Recycling clothes

I decided to write something about how am I getting so many cool things from a second-hand store, when many of you complain about never finding anything worth it. But before I even started, I found the same article on my favourite blogger web page! And it points out basically the same things as I wanted to. The only difference is, that the article is in Czech. So if you want to, you can read it here. Also, I'm a big fan of the girl, and, to be honest, I got inspired a lot by her style and I appreciate that someone else believes that thrift stores are hiding a lot of fabulous pieces.
Anyway, I have my own tips and tricks, in English of course, so you can read it or compare or whatever.

If you didn't catch all the lyrics, here you go (English + Czech translation as a bonus - not a great one, but I am lazy to do my own)

I completely agree with Pink Posy on the number of visits. Of course you can't find anything great when you only go there once in a while (well you can, but...). It is like a lottery, only with much higher possibility of winning. The more you bet, the bigger are your chances, thus the more you go to the thrift store, the more you find. That is math, you know.
If you are looking for something specific, wait until the new stuff is brought to your favourite store. I f you want to make a Halloween costume/have something crazy/ get a material for a complete remake/ just browse, wait for the sales. Because that is how you get a leather jacket for 10 CZK, which you can later turn into a vest/handbag/whatever you like (requires some skills with a needle and/or sewing machine.
Do It Yourself. I believe that it is not hard to sew on some buttons, repair a shirt, narrow some pants. And I am old school so I dare say that every girl should know a little something about handwork (no offense). There is a lot of treasure hidden in a thrift store for those who are not afraid to take chances. And it doesn't have to be just sewing. You can dye the fabric, paint on it, cut it, imagination has no limits.
But there are some limits to what you can do with a really devastated piece of clothing. Some things cannot be repaired. You can still use them as a material for something else (make skirt out of a dress, shirt out of skirt, it's up to you), but it is better to buy something with no big holes and no bleach stains, because you can't undo those. You can only cover them with a patch (that is what I did with this cropped top - dyed it to hide yellow stains in armpits and put a Beatles patch to cover a hole and voila!).
Warning! Thrift stores are tricky and addictive! When you get used to buying all the great clothes for really low prices, you buy clothes you don't need or even want. You better not end up like that. Because you probably can't fit another closet into your place and you really don't wanna throw away three boxes of clothes because they don't fit anymore/ you don't like them/ you had them on already/ you have no place for them/ you don't have the nerves to wait until you sell them all (yeah, that is what happened to me, when we moved to a new place. At least I donated all those pretty clothes to a Red Cross).
Last tip - be careful with buying shoes in a thrift store. Sure, sometimes you can find a pair that has never been worn, but most of the time the soles are worn out and even if they are not that much, the person who had them before might have had a completely different way of walking, so the shoe could be stretched in a different way that you'd need, which could cause you pain. So it is better to save up some money and buy a brand new pair of shoes so your thrifted clothes look fabulous with them.