My DIY Projects
- Caged 09.20.12
One day while perusing Pinterest, I came across these babies. They were originally posted on vogue.fr. I fell in love. Rather than pay whatever extravagant amount I assume they are, I decided that I could probably make them. So here we go:
The original leggings.
Supplies: 5 yards each of two different elastics. One is 1", the other 3/4". Black thread. Pins. Sewing machine is ideal but these could easily be hand sewn, although it'd be very labor intensive. I bought 6 yards of one elastic but only 5 were needed. Each elastic was 99 cents a yard. I had all of the other supplies at home already. My total for this project was only $11.68
Start by looping the thicker elastic around your leg in the desired places. I chose to space my bands 5 inches apart. Pin the bands at the tightness you like, keep in mind that the top band has to stay on its own so make sure that one is nice and tight. Also, remember to leave a seam allowance when cutting your elastic.
Fold the strip in half and sew the ends together, forming circles of elastic. I pinned numbers to the circles to help avoid confusion.
The sewn bands, keep the numbers on until they're sewn onto the strip.
Spread the seam of your thigh band open like a butterfly. Pin the smaller elastic over the inside of the seam. Use a tape measure and line up your bands. I spaced them 5 inches apart and pinned in place, over the open seam like the thigh band.
Once your bands are in place. Sew a tight stitch across, then backwards to secure the joint.
Once you have one strip sewn on, lay out the other strips. I wanted a grid like my inspiration photo, so I measure the distances and tried to keep the strips very square. Use the same sewing method to sew the other strips in place. When one leg is complete, you can use that leg as a template for the other, it will go much quicker than the first.
After trying on my completed leggings, I noticed that they tended to ride up on my ankle. I decided to add a stirrup to the bottom band. I just pinned a strip of the thicker elastic to one side, stretched and pinned it across to the other side, then sewn in place. It is easily hidden when wearing shoes.
These are mine completed. I love the look of them on a bare leg and over a printed tight!
- Scrubbed 05.14.12
For Mother's Day this year, I decided to make an all natural sugar scrub for all the moms in my life (and some for myself). I have a large, beautiful Lavender bush in my front yard and a lovely orange tree in my back yard, I am constantly trying to find uses for these. So, I looked online and then sort of created my own recipe. I'm addicted to this scrub, I use it every shower and my skin has never felt so good! Plus it's super simple to make!
Ingredients: Fresh Lavender, Coconut Oil, Fine ground Coffee, Olive Oil, Sugar, an Orange and some kind of container. The measurements are for roughly 3 containers that are 4 oz each.
Step 1. Finely chop up the fresh lavender, I used a very sharp knife but then switched to a coffee grinder which worked just as well, if not better. You want about 1 cup of the Lavender.
Step 2 & 3. Pour the lavender in a mixing bowl, add 3 cups of sugar (it seems like a ton, but it is a sugar scrub) Then add 1 cup of fine ground coffee.
Step 4 & 5. Mix up the dry ingredients. Zest a small orange and squeeze a little of the juice into the mix, no need to be accurate, just a little for scent. Add 2 tablespoons of honey, the more natural honey, the better.
Step 6 & 7. Add 1 cup of Olive Oil, mix in. Then add 1 cup of Coconut Oil. Again, the more natural, the better. Stir thoroughly, in fact over stir, you want it to be really mixed together.
It should resemble this when you're finished. Divide up into your containers and viola! you're done! I should add though, that it looks a little messy in the shower because of the coffee but it rinses right down the drain.
Enjoy!
- Caped 02.02.12
A local boutique called Bows and Arrows is having a special hooded cape fashion show. I was inspired by this idea and tried my hand at making my own. I wanted it to have sort of a bondage-y/goth feel to it. My darker side has been showing it's face a lot lately. I used elastic and sheer black material (sorry fashion/sewing friends, I'm terrible at remembering types of fabric). The elastic is sort of like a harness that fits snug around the body with suspender type straps, then the hooded cape flows behind it. I cannot wait to wear it in life and in a photo shoot. Stayed tuned for MUCH better photos! PS...any advice would be appreciated, I am such a beginner designer/seamstress.
- Re-Workin It 10.10.11
One of my favorite things to do is to re-purpose or update something old into something new. Lately I have been modifying dresses I have found at thrift stores. I picked this one up for about $4.00. It was in immaculate condition and the fit was right for me but the style needed some help. To make it more wearable and current, I shortened the skirt considerably and took the sleeves up to the elbow. I loved the design of the dress so I didn't want to change it too much. I added some accessories and was off to a friend's beautiful wedding!
