Don't have chalk or a washable fabric pen handy and want to maintain a straight line when sewing?

Here's a good&nbsp;rule of thumb:&nbsp;Draw two evenly spaced parallel lines with a pen or Sharpie marker on your leading thumb.

As you sew, keep the top mark that you drew on your thumb lined up with the edge of the fabric. The bottom mark on your thumb will be where your "imaginary" line will be. Viola! No more wavy stitch marks!

Use Your Thumb as a Sewing Guide

If you're tired of constantly pulling out wrinkled clothing from your drawers, try rolling them!

By loosely rolling your clothes, you can not only easily see an inventory of what you have when you open your drawers, but you will also prevent them from being wrinkled.

Keep Your Clothes Wrinkle-Free By Rolling Them

How many times have you gone to pull that sweater out of your closet, only to find it completely <a href="/tips/clothing/keep-your-clothes-wrinkle-free-by-rolling-them">wrinkled</a> and stretched out after it's been hanging in the same spot for far too long?

"If I had only folded it, this would have never happened!", you might be saying to yourself.&nbsp;

Don't beat yourself up. Take it as a lesson learned and use the following technique to help you avoid the same mistake in the future.

Step 1. Place your sweater on a flat surface

Open up your (unwrinkled) sweater and lay it on a flat surface like your bed.

Take the right arm of the sweater and cross it over to fold it in half vertically. Both arms should be evenly lined up.

Next, take your hanger and rotate it 90 degrees such that it looks like an upside-down letter "L". Place the hanger on top of your now folded sweater with the middle of the hanger resting on the sweater's armpit area.

Step 3. Drape half of the sweater the hangar

Take the bottom half of the sweater and cross it over the left side of the hanger. Repeat the same thing for the sleeves on the right side of the hanger.

From there, rotate the sweater (on the hanger) "clockwise"&nbsp;90 degrees.

Congrats! Hopefully next time you won't be panicking 30 minutes before you need to wear it. No more wrinkles, hanger bumps, or stretching. We can't promise that <a href="/tips/home-garden/how-to-get-rid-of-carpet-beetles-and-moths">moths</a> haven't gotten to it, however!

Avoid Wrinkles and Hanger Bumps on Sweaters

While canvas is a water-resistant fabric, it's not completely waterproof. If you have canvas shoes like Tom's, Vans, or Chuck Taylor All Stars, you can apply a coating of beeswax to prevent water or any other liquids from being absorbed into them.

One caveat is that this may permanently change the color of your shoes, so if you're considering this for your Van's checkered slip-ons, the colors may smudge in the process. It's probably better to only use this method on canvas shoes with a solid color. Let's get started!

Beeswax or cera alba, is an organic wax produced by honey bees. It never spoils and is a great choice for making lotions, balms, creams, deodorants and even waterproofing canvas shoes!

Step 1. Apply Beeswax To Your Canvas Shoes

To begin, you will need to <a href="https://amzn.to/3ZtmXOW">buy a bar of beeswax</a>. Next, liberally apply a coat of the beeswax on your shoes.

After applying the beeswax liberally onto your canvas shoes, find a hair dryer and turn it up to the highest heat setting to completely melt the wax into the fabric.

As Tom Petty once said "the waiting is the hardest part"; the last step in the process is exactly that!

Wait for 12 hours so that the wax has completely dried and absorbed into your shoes. For best results, place the shoes outside in the sun for the day.

Once your shoes have "cured", gently drip some water on your shoes. If the water droplets begin to bead off (hydrophobicity), then you've successfully waterproofed your canvas shoes!&nbsp; If not, then repeat the steps above until you've achieve the desired result.

Waterproof canvas shoes with beeswax

Washing shoes in the washing machine is a&nbsp; great way to get them clean, but what about drying them?

Throwing them in the dryer as you normally would with your clothing can completely ruin their shape and permanently damage them.

By using the door trick, you can prevent disfiguring your shoes and the annoying tumbling noise that goes along with it.

Follow these simple steps to implement the shoe dryer door trick:

Dry your wet shoes in the dryer by tying the laces together and putting one inside and the other outside so it doesn't roll around.

Have you ever gone about your normal life, interacting with random people, but totally oblivious to the fact your fly's been undone the entire time? If it's due to your zipper not "zipping", and not gross negligence, then this is the tip for you!

Using just a key ring, you can prevent your zipping from unzipping, and also being known as the person always "letting the breeze in".

With this tip, a key ring works best. A key ring is used to typically keep your keys together, but it just also happens to be a great solution to preventing your zipper from falling down.

You can buy one from <a href="https://amzn.to/3WyYaay">Amazon</a>, but most people should already have one.

Step 2. Loop the Key Ring Through the Zipperhead

Loop the key ring through the top of the zipper's head and make sure it's "clicked" into place by rotating it 360 degrees while fastening through the hole.

Step 3. Zip it and attach it to the button

This is where the magic happens. Zip your zipper all the way up and attach the key ring around the button.

Finally, you can button your pants (or shorts) and say goodbye to all of the ignorant flashing you've been doing.

Put a keyring on your zipper to prevent your zipper from falling down

By painting each button with a clear (transparent) nail polish, you can prevent the thread from fraying and unraveling.

Use clear nail polish to paint your shirt buttons so they don't fray.

Zipping the zippers helps ensure the teeth don't get caught on anything, and undoing the buttons ensures the buttons don't pull on the button holes. Delicate clothing can be placed in a laundry bag to protect them from other items.

Zippers should be zipped and buttons undone before washing and drying.

Hang your clothes in your closet with the hangers reversed once a year. As you pull clothes out, reverse the hanger. Every year giveaway clothes you never took out (hangers facing in the original direction).

Reverse your hangers.

If you don't have any soap available, a tiny bit of lip balm or petroleum jelly can be used instead.

Zipper stuck? Rub a dry bar of soap on both sides of the teeth.

Let it sit overnight, and in the morning shake it all out. For maximum odor removal, leave the now treated shoes in the sun for the day. Repeat as necessary.

Use Your Thumb to Sew in a Straight Line

المزيد من النصائح حول ملابس

Keep Your Clothes Wrinkle-Free By Rolling Them

Avoid Wrinkles and Hanger Bumps on Sweaters

Waterproof Canvas Shoes With Beeswax

Use The Door Trick to Dry Your Shoes

Zipper Falling Down? Fix it with a Key Ring.

Use clear nail polish to paint your shirt buttons so they don't fray.

Zippers should be zipped and buttons undone before washing and drying.

Reverse your hangers.

Zipper stuck? Rub a dry bar of soap on both sides of the teeth.

Shoes smell bad? Dust the insides with baking soda and shake it around.

فئات تلميح