I bought a top about 10 years ago, while I was at uni in London. And it has served me very well. It was only cheap ( forgive me, it was pre MDAM,and my enlightenment) but does go to show that cheap clothes don’t have to be disposable.
I had however, recently retired it as it had a grease stain on the front.
But this morning, I was hunting around for something to wear, and spotted it lying on my chair, where it has been for weeks, waiting for me to move it the 3 metres to the spare room to await it’s intended fate as t-shirt yarn. It suddenly struck me that with a quick snip of the scissors, it could be turned into a v-neck, and I could have a ‘new’ top.
I fiddled around a bit, so that I could have just the front of the top folded in half at the mid point, to ensure my ‘V’ was reasonably even, and then cut. I left the back of the neckline intact as I was worried that the neck would be too saggy without the structure of the hemmed bit.
Ta Da!
My Make Do and Mend Year 
Having been faced with many grease stains over the years I have found Swarvega rubbed into the spot and left to soak over night then laundered in the usual way works a good 90% of the time. Learned this trick from my mum who half inched a sweater that my aunt had knitted for my uncle and he had worn it under the car, first time of wearing. Understandably aunt was decidedly miffed, yanked it off his back and tossed it in the outhouse giving a very hefty piece of her mind whilst she was at it. This was way back in the 50’s when wool was wool and felted just by looking at it. The yellow aran weight jumper was relieved of the black oil stains by this method and step pa wore it for many years. Got gloss paint out of my husbands trousers by the same method’
Great tip, Thankyou. Will have to stock up on swarfega!
Ecover do a great stain remover, it’s got a brush on the end so you can give both sides of material a good scrub. Sometimes it needs two applications but I found it works really well.
We have that one! This stain was very old, so had no luck shifting it
beg a bit of a bottle of fairy liquid – just for emergencies of course! a blob on any grease stain, rubbed in hard with your fingers – magic!! comes out in the wash – using your ecover wash liquid of course! good luck
Hi Anne. Thanks for the tip. I had put this top in the scrap bag ages ago as I was a bit bored of it and figured it had served it’s time, but then needed a top, so rescued it and the snot iced the stain! Does your method work on stains that have already been washed?
yes – certainly does!! i usually find particularly olive oil splashes on particularly black tees only after i have washed them and am folding them up to put them away! good luck!
Fab, Thankyou!
Clever girl :o)
Thanks Jo!
Re Fairy liquid for getting out grease stains. It’s marvellous! Even grease stains that have been through the washing machine several times will come out after a drop of Fairy liquid has been rubbed into the offending spot. I usually leave the item a bit to let the Fairy liquid do its magic before putting it through the washing machine again.
That’s great to know-will get some in to keep on standby-Thankyou!
I use Fairy liquid on stains too. Other brands work sometimes but Fairy works most of the time… Magic stuff!
It’s on the shopping list!
You need talc or flour to absorb the grease, wash and try with ecover stain remover, should sort things.
Great-thankyou!
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