DIY Transparent Clutch
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
ANOTHER gorgeous tutorial from the ladies at Honestly...Wtf. Cutest transparent clutch ever inspired by the runway trend (although am a bit worried about where you put your tampons when carrying these sorts of transparent bags). The girls just keep on whipping up amazing creations. Crossing my fingers that I get an invite to their next DIY tepee session.... hahaha.
DIY Weekly - Cut Out Back Shirt
As I mentioned last week, I got a bit crafty recently and made my own version of the cut out back top, a la Christine Centenera's top from her 'My Favourite Things' shoot with Tommy Ton. It was amazingly easy to do and looks pretty sexy on.
Inspiration:
I had a khaki silk collared shirt that I rarely wear so I used this as the basis for my top. Sorry there aren't any pics of the process, my camera was on the blink when I did this.
What I did was:
1. I put the top on and in the mirror I worked out where I wanted the cut out to sit. I tried to mirror roughly the location of the cut out on Christine's top.
2. I then cut open the shirt dreicttly across borisontally in a slightly rounded way - a bit like a very shallow eye shape. Once the cut was made the fabric drooped down really nicely so I didn't have to cut too much out.
3. I then tried on the top again to check the cut out and adjusted the cut out accordingly.
4. I then sewed the edges of the cut out with a very fine stitch, making sure to turn the edge over a couple of times so that any fraying was underneath. I made a pleat in the top running vertically down because the top flap was sticking out a bit.
5. Finally I ironed the edges of the cut out so that the stitching was less noticeable. Voila!
Might wear it with a little triangle bra next time, was alittle bit chilly with nothing underneath.
Before:
After:
What I did was:
1. I put the top on and in the mirror I worked out where I wanted the cut out to sit. I tried to mirror roughly the location of the cut out on Christine's top.
2. I then cut open the shirt dreicttly across borisontally in a slightly rounded way - a bit like a very shallow eye shape. Once the cut was made the fabric drooped down really nicely so I didn't have to cut too much out.
3. I then tried on the top again to check the cut out and adjusted the cut out accordingly.
4. I then sewed the edges of the cut out with a very fine stitch, making sure to turn the edge over a couple of times so that any fraying was underneath. I made a pleat in the top running vertically down because the top flap was sticking out a bit.
5. Finally I ironed the edges of the cut out so that the stitching was less noticeable. Voila!
Might wear it with a little triangle bra next time, was alittle bit chilly with nothing underneath.
Before:
DIY Fringed Back Shorts
Monday, November 29, 2010
These amazing shorts by Bitching and Junkfood, worn by Eliza Doolittle (how fit is she btw?) in her recent Skinny Genes filmclip are so killer. I think they were made especially for Eliza, and in that case you will HAVE to DIY them by sewing some long fringing onto the back of a pair of cut off denim shorts.
A Pair & A Spare on Spanish Elle
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Stumbled upon this mention of A Pair & A Spare on Spanish Elle magazine online along with a number of DIY gurus including Shini, Carly and MJ. Completely chuffed! Go here for a gander, use your google translate if you don't happen to be fluent in written spanish. Edit: How cute is the translated spanish title? 'Fever do it yourself'. si si si si si.
DIY Embellished Collars
The lovey bloggette from Wilma and Winston DIYed this gorgeous pearl embelished lavender shirt - cute and so easy! Just glue or sew the pearls onto the collar of a shirt and away you go. Wilma and Winston have a few great DIYs as well as a well stocked vintage store. Check it out if you have time.
Wardrobe Rehab Results
Bigger is not necessarily better. So happy to have made my wardrobe a bit smaller and more organised with the wardrobe rehab project. These are some of the things I have kept to wear during the day.
Reader DIYs - Deconstructed Sweater
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The best thing about having a blog like this one is that I can let me imagination run wild with DIY ideas, knowing that if I'm lucky one of my readers will carry the torch for me and execute the idea. As usual, Carly from Chic Steals comes up with the DIY goods and made this hybrid sweater I posted about a while ago. She has done such a good job of choosing two sweaters with such perfect textures to make into one. Perfect! To be honest, Carly is not so much a 'reader' as she is a constant inspiration to me, and I'm pretty chuffed to have inspired her.
