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. 

Dog Toys

I was helping my mam around the house with the cleaning and the washing and attempting to reduce the ever growing bundle of odd socks we have in the house.

I thought on the off chance I would look on Pinterest to see if there was anything we could do with all of these socks. I found one post saying about making a dogs chew toy from platting three socks and tying them at the end. Genius I thought and so easy and quick to reduce the sock piles. 

1. Take 3 odd socks and tie them together with an elastic band or a bobble at one end. (I found mixing colours lights and darks worked well, or complimenting colours)

2. Braid the 3 socks into a plat. I found it easier with my mam holding one end so I could make the braid tight and strong. 

3. Tie the other end of the toy with a band/bobble. And you're done. 

(These are not my photos but taken from the Pinterest post I got this idea from)

Here is my dog with all her new toys. 

Made 25 toys!! Ridiculous amount of odd socks but lots of new toys that we will be taking to the local dogs home. 

My DIY Makes

So here are some of my makes that I have been working on this last week or so. I am not going to explain everyone in details as some are self explanatory. 

1.

My attempt at elbow patches. Having seen a few posts on Pinterest about doing your own elbow patches I thought I would try.  So I found an old jumper my mam no longer wanted and set about to make the patches. 

From an old t-shirt my dad no longer wanted I made the patches. Singular they were rather thin so I doubled up and sewed them together. 

To get the size I placed my hand on the material and drew around it in an oval shape. 

Patch sewing time. I put the jumper on to see where I wanted the patches , pinned them on with a little help and set it down to start sewing. 

It was hard to sew as they were in an awkward position on the sleeve but the more I sewed the easier it became. The second patch was done in half the time as the first. 

Here is the outcome. Not bad. The stitching is very viewable but not bad for my first one. We'll see if mam now wants her jumper back. 

2. 

My second making came after I bought this jacket from a local vintage shop. I love the jacket, the style and the way it fitted me. But it did need some jazzing up. I thought about some embellishments on the collar or something similar. 

I found some old buttons hidden away in one of my many "boxes of crap" I have and thought they would look perfect on the new jacket. Deciding what ones and where was the hardest part really. 

^^ Here are just some photos of the collar and what I sewed on there. As you can see I decided with the black and and one sliver buttons to sew on.

I later decided to put on one silver button on to the pockets. The jacket needed one last thing and I believe this was it.

I love the jacket and can't wait to get the opportunity to wear it. 

3. 

My third making of the day came again from a Pinterest post of how to transform an old t-shirt into a summer shirt. Found this little gem in my wardrobe years ago and no idea how it got there so I thought I would use it for this experiment. 

Firstly I had to outline where it needed to be cut. The collar and the sleeves were the first to go, simple enough. Next was to outline (in pencil) where I wanted to cut the bottom of the t-shirt making sure I had enough material to be able to tie a knot at the front. 

After a few attempts and a few re-markings I got the outline and so cut away. The back of the t-shirt only needs to be cut straight with no longer parts to tie, or if you want a double knot why not. 

Here is my outcome. I really like it. It is a little short and i'm not sure if I will wear it in the summer but we will have to see how warm it is or if I go away abroad anywhere. 

Origami Clothes

Origami Clothes

Had a burst of inspiration whilst out and about in Cardiff. It came from nowhere really. I was just thinking about my first year in university and when we covered my flat mates door in origami swans because we were bored, and I just thought how awesome it would be to have an origami swan or another animal on clothing. 

So here are just a few of the samples that I found online. The last one is merely for fun. I love it!

So my ideas for some origami clothes
- Origami on the front of t-shirts/jumpers
- On sleeves/ straps of t-shirts/dresses 

I need to get on this now. Can't put it out there as an idea and not do anything about it. 

Latest Buys

Since my new revelation into DIY fashion and so on I now look at clothes completely different. I am not looking at them as possibilities, unfinished projects and material instead of what they are. I am not the easiest to go shopping with as it is but now I am even worse. 

There are some things that I have found that have not needed my attention (or my demolition).

- This lush knitted vest I think I will save for the summer maybe. I know that sounds weird but it is too cold for a vest in Wales right now and this could look nice with some shorts and a bikini underneath. Beach times. I am looking way to far ahead at summer, this is not good. 

- Then there is this spotted jumper I got from a local charity shop. No label so I have no idea where it is from but I love the spots and the colours. It is rather see through so I will always be wearing some sort of vest underneath. Could be really nice casual with jeans (like the photo) or smartened up with some nice blue trousers. I like it casual right now but maybe for a job interview it could be useful to be remembered by. 

I am not vain or usually take photos of myself so please don't laugh at the awkwardness or hideousness that is. Just look at the clothes.

Ah there are so many things that I want to do and refashion but I have no working sewing machine, this is bad.

So I have been looking, on Pinterest obviously, for ideas and things I can make without a machine and came across this amazing piece

http://www.fashiondivadesign.com/17-interesting-diy-fashion-ideas/

I can do this I said to myself and started looking for a a collar.

Following the steps from the link above I got started on my own creation. 

1. My chosen shirt and selected collar. Firstly I cut off the collar, making sure I kept the button.

Found it easier to open the shirt up and to lay it flat and then cut it. 

2.
I chose these green sequins I had and placed the sequins where I wanted them.

I used a pen to pinpoint the middle of the sequin so I would know where exactly I wanted to sew them.

3.
Here is the completed one side of the collar.

At this point I had not decided if I wanted more sequins or to leave it just on the main collar part.










4.
Here are the two collar ends completed.

Looking at it I decided to add more. I will continue all the way around the collar to better the collar.
It is only white and green and I think if it would to be worn it needs a bit more to make it worthy of being worn.







5.
Here I have noted where I want to put the additional sequins, now to start the sewing

6. And here is the final result.

As this was my first DIY refashion item I am rather happy with the outcome.

Not to shabby if I do say so myself

Ignore the awkward posing and smile, but this is what it looks like on me.
Next time maybe I will find an outfit to match when photographing.

YEY my first refashion/DIY/recycling done. Now on to the next one.