DIY: Detachable Collar

DIY Detachable Collar

Finally, a DIY-related post. 

This detachable collar was inspired by a tutorial featured on Rookie here. If you're not reading Rookie then you are missing out on something good. Anyway, the collar is from the same XL chambray shirt that I thrifted eons ago. Oh yes, I used the shirt to make a skirt here and now I've made a fun collar from remains of the shirt. I'm very much like the hunter that utilises every single part of a kill - skin, meat, fats, bones and all. Waste not, want not.

The shirt-to-skirt DIY

So here's the skirt that I made from the same shirt. Ah, I looked so happy wearing it then. But just to let everyone know, I have a very fickle heart. I stopped loving the skirt a while ago and have given it to my friend. Perhaps it was partly due to the fact that it was part of the 30 X 30 wardrobe challenge I did last year. Wearing the same item repeatedly certainly has the tendency to make it fall out of favour.

The original shirt

I think I still have the sleeves and some other remnants of the shirt lying around... I can probably make a couple of bows and random stuff out of it. We'll see! :) 


xx

DIY: Refashioned Straw Bag

Dear Summer, I miss you so much. Winter has been cold and dreary. I want you back.

I guess you can tell how much I am missing summer right now. I could go crazy trying to keep warm in this cold and thinking about all the fun I had last summer. In preparation for Summer 2011, I made a refashioned straw bag! Whoopieee! I have always been inspired by Japanese fashion and this straw bag is a perfect example of its influences on me. Here are some of the pieces that inspired me:

(via)

(via)

I bought my mini straw bag from a thrift shop for just $4 over a year ago with the thought of making it look better, and finally got around to refashioning it this year. Do you like it? You can make a similar one following the steps below, or Google ‘japanese straw bag’ for more inspiration.

Materials:

Straw bag

Bits of different lace trimmings and ribbons

Glue gun

Steps: 

1. Use glue gun to glue a thick, ‘holey’ lace all around the middle of the straw bag. 

2. Use glue gun to glue another lace fabric slightly above the lace used in the previous step. 

3. Tie ribbons and glue them wherever you like. 

4. Add extra trimmings around the bag if you like.

I only used white trimmings for my lace bag because I didn’t want the trimmings to overwhelm the entire bag. Also, I was awfully scared of not being able to carry off such a feminine-looking bag. 

So, here you are, a very short and simple tutorial for the summer. I can’t wait to use this bag when summer comes!

DIY: Refashion Chambray Shirt to Skirt with Lace

I said that I would keep true to my promise...

and so, here you go! This is a skirt made from an OVERSIZED chambray button-down shirt that I thrifted. I was planning on wearing it as a real shirt but then I realised it's really just too big for me. I felt that the shirt was actually mocking me when I looked at myself wearing it in the mirror. Then somehow I heard my sewing machine sobbing in a dusty corner of my room and thus I decided to cut the the shirt up and sew it into a skirt.

P.S.: I also cut my hair today.

Materials:

Oversized shirt of any material or pattern that you fancy. It doesn't really need to be very big, just large enough to fit your bottoms in...

Sewing machine. You can also sew this by hand if you feel that you have a lot of time to spare.

Lace trimmings. Enough to go around the bottom of your new skirt TWICE.

And now we make the skirt:

Steps:

I WEAR DIY: School House Rock

I WEAR DIY

Hello everyone! It's been quite a while since I last wrote about something that I am making/have made. I am terribly sorry about that and I promise to post a DIY tutorial this weekend! (Psst, it's gonna be a sewing project...)


Meanwhile, I have been enjoying my DIY projects that I have made in the past... by wearing them! Remember the rosette and lace refashioned tee that I made a while ago? I have been wearing it rather frequently.

I thought it would be nice to show you guys how I wear my DIY items and thus I decided to write this post. I always end up looking like a punk rocker wannabe. Seriously, I have no idea why.


That's all for now and stay tuned for a tutorial that is coming up this weekend! I shall be off to do my school assignments now. 

