Another pair of shoes to add to the collection, but I'm sure this one wins in the "most lethal" department. I wore them out a few times already and people's eyes instantly drift to my feet. I also managed to impale my own feet a few times...ouch. I'm making a very convincing case to try this DIY out, right?
New giveaway finally up! After an embarrassingly long time, I've mustered up the energy to complete this leather disc cardigan that I first started here. Many moons, wrinkles, red fingers and strained eye muscles later, it's done done done--please pardon me as I cackle out of delight, muahaha. Putting this together was as straightforward as it could get, but it was the grunt work that really did me in. I decided to pair it today with some silk trousers (which I altered in a rush), Jil Sanders, and a sheer tank.
Let's do a giveaway!
Leave a comment on this post and I'll select one on Tuesday, January 5th at 8pm. I'll announce the winner on my Twitter, so be sure to follow. Finally, stop by my Bloglovin' so not to miss any new posts!
What you'll need:
- various feather trim (1-2 yards should be sufficient) --> I used white Ostrich feather and Chinchilla feather trim. I especially like this store for their fumigated washed and impeccably packaged feather trims. I've experimented with cheaper feather trim with less than pretty results. The feathers tend to be held together with sticky adhesives and it rubs off when you're sewing the trim onto fabric. It gets really messy. Consequently, I recommend feathers that are attached to thin cording.
- long sleeve shirt
- sheer white fabric
- scissors
- needle and matching thread
Tips:
1. There are countless ways to make a shirt like this, but here are some tips on how I went about this DIY so you can get the gist of it. I decided that I wanted several layers of feather trim on the right shoulder for volume and some asymmetry. Sew the chinchilla trim along the right shoulder seam of the shirt and bring it down diagonally across the left chest. Sewing along the seam is a good idea because it serves as an easy guideline and the fabric is stronger here, reducing the risk of ripping and tearing of your shirt.
2. Take your sheer white fabric and start draping. Drape it over the right shoulder so that one half of it drapes around to the back and the other to the front. Trace the edge of the feather trim with the scarf covering where you had sewn. You can get creative here and drape the fabric any way you wish. I draped it so it was covering the left chest.
3. You can add some gathers here and there by pinching off some fabric with your fingers and sewing a knot around it (this is what I did on the upper left of the shirt). Add a few stitches in regions where the fabric feels loose to keep it affixed to the shirt.
4. You'll now have some sheer fabric left hanging in the front. Take this excess material and drape it back to the right side and stitch into place at the right waist.
Now you can add some volume to your shoulder plumage. Take your ostrich trim and cut a few pieces of approximately 1 foot each. Pile the trim on top of the chinchilla trim and sew it down. Add as many layers of trim as you desire.
I hope these photos were helpful in visualizing and thinking out the steps. Perhaps video posts may be a possible option in the future, too. Anyway, for anyone who's considered DIYs in the past and haven't gone for it yet, I really encourage it. If there's anything I've learned from my silly projects it's that don't let lack of experience, confidence and knowledge get you down. You can always learn. Mistakes are your best friends.
Giveaway for this shirt in the entry above!
There is one designer's collection that I find myself watching season after season--that is Riccardo Tisci's collections for Givenchy. It's not only the clothes that are breathtaking, but the presentations are equally so. Take for instance, when Sasha P marched down the runway in a rhinestone-encrusted dress to Prokofiev's "Dance of the Knights," I was swept away. Or the petal-flooded runway from Couture Spring 2009 serving as the perfect backdrop to all the pieces, each one possessing a sort of untouchable sacredness.
I've wanted to re-create something Givenchy-inspired for a long time. In a sloppy blogger DIY kind of way. Crimes, I know. I bought a white shirt from H&M, a sheer white AA circle scarf, tons of feather trim to play around with, and went to work. The complete tutorial is in the entry below this one if you'd like to follow along and give it a try yourself. There are a few DIY pointers and detail shots as well. There's just way too much for me to learn still, but I gave it a go and am pretty pleased with the result. I'm still experimenting and have set my mind on a few more related DIYs, but in the meantime, I've giving this one away!
