Wedding Crafts

Wedding Crafts

My sister's wedding was last August, it was amazing and beautiful and I still can't believe she is now married. I helped her with some of the things for the wedding, such as some planning and crafting to give it a nicer feel to the wedding. 

We would spend days looking on Pinterest and Etsy for ideas for things to create for the wedding to make it seem special. One of the best things I did was her shoes. 

My sister, as she loves pink and the wedding colours were Fuchsia Pink and Turquoise, decided she wanted pink shoes for her wedding day. We bought all the shoes for the bridesmaids and her from the same place so they were all the same colour (cream) and shape, and later we dyed them and added some glitter, this is how they looked after, nice and pink. 

After from the front 

 From the back

Step by step this is what I did. 

What you will need:

- Shoes to dye (obviously) 

- Colour dye. Make sure its the correct dye for your material of the shoes. I used Dylon Fabric Paint Deep Pink colour I got from Hobby Craft. 

- Paint brush

- Modge Podge

- Glitter (Pink in this case) 

Step 1.

Painting the shoes. Simply I put down some protective cover (newspaper in this case) and got my paint brush and fabric paint and painted away. After I had completed one coat, it was obvious that it would need at least 3 coats or more. I did 4 coats in the end and I completed over two days to insure the fabric paint completely dried before adding another coat on top, or the brush stokes were very visible. 

Step 2.

Once the shoes were completely dry it was time to add the glitter. This is the fun part. 

So she only wanted the heel and the very small part at the front of the shoes with glitter, so I started with the Modge Podge. I applied a fair amount, being careful not to go over the lines, and before it dried I applied a lot of pink glitter. With the heels it was slightly difficult to make sure the glitter was even all over but with another paintbrush I moved the glitter around to give it an even look. 

Step 3. 

I completed the two heels and left them to dry which took about 2 hours completely, just to be sure. 

Step 4.

I then did the same with the Modge Podge and glitter at the small area at the front of the shoes. Once they were completed I left them to dry for approximately 1 hour, just to be sure again. 

Step 5. 

After the glitter was all dry I applied another layer of Modge Podge just to create a clear protective layer over the top so the glitter doesn't fall off through out the day/night. And then left them to dry, and that was it. They were complete. 

This was the first time I had dyed/painted any type of fabric and it was successful as my sister loved the shoes and danced all night in them. 

I helped with creating other crafts for the wedding such as a table planner on a mirror and creating little card bird cages. 

Firstly we glued the twigs, which were found at the back of the garden, using a glue gun and a lot of glue to the mirror. I then sprayed these little birds I found in a pound store blue, and once they were dry we glued them to the twigs. 

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the finished piece but you can imagine. Just picture little blue birds on the twigs in the first picture :) 

And these were the bird cages that we sprayed half pink and half blue. 

The best thing is knowing that my sister and her new husband enjoyed their day. 

Summer Shorts

So a lot has happened since I last blogged. To cut a long story short, I am now moving to Sicily, Italy, for 9 months! Yey! It is going to be amazing! But then I realised I have very little summer clothes that will be suitable. So I did some looking. 

Pinterest. Search DIY summer clothes. 

And, as always, Pinterest delivered with some great ideas. 

Changed some t-shirts to vests or more summer appropriate. 

But the one idea i saw that I loved was to change old jeans to shorts. I have always thought of doing this but never really been sure how. So having seen a pin with a great and easy way, I got out my old jeans I got what I needed ready. 

What you need: 

Old jeans

Measuring tape 

Scissors 

Chalk

Ruler

Flat surface 

1st. 

Lay out the jeans, back side up, on a flat surface and measure 16inches down the outside leg of the jeans. Mark it with some chalk. 

2nd. 

Using the ruler, make a line across the jeans. And then cut along that line. 

Ad then do the same on the other leg. 

3rd. 

Roll up the ends of the jeans to the length you want it. 

I rolled up twice and that was enough for me. But try them on and then see what you think. You can always make them longer or shorter, to a certain degree. 

I also did this to some other jeans that I love but are tearing at the seams. I am going to add more to them because they are dying but I love them. 

Here is the online link if these instructions are of not any use. :) 

http://m.refinery29.com/diy-cut-off-shorts?

Enjoy making shorts. 

Little Works I've Been Making

The Little Things I've Done 

 Okay so I've been going through my wardrobe again trying to rid of clothes or trying to revamp them. Found this old turtle neck that I barely wore over winter/spring/summer time here in Wales. So I thought I'd change it and see if I wear it more.

