To start off, I had a plain black romper in my closet.
The bottom hem had come undone on one side. I knew I needed to repair it, but I decided this was the perfect chance to give the romper a makeover too!
How To Upcycle a Romper For $1 Without A Sewing Machine
5 Materials
$1
1 Hour
Easy
As temperatures climb, you may find yourself digging out the warm weather clothes you had packed away last fall.
If you see something you're not excited about wearing, consider taking a second to see if you could make a minor tweak that would make your piece into something totally new.
That's what I ended up doing with this romper! The great thing is you don't even need a sewing machine to do this project!
This minor tweak changed the whole look. Here's how I did it:
While I was shopping at Walmart I came across rolls of $1 lace trim.
The roll was long enough to cover both the neckline and bottom hem of my black romper.
Because I was hand sewing this trim on I opted to use safety pins to secure the trim where I wanted it.
Straight pins would likely have accidentally pricked me a few times.
I secured the pins to the neckline.
I used a sewing needle and white thread to hand stitch the lace to the romper.
Because I wanted to be sure my hand stitches would endure some minor wear and tear, I stitched the lace to the romper in two different places.
Once I had the neckline attached I did the same with the two bottom hems.
Hand sewing definitely takes longer, so if you have a sewing machine I would highly suggest using it.
HOWEVER, if you don't have a machine this is the perfect beginner project!
Once I had the lace trim attached I decided to fix another part of this romper I didn't love.
It has a faux wrap top, and the neckline at times would gape open wider than I wanted it. To provide some extra coverage and security I purchased these sew-on snaps.
I attached the snap closure on either side of the top neckline of the romper so that the top would no longer be able to gape open.
This is an easy trick you can use on any top to give yourself extra coverage!
This is how a an hour of stitching and a $1 roll of lace trim changed the piece!
There are many different ways you could adapt this project to recycle almost anything in your closet.
Think purses, shorts, tops, tank tops, and even sweaters.
This is one of the first projects I did for myself after I made a pledge not to buy any *new* clothes for myself for an entire year.
That meant I decided I would not buy any clothes from traditional stores that weren't already owned or in existence.
While I initially thought the challenge would be difficult I ended up loving this lifestyle so much that I still haven't bought any new clothes for 3+ years!
Part of the ease of going fast-fashion free is being able to do minor alternations to older clothes yourself to make them work for you.
In the video I'm attaching below, I share 3 more tips to go completely fast-fashion free for good!
Let me know if in the comments if you've ever considered making a similar pledge yourself, or if you might in the future!
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Very cute detail!