Images: Jak and Jil / Chic Steals
DIY Ethnic Print Bag
Ammmmazing DIY ethnic print bag made by adding ethnic print fabric to a leather shoulder bag. Molly from Rackk and Ruin made this bag here using some leftover fabric, gluing it onto a bag and then using leather dye to darken the leather of the bag. So Amazing and very very easy to do.
DIY Tread Heels
Have an old pair of black heels that I was going to throw out, trying to work out how to DIY my own Camilla Skovgaard style tread to add to them. I think I am going to need some boyfriend-style tools, some thick black rubber and some glue?
Image:Searching for Style
DIy Breton Tops
Friday, November 26, 2010
Definite. wardrobe. staple. If I had ten of these I still wouldn't have enough. Why not DIY your own using these steps? Flipping easy!
Images: Vanilla Scented / Garance Dore / Dead Fleurette
DIY Feather Lined Boots
I get the feeling that the master DIYers out there who rarely get a mention are the stylists who put together amazing shoots like the one above, and are able to turn a simple outfit into something amazing.
Image: Rackk and Ruin
Reader DIYs! Floral Headband
Adore this headband that Laraquela of My Boyfriend Hates this Dress made using the tutorial I blogged about here by Kasturi! It is so cute in the gorgeous floral pattern. Great work here, but I hear she burnt herself with the glue gun - the hazards of DIY.
DIY Dreamcatching Earring / Hair piece
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Saw this on a lovely girl at LFW recently, and now again in the Style Stalker lookbook. Yummy! Head down to a local market and pick up a dreamcatcher, and for the earrings, attach to an earring hook (available online or in most craft stores) and go for it - go for one ear rather than both. Or you can attach to a pony tail also for extra cuteness.
Image: Studded Hearts
DIY Wardrobe Rehab Step 5 - Colours
Check out the whole series of Wardrobe Rehab posts here
If you've been following along, you'll know that the purpose of the wardrobe rehab project has been to shrink and clarify my wardrobe, in the face of moving overseas, so I can throw together amazing outfits effortlessly and so that I have no 'tat' in my wardrobe that I don't wear. Through this process I culled my wardrobe (halving its size!), had a go at defining my style, made a list of my wardrobe essentials and I tried to organise my wardrobe (although spent last night packing for HK so obv all the organising went out the window).
A major reason that historically my wardrobe has been a shambles, apart from the sheer size of it, has been my penchant for buying all different random coloured items with no reference to what exists in my wardrobe and what I will wear it with. How do you solve this problem? Firstly, as I mentioned in one of the previous posts, when buying basics and essentials you should probably stick to a neutral palette of black, navy, beige or white (or any other colours you wear alot and think of as your 'base' outfit colour). This is a point I picked up off this post by Dead Fleurette about the secret to french elegance, and I totally agree. If you think about all the amazingly dressed french women you see being photographed by The Satorialist and Tommy Ton, they usually build on neutral basics with lots of navy and beige and black.
But no one wants to wander around all day in only neutral colours, and thats where buying colour wardrobe 'updaters' comes in to play. Once you have a smaller wardrobe with lots of well fitting neutral coloured essentials, you can purchase a few coloured items (from the high street or charity shops) each season to mix with your basics and make them more on trend. An example? I posted recently about loving burnt caramel colour, and this colour has featured alot as the standout piece in my outfits - paired with dark jeans, black pants, skirts, tweed jackets and blazers. I picked up a top and a pair of shorts from a charity shop for nothing and they have been great for mixing with basics. Buying coloured shorts, silk shirts and other smaller items will allow you to mix them in with your neutral basics. Tash from Excessive Consumption has block colour dressing to perfection.
Another style of dressing that I really like is wearing tonal colours, choosing a single colour and wearing items that are different shades of that colour in the one outfit (see a few examples below). I really love this look, but very rarely ever do it - the Anywho girls and Maria from Vanilla Scented get tonal dressing so right! Can go horribly wrong if the shading is off though.