Easy, I just cut off the sleeves. Making it a 90's sleeveless turtle neck. Love it. I will be wearing this sometime soon. Casual and smart times. 

Here is just a little thing I did, having seen a post on Pinterest. Just simple some interesting/vintage buttons I had sewed on to some bobby pins. Nice little touch to some basic things. Now I just need to start wearing some bobby pins. 

Treasured Tiara

Oh it's been a long time since I have posted anything. Got a new job that's full time and so I barely have time to sleep and eat now a days let a lone any DIY makes. But I will make sure to try. 

This weekend I had some free time and so I though I'd make something. Having just got my new Cloth magazine that came with a little book of great DIY makes and ideas.

One idea I love was a Treasured Tiara. Using old beads, buttons and any other little trinkets and see them to a hair band. 

Easy and I have loads of buttons and beads spare. 

Here is what I made after a days work. I'm rather happy with it. 

It will look lovely with a nice plain dress for the summer. Add a bit of glam 

Re-Working The Plain T-Shirt

I

So I decided I needed to make/re-work something as I haven't done anything in a while. 

All I did was look on Pinterest (as always) for some ideas and find some stuff to work on/with. I found a plain t-shirt and set about my inspiration and work. 

What I decided to just do a simple alteration of the back of the top from one I saw on another blog called Trash To Couture. Her things are incredible and some so simple, so I thought I'd give one ago. 

Here is the top, the back of it which is the part I will be working on. So.. 

Step 1.

Mark out a sort of square on the back and cut it out from the sides (leave it attached to the top) I cut from halfway of the sleeve and down. Depending on how much skin you want to show, depends on how far you down you cut. 

Step 2. 

Bring the cut out part up and over the top part of the top. (Makes sense to me, just look at the photos) 

Once you get it in place and your happy with how it looks, Pin it in place. And set up to sew it up. 

Step 3. 

Once the sewing is done, I always try it on to make sure in case a small alteration  is needed. 

When all done, admire your work. :) This is my final piece. It's really hard to photograph your back I discovered. 

I love it, it will be really nice in the sun, if it ever becomes summer time here. So excited to wear it now. 

DIY Pockets

DIY Pockets For My Denim Shirt

So having been going through my wardrobe to throw out some clothes I no longer wear or to see if I can change them to make them better I found my old denim shirt. It was nice when I got it but now I'm not sure. So I thought I'd look on Pinterest (obviously) and see what I could do. 

My shirt has marks where pockets used to be, so I thought I'd make new pockets, fun ones to jazz the shirt up a little.

My shirt before. 

1. With my Cloth Magazine subscription I got this Blue Swallow Ribbon, and the red spotted material is an old baby grow, kindly donated by my niece. Mix matching materials I hope will look good. 

2. Used baking paper, but you can use tracing paper to get the correct size of the pocket. I cut it out and traced it onto the chosen material. 

Here is 1 of my 2 pockets I'm making. 

3. Deciding where I wanted the ribbon to go was hard. But once I did I cut the correct amount and sewed one side on to the material. I sewed down the inside of the pocket so that it would be easier and already partially attached when it came to sewing it to the shirt. 

4. I line it up with the pocket marks already on the shirt, pinned them down and sewed them on. 

5. The finishing piece. 

Not sure if I will do anymore to the shirt. Maybe cut the sleeves off and bringing it in on the sides to be more fitting. Maybe, haven't decided yet. But for now this is fine. 

Small DIY

Small DIY

I have not made a lot lately because I have no sewing machine and am struggling to find things I can do with what materials I have with only hand sewing. But there we go, I will just have to wait to get the machine back. 

Anyway today I finally decided what I was going to do with this black jumper I found of my mam's. 

I had this shirt I bought for a cowboy night out in uni that had these tassels on the shoulders. I kept the shirt in case and now I am glad I did. I will put these on to the jumper to jazz it up a little. 

1st.

So here is the jumper. It has flaps on the shoulders that used to have buttons on. This is where I will sew the tassels on. 

Here are the tassel things. Pretty.

2nd.

Pretty simple, I started to sew along the top line of the piece to match almost identically to the shoulder flap leaving about a mm gap. I used white cotton to match the piece. 

Here are some photos of the final piece. It looks good, now I just need to decide if I am to do anymore to it. 

Decisions. 

     

Onwards for my next project. I need to find some inspiration. Lots of research will help.