- Dripping in Gold 9.10.11
A couple of weeks ago, I was walking early in the morning on the beach at Lawson's Landing in Dillon Beach, California. I found all these cool remnants of shells and thought maybe I could do something neat with them. I remembered seeing a photo of pieces of coral on a necklace that looked like they had been dipped in paint. I was inspired by that idea, but instead of paint I decided to use Gold Leaf.
What you will need: Gold Leaf, spray adhesive, art sealant, 2 paint brushes that you don't mind ruining, tape, wax or parchment paper and whatever you want to gold leaf.
Here is one of my shells before getting started.
I'm taping off a section to create a line with the gold leaf.
Once taped, I sprayed it with the spray adhesive on all sides that will be covered.
Then, carefully press the gold leaf onto the shell. Use a paint brush to press the gold leaf onto all of the surfaces to be covered. Dab with the brush to get the leaf into all of the lil nooks and crannies.
Place pieces on wax or parchment paper until the glue dries.
Once dry, peel off the tape carefully, the gold leaf is very delicate and could tear if you're not careful.
With a clean paint brush, brush the gold leaf to remove any loose pieces.
See how you can still see the texture of the shell?
Spray the entire piece with the art sealant to lock down the gold leaf and to give the shell a shiny apearance.
Place on wax or parchment paper to dry, once one side is dry, flip it over and spray the other side.
One of the shells I gold-leafed had some holes in it already so I took advantage and created a necklace with it. I'm super happy with how this came out and will probably make a whole bunch of necklaces like this :)
- Tom Boy 7.25.11
I was at Wal-Mart (not really a fan) but regardless, I was there, I was looking around in the little boys department at T-shirts. I grabbed this one in Medium for $4.99. On a very hot day I decided to cut it up into a much more comfortable version. Please read before you actually try it, I learned a mistake along the way. Also, please forgive my poor self-photos, I did not have a helping hand around. Sorry!
1. The shirt in its original state.
2. Fold in half and cut the sides all the way.
3. Cut the neck out in the shape you prefer.
3. I actually learned the hard way that this should actually be step 2. The bottom should be cut off first, when cut off first it will become a loop, instead of two strips that I then had to sew together (this will become the belt). Once you have the loop, cut the loop so that it makes one long strip.
4. Pull the sides together where you want them. (I chose just under my bandeau bra), I safety pinned mine together but you could easily do a quick stitch.
5. Wrap the strip of fabric from the bottom of the shirt around and tie like a belt, it covers where your pins or stitches are and helps give the top shape.
Finished product from the side.
Finished product from the front.
This whole thing took me maybe 10 minutes to complete. It's super easy and comfortable for these mega hot days we've been having.
- Gem Daisy 6.27.11
Lately I have been working on building a collection of re-purposed, custom and one of a kind necklaces. I'm not quite done with the collection yet but I'm pretty excited about what I have so far. I popped over to my adorable friend Tessa's house and had her model some of them for me. Once the collection is complete I will be selling some pieces so stay tuned! Enjoy :)
- Gimme Candy 6.22.11
So I've had these two pieces of furniture for years and they were bought out of necessity, not style. I've always wanted to spruce them up somehow. I was looking at my lil dressing nook and thinking how drab and boring it looked. I thought of adding some color and some vintage inspired touches. I painted them both with your regular ol interior house paint from Home Depot, I added stained glass looking window film to the cheap plastic 'windows' on the wardrobe unit and I added the vintage inspired knob (from Anthropologie) to the cabinet. It definitely adds quite a bit of color and cheer to these cheap lifeless pieces.
- Roar Lil Lion! 6.14.11
I had some free time at the guitar shop that I work at, *cough*Sonfather Guitars*cough*
So I decided to make myself a lion necklace since I'm a Leo and my bday is around the corner. I started with a piece of Rosewood, Red Abalone and a picture I found on the internet of a lion's head.
The picture is glued to a piece of Red Abalone with wood glue
The Abalone is then shaped based off of the picture glued to it. I used power tools for the bulk of the shaping then small files to get the details. Then the paper is cleaned off with water, the inlay piece is then traced onto the rosewood that I had previously shaped into an oval. The wood then gets routed out in the design of the inlay using a Dremel tool. The inlay then gets glued in place inside the wood, I glued the paper face of the lion to the design to give me a template for the face. I used small etching tools to etch in the lions face, I filled the etched areas with dust from the abalone and clear glue.
Once the inlay was smoothed out with sand paper, I used a quick Super Glue finish method, I brushed on a thick super glue, let it dry then sanded and buffed it out to a gloss. I then strung it on the chain of an existing necklace. And Viola! My very own one of a kind Leo necklace :)
