DIY PROJECT: Cut off ripped Jeans shorts

The old jeans trick.. 

Most definitely the best way to re-use an old jean that you don't wear anymore. It's so easy to cut off an old jeans. But... what to do then?
There are so many ways to distress, bleach, personalize and customize jeans. Here are some easy tutorials and examples!
And winter doesn't mean NOT wearing jeans shorts! Ever been to London? Combine a jeans short with (thick) black tights and you can keep that summer feeling! (well.. not the summer, but at least you can keep on wearing shorts)
So here we go..

Step 1: Put the jeans on and see where you want to cut them off. Mark it (with a pencil) on the in and outside of your leg.

A cut off highwaist Levi 501 jeans

Old H&M jeans

Step 2: Cut just 1 or 2 cm below the mark in a straight line so you will never cut it TOO short the first time. You can adjust the lenght of the shorts later on.

Step 3: To make the ripped effect make some horizontal cuts the jeans. Pull out (with small scissors it's pretty easy) the white strands to created that ripped off effect.

 

Step 4: Roll up the jeans or add studs to toughen it up. Pierce the studs through the fabric and fold the ends together. So easy!


NOTE: If you use a skinny jeans and you want to roll up the legs, make a small cut in the inner thigh of the leg to make it fit. Skinny jeans tend to narrow and rolling them up will make the legs smaller on your thighs.

Use applications, hotfix stones, studs, bleach, etc.. 

Endless possibilities!

Happy DIY'ing,
S

DIY PROJECT: Personalised Converse

ALL STARS

I really love those shoes! They are the best throw-on shoes to down-style an outfit.

• Classic combo: T-shirt + Jeans + Converse (+ Leather jacket)
• Summer combo: Top + Shorts + Converse
• Winter combo: Warm knit + Skinny + Socks + Converse
• Classy combo: Trenchcoat + Chique pants + Blouse + Converse

I wanted to do something with the high white ones I had, but I didn't knew what.
I thought: LEOPARD PRINT!

 

But that turned out.. well, like this:

NOT as cool as I hoped they would be..

 So I decided to make it: JEANS

By the way: super cool website!

And that turned out, like this:

Some brown thick paper and left-over jeans fabric..

...then traced the side of the shoe I wanted to cover

...and cut it out, with an extra 1-2 cm to be sure

RESULT

Happy DIY'ing,
S

DIY PROJECT: Sequin blazer

 A project for the weekend

In more ways than one, this is a project for the weekend. Meaning it's easy to make and fancy to wear.
I feel like a black blazer is really versatile but for an evening out sometimes too dull. So I decided to glam things up!




I had some small piece of sequin fabric lying around so I decided to sparkle up my black blazer. Although sequins are a real pain to work with, they can give that 'touch of glitter'.

NOTE: this might even be the easiest DIY!

Because I couldn't fit the whole fabric on the lapel, I cut the fabric into pieces to fit. 

But it doesn't matter: because of the sequins you can't see that it's made out of smaller piece put together. Just cut the fabric to fit the lapel and sew the end. Secure the sequins do you don't leave a trail of sequins behind you on the dancefloor!;-) 


Happy DIY'ing,
S

DIY PROJECT: CHANEL inspired jacket

 Chanel inspired jacket

The inspiration:

All by Style.com

The jacket:

Love LookBook: ZARA

ZARA

If I could, I would buy everything from Zara!
I mean.. I love H&M and all, but Zara gives you the best garments for a respected price.

I also think Zara gives you the best affordable-runway-to-reality looks. And the thousands of bloggers giving their perception on Zara clothes here.. makes it just to hard to walk by a Zara store.

Check out the November Lookbook, I especially like the combination of BLACK-on-FLORAL and Aztec influences (like the gorgeous skirt and pant - gotta have an Aztec pants ASAP!)

DIY PROJECT: Same dress, different fabric

Same dress, Different fabric

H&M simple sheet dress

When you finally find a piece that fits you just right and that can be combined in different outfits, you actually want to have it in different colors and fabrics.
Here's a little tutorial how to trace a simple dress and make a pattern. I used this dress pattern because it doesn't need a stretch fabric or difficult sewing - very simple!



