Monday 25 April 2016

DIY Digest - Choker in the pack

The choker's back, big this season and brilliant for adding a touch of instant hippie chic if you use ribbon or crocheted trims (think festival glamour). And the best bit? It's easy to put together in ten minutes with the right trim and a little bit of creative know-how.

You will need...







Time


About ten minutes - tops!


Difficulty



Very easy


Not much else to say - this is about as straightforward as it gets.


Make it in minutes


*Leave a few centimetres of excess ribbon on either side for knotting.






Monday 18 April 2016

Choose your marbles - how to make a DIY marbled clutch

From Acne to Edie Parker and everything in between (including the Urania Gazelli Pac Man clutch that inspired this project) the perspex box clutch never fails to make a statement and add a touch of class with a shimmer of sumptuous marble texture. The great news is that it's still on trend and super-easy to make with a touch of creativity and an eye for re-purposing. Allow me to demonstrate...

You will need...




Difficulty



Quite easy


A straightforward, super-short (by my standards) project but a touch of skill and patience is definitely required.

Time


Mine took two hours but it depends on the design you use; a simpler one would be much quicker to do.

















Tuesday 12 April 2016

Couture to ribbons - how to make a DIY JW Anderson slatted top

JW Anderson's slatted chic is set to be a blinder for next season.

Inspiration



J.W. Anderson Ready To Wear Fall Winter 2016 London








You will need...





A top or sweatshirt (believe it or not!)

Bondaweb

10mm jump rings x 50

4mm eyelets x 100

Eyelet punch tool

Interfacing

Marker or tailor's chalk

Patternmaster or graded setsquare

Long-nosed pliers





Difficulty



Quite easy


Can't think of anything too demanding here but getting everything perfectly neat and professional-looking can be challenging.


Time


This took a lot longer than expected! Unfortunately, it took me somewhere between five and eight hours, although a lot of that was down to trial and error, so I'd say the actual work itself, without setbacks, would take somewhere within the region of five hours.

Slat that




Turn the sweatshirt inside-out and cover the front and back with interfacing.


Decide where you want the slits to go. I set mine out at 10cm intervals across the front, using my patternmaster to measure parallel lines 6cm from each side of the top, followed by two lines for the 'edge allowance' (you'll see what I mean later on) - each 2cm apart - and repeating the process until I reached the centre. I repeated this process across the back.



Cut strips of Bondaweb to cover the edge allowance on both sides. Again, mine were 4cm wide and I wouldn't recommend making them any narrower, otherwise the eyelets may be too wide for them. Iron the Bondaweb in place.



Cut lines along the centre of the edge allowance (you should have these already marked out) with V-shaped tips at either end.



Fold the edges back on themselves, including the pointed tips at the ends, and iron them to fix them in place.


Turn the sweatshirt right-side out and punch eyelet holes, measuring them as you go along to make sure they're the same distance apart and that they line up. I set mine out at 10cm intervals. Insert eyelets. You will need to use the eyelet puncher for this part.


Finally, join the eyelets together along the slits by inserting the jump rings. After that, your sweatshirt should hopefully look like this:



Tuesday 5 April 2016

DIY Digest: The eyelets have it

With knots, studs and eyelets bang on trend, this season, it's fair to say there's a distinct flavour of DIY in vogue - and wouldn't it be rude for me not to try it, myself? I plumped for curtain rings to add some oversized, statement eyelets to an old coat of mine. Let's just say that it you want to put some purpose into a re-purpose, you need to go beyond the standard clothing fastenings and think big. Thankfully, making such a statement couldn't be simpler.

You will need...


Sewing machine

Curtain ring tape of the right length to cover the desired area (you may want to measure first)

Curtain rings (again, the right number to cover the desired area is always helpful!)

A garment made from non-stretch fabric. Also, avoid sheer or flimsy fabrics.

Fabric scissors

Craft mount

 

Difficulty


difficulty03

Quite easy


It does help to be dexterous with a sewing machine, as the curtain ring tape can slip when you're trying to sew it in place, even after you've glued it down. Apart from that, it's a quick, straightforward project.

 

Time


My project took about half an hour and, while it's a relatively quick and easy task, it may take you longer depending on what you want to do and the area you want to cover.

 

Make it hole


 




Place the curtain ring tape where you want your eyelets to go and stick it in place with craft mount.




 

The craft mount alone is unlikely to hold the tape in place, so you need to sew it down. As you can see, my eyelets ran along the bottom so I aligned the edges of the tape and my stitching with the hem. You need to be careful for this part, as the tape can slip quite easily and it's difficult to keep your stitching neat.

 






Finally, cut out the holes and insert the rings from the front or 'right side' of the garment. Mine just snapped in with in-built catches but you may be using slightly different rings, in which case, you simply need to follow any instructions provided (obviously, just saying!).