4 tips to mend your dress clothes to make them last longer

Dress clothes are delicate and need to be treated with care. But no need to count your losses too soon if one item is damaged. The good news is there may be a fix, and more good news — you may be able to do the mending or repairing yourself.

• If your pants still look good, but the elastic waistband is all stretched out, consider a replacement.
• Get new elastic, measure it to fit around your waist, cut a little extra (just in case), then slip it into the pants casing for a new fit. No need to go out and buy new pants.

• You've grabbed a forgotten pair of pants from the back of the closet and find the creases are deep and ugly.
• To remove the creases, try this pressing trick on each crease: Apply white vinegar to the crease with a sponge. Then iron with a warm — not hot — iron, drying the vinegar. The crease will go away.

• Love the dress, but the style is outdated? Cut the dress in half and make the lower half into a skirt.
• A long (even floor-length) dress can be shortened to a more in-style length, too.

• Fusible lining, which comes in rolls similar to wide transparent tape, can be ironed into place in a jiffy if the hem on your skirt or dress is coming loose.
• This is also a good method for keeping your hem in place while you adjust the skirt length.
• Measure where you want the new hem and pin it in place.
• Now use the fusible lining and iron the new hem. You can try on the skirt or dress again to make sure that it's where you want it. When it is, sew into place.