I bought this dress in H&M last year on sale. Even though the fabric is really busy, I really liked the cut! It's a typical sheet dress - kneelenght, straight, high neckline.

H&M dress for €25

I really wanted to use this dress to make a pattern that I can use to make more dresses like this. It's really not hard to trace a dress like this.
Most important of all: Trace the front, back and sleeves on thick paper.

Step 1: Fold the front in half vertically and pin it together to secure the dress.

Step 2: Trace the dress, be as precise as possible.

Step 3: Repeat this for the sleeves and back (front and back of this dress are identical, accept for the neckline. The front neckline is lower, the back neckline is usually higher)

Step 4: Cut the paper exactly on the lines.

Now you have the pattern!
When you you're going to cut fabric, make sure you cut it 1 or 2 cm from the pattern (from the sides all around). You will need this room to sew, so when you cut an extra 1 cm - sew it 1 cm from the sides.

I can recommend this kind of sheet dress pattern to anyone, it's really easy to trace and make a new dress. You can use any kind of fabric because it doesn't need any stretch and you can alter sleeve or skirt lenght.

Still looks a little too simple, but this is the idea!

Happy DIYing,
S

DIY PROJECT: Leather jacket

Leather jacket

In my previous post Taking matters into my own hands I was starting to make a leather jacket - and I have succeeded!!

It took me a total of 2 weeks (not full time of course, a total of 10 hours I think..)
and a staggering €40!
Not to bad, no?!

My inspiration for the jacket would have to be a 'simple' cut.
You can't simply make a bikerjacket, that's waaaay to complicated and I could even buy a jacket for the time and money that would cost..

So I decided to make some kind of 'waterfall neck' / A-symetric jacket, that is suitable for the winter and maybe some early Dutch spring temperatures..


Inspired by the following jackets I found online

Gestuz leather jacket, €336,95 via Nelly.com

Gestuz Scarf jacket, €299,50 via Nelly.com

Lovely Avelon...
why is it so hard to find pink zippers?

The process of making the jacket

The pattern

Luckily I already had a sweater/cardigan similar to the jacket I wanted to have. So I traced the pattern and added some things to make it more like an outdoor jacket pattern.

The fabric

I really wanted it to be made out of leather but buying leather can be really expensive, it would turn out to be around €180 just for the fabric. So I decided to try and find a jacket online that I could alter the way I wanted it to fit and look. Well... that turned out to be a FAIL! 

The secondhand jacket I bought online was only €10 (that's TOO cheap, I should have known). It turned out to be fake leather and smelled like sigar smoke :(

So I started over and decided to buy long skirts online and break them apart to get two pieces of leather. That turned out great! I only paid a total of €40 for a suede skirt (80cm long, softest suede ever!) and a leather skirt (75cm long). It worked out really great and a LOT cheaper than buying leather from a shop or wholesale. 

The suede skirt
(I kept the lining to use it for the jacket sleeves)

The leather skirt

Materials

I also used my moms very very old industrial sewing machine. Really cool and really scary at the same time. The machine made a real loud noise and because of sewing through 4 layers there was a possibility that the special leather needle could brake. And it did, a couple of times, and scared me to death haha! 

I used a so called 'rotary cutter' to cut the leather. You can also use normal or industrial scissors, but they have to be really sharp to cut through the tough leather.

Sewing rotary cutter
(always use a rubber mat underneath, if you don't want to ruïne your table!)

The result

But in the end I survived, love my jacket and the fact that I made it myself (with a lot of help from my mom). I couldn't have done this without my mom, she helped me BIG TIME! 

I ended up having just enough leather and therefore chose to make the front out of the suede and the back and sleeves out of leather. I especially like the fact that the jacket's not totally perfect, the seams are different on the back and on the sleeves which give it a special feel (I think).

Better pictures will follow soon..

Happy DIY'ing,

S