Giveaway Rules
To enter, leave a comment in this entry. The giveaway ends December 17 (Thursday) at 8pm. One comment will be picked at random. If you're commenting anonymously or don't have a blog, please leave some sort of contact info so I can find you if you're selected. Good luck!
PS. Please come and say hi on my Twitter.
I was browsing the interwebz this morning, sipping my coffee and twiddling my thumbs. It was a productive morning, because I found my blog featured on Refinery 29. Sure, it's from November 2nd (12 days late noticing this!). It's seriously too neat to find myself in this feature, alongside Kingdom of Style, Park & Cube and Fashion Hurricane.
Check the Refinery 29 DIY piece out!
I'm also using my Twitter account more heavily now. Follow me on Twitter because I want to talk to you!
I'm giving away this dress exclusively on Chictopia. I feel as if I've been neglecting the account and have only given my blog readers the giveaways. However, if you want to enter too, all you have to do is hop on over to Chictopia and stop by my profile here. Say hi, add me as a favorite, a friend (...or throw tomatoes at me). The giveaway ends Monday at midnight, good luck!
I hate it when the weather is gorgeous on a weekend, but I have to spend it nearly entirely indoors studying for exams. For lack of better words, POOP. Which is why before I locked myself up in my room, I just had to run some errands in a pretty dress, a DIY ostrich feather fringe dress I recently finished. I threw on a vintage vest, some black tights, and leather boots. The wind swept through the feathers as I walked . . . it was fantastic.
I'm also giving the one I'm wearing here away. Probably a white one and black one will be next and I'm thinking more plumage.
I wasn't able to fall asleep last night so I finally got around to a mini-project I had in mind, a strong-shouldered fringe dress. Of course, my boyfriend just had to wake up before sunrise, perfect timing to see me sitting in the dark feverishly sewing shoulder pads and fringe onto a dress. Love is about accepting minor episodes of insanity.
Some readers have already asked me how I got the shoulder pads and fringe on. First, I placed the shoulder pads where I wanted them on the dress. After pinning them in place, I sewed them down. I then placed fringe around the seam between the shoulder and sleeve, pinned it down and sewed. Add more fringe further down the sleeve for more volume.
Hopefully that all made sense. This brings to mind a silly picture I saw online titled "How to draw a chicken". Step 1 was to draw a circle for the head and another for the body. Step 2 was an exquisite, spot-on, anatomically-correct, pencil sketch study of a chicken. Haha. Hopefully this is making sense!
Remember that I made this bracelet a few months ago? I actually had leftover materials from that project and made a second one (shown above) that's just been sitting around on a table in the closet. I'm giving this one away, so don't be shy, say hi and I'll select a recipient.
Since people have asked me how I make some of my pieces, I'll also throw in a tip. It's not hard and you don't need much equipment either. Originally I thought I had to solder everything together, but a quick alternative is cold welding. I hopped over to the hardware store, had a conversation/debate on cold welding materials and epoxies with the salesperson and walked out with JB Weld. Sure, it's not as strong and durable as the almighty solder, but given its ease of use and economy, it's a pretty darn good option.
Also, according to the packaging it's good for "mechanics, farmers, and homeowners". You know, make some bracelets, fix a tractor axle.
I fell in love with the Givenchy FW 2009 collection. It was animalistic, dramatic, emotional, and what I thought to be one of the most inspiring collections that season. I especially loved the lace dresses with the burgundy and blue shoulder pads peeking through the delicate lace. They were magical. So, what’s a gal to do? I made my own—vintage lace with burgundy shoulder pads sewn into the shoulders and finished off with a nude belt. It took me roughly 3 days of interrupted episodes of work to get it done and I'm so glad it took fairly quickly, because I wore it out today and IT.WAS.FREEZING. Any slower, I wouldn't have had the chance to wear it for another season.
Wearing my DIY fringe tights, a monochrome floral shirt and a bandage dress.
