DIY Shakuhachi Cut Out Dress

Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Love the new Shakuhachi lookbook which I stumbled upon on Studded Hearts here. There are a number of DIY inspirations within it (I am sure all these designers would love to hear that their lookbooks are inspiring us NOT spend any money on their designs!), and this one looks particularly easy. Even though cur outs have been around for a few seasons now,  I still really like the look. This dress is a great edgy update with the its oversized-t-shirt-and-bleached-ness.


You'll need:
  • Blue oversized jersey t-shirt - making sure it comes down to a reasonable length on your body so as to be worn as a dress (without showing the world your breakfast)
  • Bleach
  • Scissors 

The Bleach job 
1. Take the shirt and get it wet through, then ring some of the water out.
2. Squirt the bleach liberally on random areas of your t-shirt, leaving some bits uncovered. Rub the bleach in slightly, scrunch the t-shirt up a bit, squirt on some more bleach if you like.
3. Leave to soak in but keep checking the colour every minute or so until you are happy with it.
4. When happy with the colour, rinse off the bleach and then throw your garment in the washing machine for a cycle.

The Cutout job
Cut the shirt in half horizontally just below your ribs, so you have two pieces, a 'top' and a 'bottom'.
Cut a small hole in the bottom middle of top half, and make two ties in the bottom half by cutting a 5cm vertical slit in the middle
Attach to the bottom half by tying a knot through the hole in the top, using the ties you made in the bottom half. Finally, tighten the top half around the ribs by tying either a knot at the back or front.
Image: Studded Hearts