THE RUG TAKES STOCKHOLM

Thanks to some of my lovely readers for letting me know that Swedish brand Hope incorporated rugs in their recent collection (much like the rug skirt, dress and top I made recently) - in the form of skirts and tote bags. Great minds think alike! I love the messy texture of the rug that the brand has used - clearly they designed their own fabric instead of having to go with whatever the dollar store has in stock...

Images: Afterdrk and Style Bubble

DIY Caramel Front Pleated Skirt - Collaboration with The Style Net

A little while ago the gorgeous Brooke of The Style Net suggested we collaborate on a DIY project to be hand picked by you (remember here?). We got heaps of votes for the front pleated skirt option so I set about making one. I tried to make mine a little different to the original (cue a Clueless soundbite - Murray after shaving his head at 'the Val' party: 'cos I'm keepin' it real. 'cos I'm keepin' it real!') , whilst sticking to the general premise of the style. It was incredibly simple to make, so be sure to check out the tutorial here at The Style Net. I chose to pair the earthy caramel of the skirt with my favourite colour of the moment - blue, and some tribal accessories.

Wearing: DIY skirt (tutorial here), A Pair & A Spare blue pocket front silk singlet, DIY bronze cuffs, tribal belt as a necklace, Nat Sui T bar flats, rope bag from Thailand.

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Rug Skirt Giveaway Winner and Friend In Fashion

Here's a pic of gorgeous Jas of Friend in Fashion looking banging in one of my rug skirt creations. I adore how she's styled it and don't her legs look amazing? 

What better day to announce the winner of the Rug Skirt Giveaway? The winner is:

Torill - torill.92@hotmail.com 

Congratulations!

Pink Colour-Block Skirt

I only need this DIY miniskirt over the summer - it was honestly like a second skin while I was in Thailand.  Perhaps I should throw out the rest of my clothes. Do you have anything in your closet that you wear and wear and wear?

wearing: A Pair & A Spare silk singlet, DIY Pink Mini Skirt,  Thailand rope bag with purple beaded tassel, river island flats, karen walker sunnies.

As a blogger perhaps you're not supposed to post the same item of clothing all the time - but the reality is that everyone has things they love and wear more than once. I'm only human!

Tribal Mini Skirt

Didn't go too crazy shopping in Thailand (traveling = no money) but picked up a few bits and pieces, including this tribal inspired mini skirt. I'll show you the rest of my purchases over the next couple of weeks.

 Wearing: Thailand mini skirt, country road black singlet, Nat-Sui T bar flats, cat eye sunglasses from ebay, Thailand rope bag.

DIY Twist Front Bubble Skirt

Recently I turned the DIY Jil Sander inspired maxi skirt into a bubble skirt by taking one end and twisting it around and tucking it into the waistband of my skirt. Easy updater and no scissors required. Yay!

DIY Inspired Collection - Milin

Stumbled across this collection from Thai designers Milin over at The Fashion Inbox (very fun fellow HK blogger) and was inspired by its beauty - as usual I picked out a few DIY-able details including wrapped halter tops, cut out singlets, tie dye, fabric wrapped heels, pleated minis and cute shorts. I adore this collection! And how hot are the first pair of high waisted trousers?

DIY Rug Skirt (does shanghai)

The DIY rug skirt turned out to be a fantastic travel companion while in Shanghai. Pics and other bits and pieces to come. Sorry about the lame pose in this shot - clearly I need some lessons from other bloggers who manage to look natural and like they stepped out of a magazine in their outfit posts...

DIY rug skirt, H&M khaki parker, river island gladiator sandals, country road singlet, ebay cat eye sunglasses.

DIY Cobalt Colour-Block Mini

Following on from my last post about colour block minis being my uniform these days, I recently made another one, this time in cobalt, by simply shortening a thrifted cobalt skirt. Its very cute and satisfies my cobalt craving. Are you craving some colour in your wardrobe?

DIY Cobalt mini, DIY lace Cami, thrifted envelope clutch, mango bootines, mac lippy.

Weekend Uniform: The Block Colour Skirt

Following on from when I posted about my winter weekend uniform here, this is the sort of outfit that I've been wearing almost every weekend since the weather has warmed up. Block colours, separates and basics. Done and done. What's your weekend uniform?

Wearing: DIY pink mini skirt, Country Road Singlet, suede flats, ebay cat eye sunglasses.

