DIY LBD SERIES - RECAP

Things have been so busy recently - with DIYs, collaborations and a side project (more on that soon I promise!) it's felt a little out of control. I'm half way through the fourth and final in the DIY LBD series (ok so maybe more like a third of the way).  Prior to finishing it, here's a recap of the three I have done previously. I have worn the crap out of all of them - that's the remit for a LBD right?

Black Wrapped Dress | Backless Dress | Gucci Inspired Rope Neck Dress

DIY LBD #4 - Florence and the Machine at Glastonbury

Topshop designed the costumes for Florence of Florence and the Machine's performance at Glastonbury on the John Peel Stage in 2009. I was lucky enough to be in the audience and loved  the ethereal and haunting costumes (almost as much as the music). Who wouldn't fall for fringing, caped sleeves and feathers? These illustrations of the designs have inspired the 4th in my DIY little black dress series, which I am in the middle of creating. Can't wait to show you!

Image via Inside Out - Topshop Blog

Woops, it was 2009 not 2010 as I first thought. Clearly once you've been to a few it becomes a bit of a blur!

DIY LBD #3 - The Wrap Mini Dress

My first video tutorial! You may remember the Side Split Wrap Dress I made a while ago, and I thought the style would make a perfect mini dress as part of my DIY LBD series. I made a short black skirt using a very basic skirt construction method (see an example here) and then wrapped the bodice section as you see in the moving image. I then put my DIY Beaded Belt over the top.

Here's the tutorial. If you can't see it pop over to my Vimeo account here where you can also watch it. Make sure it starts from the beginning as sometimes it skips forward a few seconds. You'll need about 2m of black silk fabric  of around 50cm width (in addition to the fabric for the skirt). I have a bikini top on in this tutorial to start with but you will do it without anything on.

Wearing: DIY Beaded Belt, DIY LBD, Reiss Monotone Cut Out Heels, Mac Lady Danger Lipstick

DIY LBD #2 - Gucci Inspired Tassel & Rope Dress

A couple of days ago I posted a few inspiration images for the second in the DIY Little Black Dress series (see here). I fell in love with the black tasseled dresses at the Gucci SS11 show, and so this is my LBD inspired by those oh-so-glamourous styles. I went for a much more subtle style than the original inspiration as you can see.

DIY

There are two parts to this DIY - the making of the basic capsule of the dress, then the addition of rope and tassels. You'll need a big thrifted black dress and some rope and tassels.

For the Capsule
1. I turned the sack dress inside out, and overlayed a bodycon dress to get the correct shape - then I pinned it where I wanted to take it in.

2. I cut the sleeves off and the hem of the dress quite short.

3. I took the dress in using the sewing machine and also sewed up the hem.

4. I cut the neckline off completely so I had a tube top style with a kind of cut off triangle neckline. Below is the finished capsule of the dress.

I then pinned and hand sewed 40 tassels on each side of the dress, layering them up for a block effect.

I hot glued two strips of rope together and then sewed them onto the neckline - attaching at the back as straps.

Volia!

I must say that this was quite an involved DIY and took me a little bit of time - you could always add tassels and rope straps to a black tube dress or singlet for a more simple project.

(try not to laugh too hard at my lame pose in these pics - these were the only photos of like 10 that were taken that were passable).

Happy DIYing!

DIY LBD #2 inspiration

These gorgeous Gucci dresses from the SS11 RTW collection have inspired the second dress in my LBD series. Looking forward to posting it soon.

LBD #1: DIY Cut Out Back Minidress

This is the first DIY in the little black dress series. As soon as I saw this gorgeous dress on Rosie Huntington-Whitely (over at one of my favourite inspiration blogs Studded Hearts), I just had to make my own version. I particularly liked how the cut out part of the white Max Mara version came around the front of the ribs so the dress looked 'cut out' from both the back and the front.

DIY:

You'll need - a thrifted dress, scissors, chalk and a needle and thread. I used this dress, which is made out of a thick silk fabric, because I had it already, but you can also use a slinky jersey one for a more sexy look (like Rosie).

1. Put the dress on and get someone to draw the cut out bits on you. You want to draw on an upside down 'U' shape which keeps some fabric at the back of the neck so the dress retains its shape. (The bfs chalk marking was slightly lopsided but I managed to correct that once I took it off).

 

You also want to make the 'U' shape come around the front of the dress to form the side cut outs. Make sure to get these perfectly symetrical - I used the front seams as an indication.

2. Cut the dress out along the chalk line. Remember you want to be able to open and close the dress at the back of the neck so don't, whatever you do, cut it all out. As my dress had a zip down the back, I cut it out along with the fabric but I left a small length of extra zip, and then folded the two teeth of the zip over to create a new end to the zip.

3.Sew all the edges of the cut out fabric by rolling over and securing with small stitches. (Long on the inside and tiny on the outside).
4. Sew two sets of hook and eyes onto the back neck fastening to secure the dress. I also cut about a foot or so off the bottom of the dress too and re-hemmed it.

Voila! It turned out a little bit 'prettier' than my usual style but its really fun to wear.

wearing: DIY Dress and Reiss Mesh Heels

DIY little. black. dress. series

Over the next month or so I am going to be doing a series of DIYs based around the humble LBD. In this series I'm going to give step by step tutorials for DIYing a number of different perfect and on-trend LBDs. Think cut outs, tassels, leather and everything in between. Here is a little bit of inspiration for you - I'll be posting the first one of the series this week.