Nov 19, 2013 | DIY
Big jewelry straight out of the 1980’s is having a HUGE moment this year. The bigger, the better – covered with plexi and acrylic, chunky bold shapes, and glittering rhinestones – anything goes right now. I saw these earrings for sale in a store during my last trip to Tokyo this Summer – and decided to DIY them with some materials I already had on hand. Clear acrylic for accessories is hard to come by – so I just repurposed an old photo-frame for my main material. Here’s how:
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Nov 13, 2009 | DIY
As you may have seen in my most recent entry for America’s Most Stylish Blogger Competition (I’m getting a little tired of writing that by now;-) All the shameless self-promotion is wearing me down!), I styled the hot pink miniskirt with a DIY band jacket that I made from a jacket I already had in my closet.
No joke! Here’s the DIY:
1. Use a jacket that is a shorter length with a little mandarin collar or similar collar to what you want your final jacket. (A boxy shape and flimsy material for the jacket is best!)
The underside of the pinned edge.
2. Pin under your hemline, using safety pins, to create that cutaway band jacket shape. Iron if you want to create a crisp, sharp edge.
3. Pin shoulder pads inside the shoulders, using safety pins. (I used foam Dritz ones in Large that I got at my local Jo-Anns. Alternatively, you can rip them out of a jacket you already have – but you need them big to create that strong structured shoulder, so double them up if you can!)
4. Sew decorative trim onto the front of you jacket in scalloped curliques. (I just used matching thread and long basting stitches. This took awhile, but wasn’t very difficult.)
The inside of the jacket showing my basting stitches.
The trim on the outside encircling the buttons.
5. Optional: If you want, to create more of a “couture-looking” line below the shoulder, take in the sleeve in the upper arm area a little. (By sewing a line inside the sleeve seam line in the upper arm area.) This will make your shoulder pads “pop out” and give it that Balmain-look. Ideally speaking.:-)
PLUS, once you get tired of the look, remove your safety pins and shoulder pads, cut your basting stitches, re-iron your hem and your jacket is back to the way it was! *sigh* Multiple options in the same garment are just so, so lovely.
Happy DIY’ing!
xoxox
Carly Multifunctional Cais
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Jul 13, 2009 | DIY, Fashion
(handmade DIY dress, Icing by Claire’s belt, Newport-News patent clutch, Forever21 ring, Nine West heels)
So, it’s been awhile since I’ve done an outfit post…what with being sick, feeling down, and just not having the physical and mental fortitude to sit in front of the computer and edit hundreds of photos means no outfit updates. I’m sure you’re all very upset. 🙂
And yes, I edit every single one of the photos Hub takes…I Photoshop Blake Lively’s head onto my body. Or vice versa. ‘Narf. (And if you get that reference, you’re a total 80’s cartoon dork just like me.;-)
So this is a dress I made awhile ago, for that infamous FashionTribes post about DIY’ing your own designer-style painterly garment…and it was never posted on the site. Harrrumph.
So I styled it on my own.
I made the dress using Simplicity 3747. I altered the pattern to create a voluminous pleat in the front (Hub says it looks like maternity wear – totally not my intention), made an A-line shape to the skirt, and extended the lining so that it shows at the bottom. Hub also says the shape of it looks like something a patient would wear at a psych ward. (Read: neck a little too wide, shoulders shapeless, large and baggy and white.) It looks much better when belted. Maybe I shoulda stuck to the pattern? But I definitely wanted volume – very 2009.
And then I painted brushstrokes on the bottom using Tulip brand matte soft fabric paints (they don’t dry completely stiff and hard like most fabric paints, but they still, IMHO, add a little too much stiffness to the fabric for it to look “natural.”) These are really carefully done…and I had to do it twice to get it just right. I used Ebony, Lime, and Cornflower Blue, if I remember correctly.
This is the coolest ring from Forever21…it has tiny purple beads in the center…it’s like a little alien pod.
I think I’ve written that before. Man, I’m getting old.
NineWest gold Joisey-girl heels. They make my feet look like the Jolly Green Giant’s.
(in size LOL)
-Carly J. Cais
Oh, sorry – and the title of this post…well, if you were a teenage girl in the early nineties (’91, I think?)…you definitely went to see this movie. Guys stayed far, far away. This was before dude lost most of his hair and became obsolete (read: made an overblown, ridiculous production with Dennis Hopper). And before other dude decided to marry his 27-yr old granddaughter (or so says the Enquirer or some schlock as of late). Hmmm…can you tell I was a film major?? LOL