Wardrobe Rehab - a word on Skirts

Some of you will be familiar with the Wardrobe Rehab Series I did a while ago.  In this series I culled all my clothes down to a small number of functional, high quality and essential pieces using 6 steps - Culling, Defining Your Style, Wardrobe Essentials, Organising Your Wardrobe, Colours and Focusing Your Shopping. Doing the project gave me ample opportunity to think about the things I really needed in my wardrobe - and I came to the conclusion that there was a dire need for some knee length/above the knee skirts. I recently acquired these three and they're literally the the backbone of my wardrobe. I wear them with breton tops, collared shirts, belted with singlets, with jackets and about a million other ways. And because they're knee length (or a little bit above), I can wear them to work and they also transition well with a pair of heels into evening drinks. Once you have staples like these in your closet getting dressed in the morning isn't nearly such a chore.What essential items do you need in your closet?

Thrifted and shortened navy skirt, thrifted black pleated skirt, thrifted and shortened camel skirt.

DIY Chiffon Bodycon Dress

As you know I am obsessed with wrapping and layering of fabrics for instant DIY dresses and skirts. This is another take on the layering of silks and chiffons. I love it!

Image: Vogue China

DIY Rug Mini Skirt

As promised here are a few outfit pics of me in the rug mini skirt I posted about here. How did I make it? I simply took two rugs, traced out the shape of a bodycon mini skirt I own onto them, sewed them together following the pattern, cut off the excess fabric and then turned the skirt inside out. The fabric has so much stretch I didn't even bother with a zip like I did for the mini dress. And it's so comfortable to wear! I was wearing it a few days ago and an old Chinese man stopped me in the street to explain to me in his broken English that he these rugs at home that he wipes his feed on. Haha indeed. Also, not sure if you've noticed but I have added a drop down bar to the side menu for you to search my archives for DIYs. When you have an idea or a material you can check out all the posts I have done in the past to get some inspiration - I sometimes use it myself!

DIY Multi Colour Bodycon Skirt

I'm back from an amazing trip to Malaysia. Before I went I made this multicoloured bodycon skirt which I am sooo in love with. I can't wait to share the tutorial with you this week. Hope you had a nice weekend!

black lace up shoes from dodgy alleyway store, DIY bodycon skirt, ebay cat eye sunglasses, thrifted white tee, studded pouch bag.

DIY Wrapped Jersey Skirt

Oldie.But.Goodie from AfterDRK. Check out the video tutorial here.

Ps. just completed a DIY that is surely going to become a favourite. Can't wait to show you!

DIY Fruit Tingle

Do you like this skirt I bought at my favourite thrift store this weekend? I love how thrifting allows me to get amongst a major trend without having to stump up huge sums for the likes of Prada or Stella Mccartney. Add a little bit of DIY into the mix - in the form of shortening the skirt into a high waisted mini and making a 50's style bikini top out of the left over fabric - and voila! As much novelty fruit trend as one girl can manage. Stay tuned for the finished product. (Shop my closet here).

DIY Full Mini Skirt

Remember when I posted about having moved on from midi skirts because I feel like such a man repeller when I wear them? Well, I converted a number of my favourites to mini(ish) skirts - this is one of them. Infinitely wearable now, for both work and play. Whistles eat your heart out. Whats not to love?

wearing: vintage DIY skirt, thrifted belt, country road singlet, zara wedges.

Blogger DIYs

So I've been so busy making dresses and earrings and working on a few other little projects that I haven't had the time to post some of my favourite DIYs from other creative bloggers. Shame on me! I'm drawn to DIYs like a moth to a flame, so here are some of my favourites.
This gorgeous T strap bra by Ivania of Love Aesthetics is amazing and soo simple! Ivania also made a great wrap skirt using a grey marl long sleeved sweatshirt.

DIYs jewellery using fluro/nautical rope are very popular at the moment - with good reason! This one by Andy of Style Scrapbook is amazing. Being a rock climbing enthusiast it the clasp particularly appeals to me. Check it out here.

Another perfectly executed DIY by A Matter of Style - why buy (from Zara) when you can DIY should be my new motto.

Another great DIY clutch from the adorable MJ of Dreaming Spires and Old Car Tyres - made using a thrifted leather skirt. Perfect!

How amazing is this beaded collar from the lovely Alexandra of She is Red?

DIY Sheer Skirt

I adore this skirt from Chloe SS11 ready to wear (in fact I love the whole ballet inspired collection) and I think it would be so easy to make with some sheer net and a ribbon waistband. And don't you think the net sleeves of the shirt are really cool? Also very DIYable.

Image: Style.com

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!