clothing optional?

One thing I miss most about home is my sewing machine. As much as I would have loved to bring it with me from Ontario... something about carrying hulking 10 lb object on the plane with me just didn't seem practical.

It comes as no surprise then that my DIY projects have taken a seat on the back burner. That is, until last week when a friend of mine invited me to an "Anything But Clothes" themed party.   The idea was to create an outfit using some bizarre non-clothing object - post its, bubble wrap, shower curtains... I raided the dollar store in search of inspiration and cleaned out the racks of purple streamers (my apologies to anyone in desperate need of purple party decorations!)

A bit of ingenuity, some black thread and few hours of patient hand-stitching later, and I present to you the Waterfall Dress...

[the base ingredients]

[streamers arranged in tiers]

 [a sampling of our lovely outfits]

 

The Waterfall Dress - I am a walking pouf ball of party decorations.

*Psst.  Doesn't the purse look rather familiar?

diy tutorial: feathered clutch

I didn't forget about the tutorial, I promise! It's just taken me a ridiculously long time to post it up. So here it is, in all its glory:


The Black Feathered Clutch (inspired by this beautiful ASOS bag)

What you'll need:

• sacrificial clutch - ideally, it should have a seamed opening (you'll see why in a minute)
• feathers
• thread (should match the shade of your feathers)
• sewing needle
• optional: beads, sequins, other decorations

Step One:

Pick out feathers of similar lengths; the ones with a thicker shaft and a 'downy hair' appearance work the best (left)

Step Two:

Find an opening on the seamed portion of the clutch, and slip the shaft of the feather inside (don't force it, otherwise you'll ruin your feathers!)

Step Three:

Stitch feather shaft to clutch; reinforce by wrapping the thread around the shaft a few times.









And now you have the basics!  From here on, it just takes a little patience, good tunes to pass the time, and a tolerance for little feather bits floating around a one metre radius of your DIY project.  Best of luck! 

Let's fast-forward to the finished product...

Et voila!

birds of a feather flock together

DIYs always make for good study breaks. My studding (as witnessed here) has been put on hold until I can thrift a leather barrel bag and get my hands on a super-sized bag of rounded studs (I've got A. Wang's Rocco in mind). Right now, my DIYs have taken a detour into the land of our fair-feathered friends.

The ingredients? A package of feathers from the local Michaels and an old clutch in desperate need of a makeover. I'll put up a tutorial later in the week. But for now, I've got to clean up all the little feathery bits stuck in my bedroom carpet.

Who would have thought that this...

...could come from this?

say hello to my little friends

Double post today! I finished up a few DIYs this weekend so I thought I'd share. More to come this week, featuring... feathers?!

You've already been acquainted with my studded shirt [left].
Introducing my new shredded ribbon tee [centre] and silk panelled tank [right]!

Close-up of the shredded bottom hem

Silk panels and a little ribbon detailing sewn into the sides of a plain white tank.

hey there, studs

A few days ago I sourced these studs at a sketchy little leather supplier at Queen and Augusta in downtown Toronto. I got really excited and sacrificed one of my tank tops for a little DIY project.

The sacrificial tank top (Pardon the chalk marks. I like to stay organized.)

I'm so pleased with the results that I've already started studding a pair of my black skinny jeans. And after that, I've a mind to bedazzle a black leather purse. Someone really needs to stop me before I stud everything that I own - I mean it.

a hint of lace

Yesterday, I dug out some lace fabric from the bottom of my sewing box. There wasn't enough lace to make anything substantial, but I've been seeing a lot of these bandeaus being sold at American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, Aritzia and the like. They're perfect for a layering piece (a little scandalous to wear on its own, no?), but not much else... which doesn't justify the $15 price tag. So I thought I'd make my own thrifty version with some sewing box leftovers!

Time: less than 1 hour Cost: $0!
A step by step guide...

1. Measure the amount of lace required to cover the bust by wrapping the lace around your front torso. Add 1" to each side, to account for seams. Using these measurements, cut 2 rectangles (one will be for the front, and one for the back). For myself, I cut two 11" by 5" rectangles.

2. Mark the midline on one of your rectangles - this will be the front of the bandeau. On your sewing machine (or alternatively, you can do this by hand), make wide stitches along the midline. DO NOT REVERSE STITCH - you want to be able to pull the end threads to scrunch up the centre of the rectangle.

3. Pull the loose threads to scrunch up the midline of the bandeau. When the scrunching is even, tie up the loose ends and clip any excess thread.

4. Sew the left and right sides of the front piece to the second rectangle (back piece). Make sure to reinforce the stitching!

The finished product

Happy Sewing!

chain reaction

I was feeling a little creative this week, and so I ventured into Michaels in search of something to play around with. These little treasures ended up following me home:

A few lengths of chain (reasonably priced at about $2 a pop!)

Jump rings and lobster claws

Some adorable bow charms

I was originally planning to bling out a black t-shirt dress with loads of chains. For a second I forgot about the laws of physics and started piling them on... when eventually I realized that t-shirt + heavy chains = sagging (damn you, gravity!). I was pretty horrified by the results, to say the least. Back to square one?

Thankfully, one thing led to another and I ended up with this happy accident. Hurray for DIY jewellery!