Congrats to Shini of Park & Cube! I'll be shipping the necklace to her. I know she'll rock it crazy. Mad respect for her.
Look what I found in my closet today . . . this necklace was made from the remnants of a vintage rhinestone necklace, satin ribbon and spike beads. I made this to play around with the whole ribbon and rhinestone combination, kind of a like an experiment and in the hopes of recreating something more everyday-wearable but still luxurious like those luscious Lanvin ribbon necklaces. Ah, still so much to learn.
I'll select a comment below as the next owner of this fun little piece.
My room reeks heavily of leather because of this giant box of scrap leather pieces, but I don't mind it so much because it smells of DIY productivity! For the past few days I've been tracing and cutting leather discs, cutting smaller holes within each disc, and sewing them onto a cardigan. My fingers feel a bit tender from the prying and cutting, but I'm convincing myself that it'll be worth it in the end when I have re-created thisfor far less than $320. MUAHAHA. I've also cut enough leather discs for 2 of these jackets. So when the time comes, I'll be giving one away to a reader.
Just a preview of the jacket I've started and mah big face. Many more blistered fingers to go.
I've been cutting circular discs out of leather nearly the whole day for a new DIY project I've been working on. I'm slowly drowning myself in them and my room is starting to reek of fresh leather. I'll probably have it done and posted on here early next week!
DIY GIVEAWAY: A pair of embellished tights! They have fragile little organza flowers each topped off with a pearl sewn onto them. Anyway, I'm giving these tights away, so leave a comment and I'll select a winner. I recently did a DIY giveaway and really enjoyed it, let's keep it going. Good luck lovelies!
While sparing details, the last several days can be easily summed up by IV caffeine, growing muffin tops, and adopting a polyphasic sleep schedule (alternating with a no-sleep schedule). Apparently polyphasic sleep is referred to as "napping in extreme situations" that the US Military, Canadian Marine Pilots, the Italian Air Force and NASA resort to in times of crisis and/or other extreme conditions. This makes me hardcore, right?
In other news, I've been able to make a few things too in between sleep and zombie-studying, one of them a spike hairband that I'm wearing in these photos. I love it so. I'm also sporting my new pair of favourite pants. They're faux leather and I think I want to live in them.
Wearing Deena & Ozzy quilted bag, Silence & Noise faux leather pants, H&M denim dress, DIY spike hairband
After seeing many iterations of fringe leggings online, in stores, and on people, I've been wanting to make myself a pair, except I'm not a big fan of leggings, so I decided to purchase some fringe and sew it onto some opaque black tights instead. Here there are.
I'm thinking of trying this with different color tights and contrasting it with funky colored fringe (like mustard yellow tights and white fringe, gray tights with white fringe, for example). Anyway, these are ultra comfy and I've never had so much swooshing around whilst walking. Swoosh swoosh swoosh!
I really wanted to stud the underside of an oversized bag because I liked how the studs would remain discreet yet, just from the right angle, people can sneak a peek of the spiky goodness hidden beneath. I didn't want small wimpy pyramid studs either, so I found some pretty massive 1 inchers. They're pretty kick-ass looking.
All you'll need is:
- bag you're willing to sacrifice for the purposes of DIY
- studs (gold or silver, it's your pick)
- exacto knife
- kick-ass music playlist** (**not mandatory, but placing a 100 or so studs takes what seems like an eternity. Music will keep you sane from the repetition.)
Some quick pointers: Do measure the underside of your bag and make sure you'll have enough studs to fill it up entirely. There's nothing more anti-climactic than placing studs for about an hour, until about 3/4 the way through you realize you're short 50 studs and need to order more. I calculated that I needed ~100 1"x1" pyramid studs to fill the surface area of my bag. Lastly, before placing a stud in, imprint the prongs on the leather. Then take the knife and cut small slits where the impressions are. Pop the studs in, fold the prongs down, and you're done. Good luck!
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Fashion Bag 411
xoxo