DIY: Knotted Double-Layered Scarf from XL Men's tee (inspired by Country Road Knotted Loop Scarf)

Finally! I’ve been so busy over the weekend because of assignments. They are not major assignments, but I’m a silly perfectionist when it comes to school work.

Now, as I have promised, the scarf refashioned from one XL Men’s tee! I got the XL Men’s tee from a discount store for just $2. The scarf was inspired by the Knotted Loop Scarf by Country Road. It costs 69.95AUD! (-_-x)

Knotted Loop Scarf by Country Road for A/W 2010 Collection, image from here

It seems to be really well-liked here because I’ve seen 2 people in my class wearing it. But this is something that I am making for a friend of mine. Oh, oh and this is the very first project that I did with my NEW Elna Sew Fun sewing machine!!! All right, enough with that introduction and monologue. Let’s get on with the tutorial! :D

Materials:

1 x XL Men’s Tee
Scissors
Sewing machine/Sewing needle, thread and a lot of patience

Steps:

• Cut your tee according to the picture. A and B should be about the same width and C is from the sleeves.
• One tee will yield 2 As, 2 Bs (the second one is underneath), 2 Cs and 1 D.

• Get A and open it up. There should be an open side where the C/the sleeves were cut off. 
• Fold A into half, lengthwise, with the RIGHT side of the fabric facing each other, such that the open sides meet at the dotted line.
• Sew along the dotted line.
• Open A up and you should get a rectangular piece of fabric. Do the same as above for the other piece of A.

• Put the 2 pieces of A together, with the RIGHT side of the fabric facing each other and so that the ====, ++++ and .... are in line with each other.
• Sew along the ==== lines together and then open the piece up.

• Fold the piece lengthwise such the ++++ side meets with the …. side with the RIGHT side of the fabric facing each other. The picture shows only one piece of A. The other one is out of the frame. The 2 pieces of A form a very long piece of fabric.
• Sew ++++ and …. sides together.

• Turn this long piece of 2 As inside out and you will get a long tube of fabric with all the clean seams on the outside.

• Get C and cut the seams so that it opens up as shown in the picture.

• Get one C and one B. Line the sides ==== and ++++ together, with the RIGHT side of the fabric facing each other. Sew ==== and ++++ together.
• Do the same for the other B and C. 

• You will get 2 long strips of fabric as shown in the picture, each made from B&C.
• Lie the 2 B&C strips on top of one another, RIGHT side of fabric together.
• Sew the sides together to get a tube like with A previously.
• Fold the 2 tubes of fabric inside out so that all the clean sides are facing outside.
• The tube from A should be longer than the tube from B&C.

• Tie 3 knots in tube A, where the second knot is right in the middle of the tube.
• Tie 2 knots in tube B&C, such that the knots have a space in between.
• Lie the 2 tubes of fabric parallel to one another. The knots in tube B&C should be next to the spaces between the knots in tube A.

• Holding the 2 ends of the tube together, try and see how it looks on your neck. Adjust how you want the 2 layers to look before sewing the ends together. 

• It’s ok if the edges of the ends are not exactly together. That was also what happened to mine.

• Fold/Roll the ends neatly into half, as shown in the picture.

• Now, the final piece! Get D, open it up and cut it as shown in the picture to get a small rectangular piece of fabric.

• Join the ends of the 2 layers together, and then wrap it using D. You may want to fold the raw edges of D inwards as you wrap the ends together.

• Sew it in place! You may want to do hand sewing for this last step instead as the fabric gets really thick here and you may want to hide the stitches with some strategic stitching.

• OMG we’re finally done. Take a break because I know the steps are really confusing!

I really have to apologise for the confusing steps. It’s hard to describe everything that I did because I did most of my thinking as I was cutting and sewing all those ends together. Please don’t curse and swear if you don’t understand any one these steps! Pop a message in the comments section instead and I will try to reply ASAP! :)

Yayy! So this is the tutorial for the week! What do you guys think? I think my friend would really like it. :D