Blue Uniform

I have recently been completely taken with silk top and short sets. And bright blue colours like this one - which is a few shades south of cobalt.  I am loving the slightly 80's/uniform feel of wearing a top and shorts in the same fabric! It also gives the appearance of a onesie without the associated (and usually drunken) toilet debacles.What do you think, would you rock a matching set?

Wearing: A Pair & A Spare blue silk pocket front top and matching shorts with ribbon belt, River Island gladiator flats.

Handmade Sequin Shorts

I am COMPLETELY in love with these black sequin shorts. They are so fun! Don't they just scream 'let's go party!!'. Couldn't help dancing around the bedroom when I had them on... (ignore my ridiculous starfish-like dance moves...) They are a similar style to the lace ones I designed and blogged about yesterday- with a high paperbag waist and belt loops. I chose a small square sequin as they aren't as shiny as round ones, in an attempt to keep them a bit low key. Hands up if you want a pair? (would be perfect worn with some eye catching tangerine lippy - need to get onto that asap!)

wearing: sequin shorts designed by me, perfectly soft white tee from some random japanese brand, zara boots.

Perfect DIY lace shorts

I have been wanting a pair of lace shorts for so long - but never found the perfect ones (within my price range). And so I designed these, I chose the cutest lace and put in belt loops so I could add a little ribbon belt. I am in love. Can't wait to show you all the others things that came.

Wearing: handmade shorts, vintage camel silk tee, mango boots

DIY AW11 Balmain Inspired Mini

So it goes without saying that I was incredibly inspired throughout the fashion weeks to DIY just about everything I saw on the Runway. So, in collaboration with the Jenni from I Spy DIY and Erica and Lauren from Honestly...Wtf, we set about recreating our favourite AW11 looks. I completely fell in love with the shimmering horizontally textured fabrics in the Balmain AW11 collection. Who didn't? What I wouldn't do to own one of those dresses or statement jackets! Knowing that's completely out of the realms of possibility, as part of the 3 Designers 3 DIYs challenge I decided to make my own textured skirt using lace, ribbons, twisted fabric, beads and sequins.

These skirts below were my inspiration from the Balmain Show AW11, as you can see mine turned out a bit a little bit more subtle than the Balmain version.

The skirt was incredibly easy to make. This is how you do it:
You need: a black mini skirt (I bought a long skirt from a thrift shop and cut it off and sewed a hem), black lace, beads, ribbons, strips of black chiffon fabric, square sequins and anything else you want! The more random the better!
1. Sew or glue (I used a combination of both) the different ribbons etc onto the front of the skirt - keeping in horizontally parallel lines.
2. Sew twisted black chiffon fabric onto the front.
3. Randomly sew the sequins on the front - I put mine in the middle of the twisted fabric.
4. Do this to the back of the skirt, following the pattern on the front. Easy!

DIY Sash Belt

I got a gorgeous camel dress made in Shenzen recently - I am going to add some studs to a sash belt of my own. Sash of choice? Soft thrifted silk scarf. 'nuf said.

Image: Who What Wear

DIY Love Heart Back Top

Lovely to come across these two love heart back DIYs. So easy to do, simply cut a love heart shape out of the back of a top and then hem it - adding some beads along the way or ribbon. How cute! Both Paulinemma and Hannaliis have done amazing jobs! (If you haven't checked out their blogs I would do so quick smart).This DIY is definitely on my list.

Reader DIY - Ribbon Knit

I'm sure you remember my post of last week talking about Dior Inspired DIY Ribbon Knits (if not, go here for a gander). Well, it seems I wasn't the only person inspired by this gorgeous embellishment. The lovely bloggers of The Hearabouts let me know that they had a go at weaving some ribbons into waffle knit sweater, and I think they did a marvelous job. Head to their blog to see this project and some of their other creations.

 

I also stumbled upon the image below of a 'project in process' on Carly of Chic Steals' blog, I really can't wait to see the final product Carly! If any of you have any old sweater lying around, grab yourself some ribbon and have a lovely crafternoon.

DIY Ribbon Knit

Using a large needle or knitting needle, thread some ribbon through a cable knit like this - securing in sweet little bows.

Image: I Love Wildfox

DIY Hobbs Lace Collar

How cute is this lovely lace collar? 49 quid from Hobbs and well worth it if you are rolling in cash, but for those of us that are not so flush, head down to your local thrift/craft store, buy some lace either in the form of a table cloth or fabric, and use a similar pattern to my collar tutorial here, attaching some ribbon to secure instead of a hook and eye. You can find the small pompom style fringing at craft shops for the edges.

You could also use some velvet like this cute collar from Asos. Don't you love it?

Images: Shopstyle.co.uk / Asos

DIY Strapped Poncho

I'm off on Portugal and Spain for two weeks tomorrow, and have been looking for a DIY that I can take on holiday with me to do on the plane/beach/car (talk about the productive holiday!). I stumbled upon this strapped jacket on Nasty Gal and thought it would be a perfect holiday romance, because all I need to take with me is a roll of black canvas ribbon and a sewing kit (cue sweet little Indian man at the Walthamstow Markets practically giving DIY materials away). Hopefully I will have a finished product to show you when I get back!

Image: Nasty Gal

DIY Ribbon Suspenders

Wrap some ribbon around your waist like a belt and either tie in a bow at the back or stitch in place. Then measure and cut two pieces of ribbon to sit like suspenders. Sew onto the belt at the front and the back.

Image: Tobacco and Leather

DIY - Ribbon Neckline

Such as easy DIY - idea courtesy of The Glamourai. Cut a few button-hole like slits around the neckline of a long sleeved shirt or bodysuit and thread a scarf through and tie a bow on one side. If I was at home in Australia where my sewing machine lives I would use the simple button hole function to tidy the look up a bit, but I don't think it matters too much if you leave the slits unhemmed. I have a cute navy and white scarf I am going to attach in this way to a white top - add gold flats and denim cut offs and away I go.

Image: The Glamourai

DIY - Fendi Ribbon Heels

Fantastic DIY from Christeric - tutorial includes her boyfriend using some heavy machinery so its not one for the faint-hearted. Love it!

Image: Christeric

DIY - Ribbon Body from Park and Cube

Shin from Park & Cube does some killer DIY's which I refer to regularly. They are great because they usually require minimum outlay for maximum diy fun. Here is her recent ribbon bodysuit. I am not a major lace and floral ribbons girl but the technique could work just as well using a black bodysuit and chains or a blue bodysuit and ropes (for a nautical look). You could even put the pins on the underside of the fabric or do away with pins altogether and do little stitches if you wanted. Great Technique.

Image: Park & Cube