Ever been faced with a situation where, dressed to kill, you enter into a party, only to discover your hem line ripping off; or, just when you thought, you had everything in control, your high heel breaks, your bra strap snaps etc. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? If you feel that the Murphy’s law – Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, works on you all the time, we bring for you, a series of two articles. In this part, we try and identify some quick fix solutions to most of the embarrassing situations, we land ourselves into, all the time.
Fallen hem / broken bra straps
- A safety pin is the easiest quick fix to this problem. If you do not have the pin handy, opt for duct tape; use the sticky side to hold the hem line or strap together, till the time you do not find a replacement garment or safety pin. Stapling the two ends works well too, just ensure that you do not have the sharper edges of the pin directly touching your skin as it may hurt you.
Snags in the stocking / Button unravelling
- If you have just discovered a tiny hole in your stocking, which is threatening to become bigger, or a loose button which may fall off any moment and you do not have the time to either change or sew up, the good old nail polish comes to your rescue. Try out a transparent quick drying one, dab some of it around the edges of the hole on the stocking or on the loose threads of the button. Once dry, the nail polish should hold up for some time and can avert a possible fashion disaster. Some people also suggest using a hairspray, which puts the unravelling on hold for some time.
Broken Heel
- This would easily be the most common, yet one of the most irritating problems. A good precaution to avoid such situations is to have a spare set of neutral color footwear in your car or office cabinet. But we all know so well by now, that when Mr. Murphy decides to put his laws to use, we really may not have any solution at hand.
- If you are in an office, you could try super glue or a double sided tape to mend your heel for a bit. If you are on the move, and have no glue nearby, here is a solution which may be tacky but can save you from possible embarrassment. Chew a gum or two, flatten it to approximately the size of your heel and spread it on between the two portions of your footwear. The gum will take some time to set, but could end up saving your day! With both of these solutions, undoubtedly, your movement may have to be restricted to minimal.
Mask stains
- You have worn your favorite white shirt and you accidentally spill something on it. Grab hold of some talcum powder and sprinkle liberally. Talcum powder absorbs any excess liquid / oil and prevents further spreading of the stain. You may even get lucky with camouflaging that stain on the white shirt to some extent. Once you are back home, use your stain removing detergent to clear off the stain completely. If talcum powder is not at hand, you could use baby wipes, or make up removal wipes to wipe off any stains.
- Vinegar, soda and nail polish remover work well on stains of food, paint and perspiration. Dab on some white vinegar , club soda or nail paint remover and work on the stain with a tooth brush, leave for some time. Wash normally.
- Hairspray works wonders on stains caused by ink of ball point pens. Spray on the stain, keep aside for a bit and wash normally.
Pilling on tee shirts / sweaters
- Pilling refers to the small fibre balls that are such a nuisance on your apparel and look really untidy. While you cannot avoid these, you could surely run the sticky side of the duct tape on these. The glue of the tape will pull the unsightly tufts and you are good to go. Velcro could be substituted for duct tape as well. Another method to remove these is a bit tedious, individually cut these with the help of scissors or run a razor snapping off the balls from their origin. While running razor or using scissors, ensure that you do not cut any underlying yarns that may lead to holes on the surface of the sweater / tee shirt.
Unravelling sweater
- Ok, so you notice a yarn loop staring at you from your favourite sweaters. Don’t cut the snag, however tempting it may be. The moment you cut it, the yarn will unravel, leading to big, gaping hole, sooner than you can imagine. As an emergency measure, tuck the snag right back into the sweater, push it towards the reverse side of the sweater. If the yarn is big enough, on the back side, make it into a knot, which will prevent further unravelling. If it is not big enough, dab some clear nail polish oat its origin point, which will put the snag in place and prevent further unravelling .
Stuck zipper
- Zipper on your favorite purse or jacket has got stuck and would not budge. Rub a piece of paraffin or a wax candle on the zipper teeth. A bar of soap also works. With a little push and pull, this should be good enough to have the zipper back in working condition.
Too tight a bracelet
- To have a slightly tight slip-on bracelet / bangle past your hand, use some creamy moisturizer, or lather up some soap on the portion of the hand through which the bracelet has to be slipped on. Try on the bracelet after the application of the moisturizer, it will glide smoothly through the hand. You could also use a sheer plastic wrap such as a cling film which also works equally well.
Broken draw string
- This could really be an embarrassing situation. Pull out the draw string completely and use the most handy thing available – shoe laces. Knot the laces and shortened draw string together and thread it through the waistband using a safety pin or a hair clip.
A chewing gum stuck on your apparel?
- This could be one of the most frustrating things! You could use extreme heat or cold to take care of this problem. Put the garment with the gum into the freezer, till it is nice and cold. Depending upon your refrigerator setting, this may take up to 4 hours. Ensure that the gum does not touch any other part of the apparel or any other thing kept in the fridge. Remove the garment, and immediately use a blunt butter knife to scrape off the gum. Since the gum would have frozen, it should come off with a little scraping. Take care, to not bring back the apparel to room temperature before working on the gum, as the gum will thaw and will be difficult to remove it.
- Another method is to place a thick wad of old newspapers or a cardboard on your ironing board. Iron the area with the gum on the back side, so that the gum is in direct contact with the newspaper. The heat will melt the gum and force it to leave the apparel and will get stuck to the newspapers.
- The last remnants of the gum could be removed by using petrol. Dab some petrol on to the remnants of the gum and use an old toothbrush to scrape off the gum. Take care not to use too much petrol. A couple of tablespoons should do the trick, and do not apply it near a heat source as petrol is highly flammable. Wash with regular detergent to take off the smell of the petrol.
Static electricity!
- Static is causing your skirt hemline to ride up, dab on some moisturizer on your legs, it totally works!
Do share your secrets of fixing up a possible fashion disaster and refer to our second article, which is coming soon for finding quick fixes to instantly glamorize any mundane outfit! Happy fixing things up in your own unique way!!
