Rachel's clothes call: 'You don't have to be good at crafts to do it'

TIMES are hard and money is tight. So what's a girl to do when she throws open the doors to her wardrobe to find a fashion desert of the same boring old jumpers, dowdy jackets, dull jeans, and tops and bottoms that the world of style forgot?

Most of us would simply shut the door quickly, reach for the maxed-out credit card and chance another debt-inducing spree at the shops.

Clever Rachel Henderson, though, would be much more crafty.

For the Edinburgh-based craft queen is the ultimate mother of reinvention.

To her clever eye for quirky detail, that wardrobe bursting with dull clothes, or a charity shop bursting with bits and pieces, is simply a blank canvas waiting to be reborn.

Now the textile designer is about to pass on the tricks of her trade so we can all revamp our wardrobes without bursting the credit card limit.

Next month she will host a series of Customisation Station workshops aimed at letting us all into the secret of how to extend the lives of our outfits using clever craft techniques that can be as simple as just changing the buttons on a once loved cardigan.

"Simple things like replacing them with nice, vintage buttons found in a charity shop, or adding some embroidery to the neckline, can completely change how a piece looks, yet it hardly costs a thing," she explains.

"Just a few small embellishments here and there make all the difference. You don't even have to be good at crafts to do it."

Viewers of Gok Wan's Fashion Fix have already seen how he can easily tweak an ordinary high street outfit to rival a high-price designer look using a few simple stitches and clever homemade accessories.

Next month, Rachel, who works from home in Dalry where she makes a range of fashion accessories and children's craft kits, will pass on her key tips for reinventing clothes at workshops and advice sessions at the Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts show at Glasgow's SECC.

She believes revamping tired and dated outfits, or tweaking new ones to add a customised twist, has rarely been more in fashion. "Apart from it being a great way to liven up an outfit, people are definitely keen to get away from mass-produced items and create something unique and different which actually reflects their own personality," she says.

"Say you have a simple black cardigan. You can liven it up with something as basic as a little applique brooch in a flower shape which you can easily make from felt or old fabric, or rummage around in charity shops for items with interesting buttons or details that you can take off and put on your own clothes.

"I like the idea of running swap shops with your friends and switching around clothes that you can use to either give an individual touch to, or take apart to make into something else. The best bit is it doesn't cost very much and you can create a completely fresh look."

Rachel trained in textile design, but her first love was knitting and crochet learned from her great aunt when she was a young child. After graduating, she worked as a knitting consultant at Jenners and John Lewis before publishing two knitting books.

She's recently appeared on STV's The Hour, passing on her craft skills to viewers and celebrity guests including singer James Morrison, who she taught to knit. She also runs regular knitting and craft workshops and events around the country.

Breathing new life into old clothes is simple, she insists.

She says: "You don't need a sewing machine or fancy equipment. You don't even have to be brilliant at crafts because there are lots of new products out there which look great and all you have to do is stitch them on.

"It's also a lot cheaper than buying a whole new outfit."

• For further information, go to www.rachelhendersoncrafts.co.uk. For details of the Creative Stitches and Hobbycrafts show, go to www.ichf.co.uk/creativestitches.