My main piece of advice is to wear what looks good on you. Choosing colours that suit your look and skin tone is much more important than strictly adhering to trend colours or tonal dressing- yes Zara might be pushing washed out blue but if it doesn't suit you don't go for it. Back in the day our grandmas used to go and get their 'colours' done, where someone would sit them down and work out what colours suit them. This may seem a bit archaic but sometimes having an unbiased critique of what colours suit you is the best thing!
Block Colours
tonal dressing
frenchy (just for fun!)
Images: (from top left) Style Scout / Just Jared / Hanelli Mustapata
The Style Crusader / Anywho
excessive consumption / image of me by Street Style London / excessive consumption
Vanilla Scented / Anywho / Anywho
Excessive consumption / excessive consumption/ excessive consumption
If you've been following along, you'll know that the purpose of the wardrobe rehab project has been to shrink and clarify my wardrobe, in the face of moving overseas, so I can throw together amazing outfits effortlessly and so that I have no 'tat' in my wardrobe that I don't wear. Through this process I culled my wardrobe (halving its size!), had a go at defining my style, made a list of my wardrobe essentials and I tried to organise my wardrobe (although spent last night packing for HK so obv all the organising went out the window).
A major reason that historically my wardrobe has been a shambles, apart from the sheer size of it, has been my penchant for buying all different random coloured items with no reference to what exists in my wardrobe and what I will wear it with. How do you solve this problem? Firstly, as I mentioned in one of the previous posts, when buying basics and essentials you should probably stick to a neutral palette of black, navy, beige or white (or any other colours you wear alot and think of as your 'base' outfit colour). This is a point I picked up off this post by Dead Fleurette about the secret to french elegance, and I totally agree. If you think about all the amazingly dressed french women you see being photographed by The Satorialist and Tommy Ton, they usually build on neutral basics with lots of navy and beige and black.
But no one wants to wander around all day in only neutral colours, and thats where buying colour wardrobe 'updaters' comes in to play. Once you have a smaller wardrobe with lots of well fitting neutral coloured essentials, you can purchase a few coloured items (from the high street or charity shops) each season to mix with your basics and make them more on trend. An example? I posted recently about loving burnt caramel colour, and this colour has featured alot as the standout piece in my outfits - paired with dark jeans, black pants, skirts, tweed jackets and blazers. I picked up a top and a pair of shorts from a charity shop for nothing and they have been great for mixing with basics. Buying coloured shorts, silk shirts and other smaller items will allow you to mix them in with your neutral basics. Tash from Excessive Consumption has block colour dressing to perfection.
Another style of dressing that I really like is wearing tonal colours, choosing a single colour and wearing items that are different shades of that colour in the one outfit (see a few examples below). I really love this look, but very rarely ever do it - the Anywho girls and Maria from Vanilla Scented get tonal dressing so right! Can go horribly wrong if the shading is off though.
My main piece of advice is to wear what looks good on you. Choosing colours that suit your look and skin tone is much more important than strictly adhering to trend colours or tonal dressing- yes Zara might be pushing washed out blue but if it doesn't suit you don't go for it. Back in the day our grandmas used to go and get their 'colours' done, where someone would sit them down and work out what colours suit them. This may seem a bit archaic but sometimes having an unbiased critique of what colours suit you is the best thing!
Block Colours
tonal dressing
The Style Crusader / Anywho
excessive consumption / image of me by Street Style London / excessive consumption
Vanilla Scented / Anywho / Anywho
Excessive consumption / excessive consumption/ excessive consumption
DIY Proenza Schouler Rope Necklace - Honestly... wtf
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Delicious DIY from the gorgeous girls over at Honestly...wtf? Talk about inspired. Check it out here - inspired by a Proenza Schouler Necklace.
DIY Draped Maxi Skirt
The gorgeous Aimee of Song of Style has done an amazing job of updating her maxi skirt with a little DIY - similar to a longer version of the dree hemingway draped skirt. So gorgeous, and doesn't she have the most amazing legs? Simply hike up a maxi skirt a bit and pin or tie it into a draped style.
DIY Shearling Boots
Doing a whip around the blogs this morning stumbled on sooo many good diys! You can't understand how happy that makes me. One particular favourite I found were these amazinggg DIY shearling boots from My Vintage Secret, simply measure up and add some shearling fabric to your flat boots. So easy. This one deserves an award.
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