the edges of the top part, then decorate – or allow your child to – and make a cool sweatband. Too-small tights make great cropped leggings when you cut the feet off and secure the raw edges as you did with the cutoffs. If your clothing budget is tight, then give your kid’s clothes new life!