DIY Dries Van Noten Inspired Dip Dye Jacket

As soon as the gorgeous Bianca of Il Etait Une Fois posted these pics of Dries Van Noten's dip bleached denim, I knew I just had to DIY my own version of the jacket with bleached sleeves. This is possibly the easiest DIY I've done in a while - and just involved soaking the cuffs of a thrifted denim shirt in some bleach overnight until they had became bright white.

Wearing: DIY jacket, Country Road White Singlet, Lace Shorts designed by me, Mango boots, Mac lippy.

This was my Dries Van Noten inspiration:

And here's a few pics of how I did it. Hopefully quite self-explanatory.

Honeysuckle

This colour just wont quit for me. In the name of recycling - I'm turning this Jil Sander inspired skirt I made , in the photo below, into a pair of high waisted and wide leg pants a la Philip Lim. Can't wait to show you the final result. Hope you are busy getting your honeysuckle on - whether you're in winter or summer!

Image: Who What Wear

DIY White Lace Cami Top Tutorial

White lace has absolutely entranced me this season - the RAFW catwalks were overflowing with the stuff and this editorial got me all warm inside. When I was at Sham Shui Po fabric market recently (check out my post here) I bought 3 metres of gorgeous white lace. Two metres will be going with me to the tailor, and I have some exciting things planned. The other metre I decided to use to make a little white cami. It was so easy!

DIY

You need - 1 metre of white lace, scissors, a sewing machine (can be handstitched though too!), tracing paper.

1. Fold the lace in half - this will be the length of the top. Pin the folded sides together.

2. Using a cotton top, trace out the shape for the cami onto the tracing paper (finally the bfs architectural paper makes itself useful!) Cut out the traced shape.

3. Lay and pin the trace over the lace. I only needed to do the shoulder area and then I just extrapolated out the body of the cami.

4. Cut around the pattern.

5. Cut out the neckline too.

6. Sew the top - along the two side seams and the top of the straps. You don't have to sew any hem along the edges or elsewhere because once you tidy the lace up it will have an nice raw edge. Turn the top inside out so the seams are on the inside and there you go - the hard part is over.

7. Finally - you need to tidy up the lace edges and neckline. Because the lace I used was round circles in a grid pattern I was able to create a symmetrical neckline but carefully cutting out the circles.

Voila! This is the final neckline. You could also make this top a crop style by simply cutting it shorter but I wanted to be able to wear it tucked in too. Might cut 3 inches at the bottom off and add buttons on the edge so you can either have it as a crop or a cami top... Versatility is key!

Wearing - DIY lace cami top, DIY pink mini skirt, gap khaki jacket, suede flats.

DIY White Lace Cami Top

Inspired by this post I got crafty on the weekend. It was typhoon weather and perfect for Sex and the City Season 3 (carrie cheating on aiden..the wtf feelings never get old) and a bit of sewing. Can't wait to show you the tutorial! You'll be amazed how easy it was.

Wardrobe Rehab - a word on Skirts

Some of you will be familiar with the Wardrobe Rehab Series I did a while ago.  In this series I culled all my clothes down to a small number of functional, high quality and essential pieces using 6 steps - Culling, Defining Your Style, Wardrobe Essentials, Organising Your Wardrobe, Colours and Focusing Your Shopping. Doing the project gave me ample opportunity to think about the things I really needed in my wardrobe - and I came to the conclusion that there was a dire need for some knee length/above the knee skirts. I recently acquired these three and they're literally the the backbone of my wardrobe. I wear them with breton tops, collared shirts, belted with singlets, with jackets and about a million other ways. And because they're knee length (or a little bit above), I can wear them to work and they also transition well with a pair of heels into evening drinks. Once you have staples like these in your closet getting dressed in the morning isn't nearly such a chore.What essential items do you need in your closet?

Thrifted and shortened navy skirt, thrifted black pleated skirt, thrifted and shortened camel skirt.

DIY Rug Mini Skirt

As promised here are a few outfit pics of me in the rug mini skirt I posted about here. How did I make it? I simply took two rugs, traced out the shape of a bodycon mini skirt I own onto them, sewed them together following the pattern, cut off the excess fabric and then turned the skirt inside out. The fabric has so much stretch I didn't even bother with a zip like I did for the mini dress. And it's so comfortable to wear! I was wearing it a few days ago and an old Chinese man stopped me in the street to explain to me in his broken English that he these rugs at home that he wipes his feed on. Haha indeed. Also, not sure if you've noticed but I have added a drop down bar to the side menu for you to search my archives for DIYs. When you have an idea or a material you can check out all the posts I have done in the past to get some inspiration - I sometimes use it myself!

DIY Multi Colour Bodycon Dress

I saw these multicoloured rugs down at my local dollar store, which are made out of recycled jersey t-shirts. They have a great amount of stretch to them so I bought a few for fun. I fell in love with the multi-coloured, ever so slightly tribal look. After making the skirt you may have seen a few days ago, I also decided to make a dress.

DIY
You need: 4 rugs, a long white zip for the back, a sewing machine.
1. Sew two of the rugs together at the long edge to create one large piece of fabric. Do this to the other two rugs as well. I just hand stitched this.

2. Pin the zip down the middle of one of the pieces of fabric.

3. Sew the zip onto the fabric.

4. Cut the fabric where the zipper has been sewed on to complete the opening.

5. Trace out the dress shape onto the fabric using a bodycon dress.

6. Pin the two large pieces of fabric together flat and sew down the marked pattern of the dress.

7. Cut the excess fabric off along the stitch line - its best to do this once the seam has been sewn as the fabric starts falling apart once you cut into it.

8. This is what the finished dress will look like - turn it inside out and away you go!

Here's the back.

F*ck Yeah, Lanterns!

I bought a whole heap of these lantern lights to go on a friend's rooftop and around the flat while I was in Malaysia. Aren't they pretty? I'm sure if you've been to Thailand you will have seen them in every market - was very pleased to find them in Penang too. Can't wait to show you pics of them strung all over the house and the rooftop. (The bf is well pleased by this thought as I am sure you can imagine).

wearing: DIY tassel earrings, lace shorts designed by me, thrifted red silk shirt, studded pouch bag.

DIY Multi Colour Bodycon Skirt

I'm back from an amazing trip to Malaysia. Before I went I made this multicoloured bodycon skirt which I am sooo in love with. I can't wait to share the tutorial with you this week. Hope you had a nice weekend!

black lace up shoes from dodgy alleyway store, DIY bodycon skirt, ebay cat eye sunglasses, thrifted white tee, studded pouch bag.

DIY Colour Block Mini Dress

Threw together this DIY colour block dress by making a knee length blue silk skirt (two layers of silk fabric) and wrapping a bodice over the top like I did here. Easy peasy. (Shop my closet here).

DIY Camel Maxi Skirt and Tassel Belt

I very much hope you aren't sick and tired of seeing my DIY maxi skirts. With access to such beautiful fabrics its hard not to make a few. I used the easy method I showed here to make this one in a gorgeous camel colour. I'll be taking it to Malaysia this weekend, but will probably stitch the split shut temporarily as its quite a conservative country, and as you can see in the bottom photo when the wind blows it can be a bit revealing. I'm also wearing a DIY tassel belt - black rope with two tassels glued on. (Also, there's a few more items added so shop my closet here).

wearing: black country road singlet, DIY skirt and tassel belt, river island gladiators, cat eye sunglasses from ebay ('intouchwithstyle' seller). Thanks to my lovely friend Katie for taking these pics - was a very fun day of wandering around HK Island.