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.

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 Side Split Wrapped Bodice Dress - The Tutorial

Thanks for all your lovely feedback on my DIY side split dress. This is the tutorial a lot of you have been asking for - the side split dress with wrapped bodice. It's so incredibly easy.

The first thing to do is to make a maxi skirt using the tutorial I gave here. Create the split by only sewing the top 30cm (or so) of the long seam together. To make the bodice you will need around 2m of fabric - preferably silk, with a width of between 50cm and 1m. In this tutorial I have a crop top on (admittedly not very sexy at all) but when you make yours you won't be wearing a top of any sort underneath.
Here goes!

1. Place the strip of fabric over your shoulder.

2. Tuck one end of the fabric into the maxi skirt.

3.Twist and tighten the fabric over your shoulder, making sure to cover your breast properly.

4. Still twisting, bring the fabric around behind your back.

5. Bring the fabric across the front covering your other breast.

6. Bring the fabric around tightly behind your back again.

7. Keep wrapping tightly until you have run out of fabric. When this happens tuck the end into the wrapped fabric and stitch down.

You're done!

This is the dress without the crop top on - I have done it a bit tidier here too.

It may take you a few tries to get the wrapping and gathering exactly as you like it - but just play around with it until it suits your style and your frame. Make sure you cover the top of the waistband of the skirt with the wrapped fabric for a more streamlined look - you can stitch these together if you want but I didn't bother. You can even throw a belt or sash around the waist too. How nice is the side view and the back with the twisted fabric?

For those of you concerned about busting out of the dress, if you wrap tightly enough and stitch down properly you should be able to do a whole night of dancing without any trouble. Women in South East Asia have been wearing saris for thousands of years using techniques like this so I promise you'll be fine. Be sure to have a pair of scissors on your bedside table for when you get home - and cut the stitched thread and not the fabric.

I've made another one for the wedding I am going to but I still can't decide which to wear. I'll be adding a few little extra details on the day which I can't wait to show you. Do you know what the best thing is about this dress? Once you've finished wearing it you can unwrap the fabric and use it for something else. You can even unpick the maxi skirt and use that too! That's what I'll be doing once I have worn these dresses... Talk about recession chic.

DIY Side Split Dress

Have been doing a lot of research on what style of bodice to do for my side split dress - after getting some great feedback from you guys this week on the asymmetric style I made last weekend (so helpful, thanks!). This twisted cut out style is also so gorgeous... and DIYable? Watch this space...

Elle UK

DIY Split Skirt Dress

Here are some pics I took on the weekend of a dress I made after being inspired by all the amazing flowing side split skirts on the runway. I used eye wateringly bright sheer orange fabric and it was so simple to make! An easy DIY maxi skirt (like the one I made here) with a side split created by simply not stitching all the way up the long seam, with a wrapped fabric bodice and a black sash.  I've been playing around with fabrics in preparation for making a dress to wear to a wedding in a couple of weeks. I like this style, although the bf kindly suggested that the lack of symmetry in the neckline isn't appealing. What do you think? I also made the split a little bit smaller than the ones seen at the Gucci AW11 that I posted about recently - as much as I am sure everyone at the wedding would want to see my knickers! Now I have to get started on the actual thing.

Wardrobe Essential - the camel dress

Got an absolutely massive haul from my tailor in Shenzen this week, including a number of wardrobe essentials I'll be showing you over the next couple of weeks, and a few samples for the shop (watch this space!). This is one of the wardrobe essentials I got made, the camel dress. Made of a camel silk with a flouncy skirt and slightly puffed sleeves, this is another one of those dresses that looks amazing on and can be worn anywhere. I paired it this week with a DIY tassel belt - two tassels glued onto some black rope, and my DIY tassel earrings.

DIY Acne Sheer Cut Out Back Dress

I posted a few days ago about the amazingness that was the Acne AW11 show, and found this pic by Hanelli of the back of one of my favourite ensembles, what a DIYable back detail. Take a tee, cut out the back and replace with sheer fabric. Gorgeous.

DIY Draped Fabric Dress

More food for thought in terms of what sewing projects I am going to do this weekend (and its only monday!). This draped dress looks absolutely gorgeous and I can't help but see the DIY potential of it. I think it could be made using the DIY maxi skirt tutorial I showed you here, and then draping fabric around a chain that goes around the neck for the top half. Lots of pinning and sewing but that's where the fun is! I will probably secure mine a bit more tightly around the back so that my boobs don't fall out the side.

Image: Studded Hearts

DIY Pearl Belt

Strands of pearls as belts. More LFW runway inspiration that gets me dying to DIY.

Image: The Style Crusader

DIY Transparent Frock and Monotone Half Moon Nails

Ivania always kills it, what more can I say? And those nails? Awesum! She made the dress herself, naturellement

DIY Square Cut Out

This is such a great look. Take a thrifted maxi and cut a square slit out on the side. Mini/maxi madness. Maria of Vanilla Scented made the black one herself. Love. It.

Images: Vanilla Scented / Topshop SS11

DIY The Perfect LBD?

I'd like to introduce you to one of the fruits of my first visit to the tailor in Shenzen. Nothing too out there on my maiden voyage. Thought it best to test the waters. The search for the perfect little black dress has been a long and arduous one. I must have about 10 black dresses in my wardrobe (I was banned from buying them for a while there) but none of them are that perfect dress that works in any situation and will take you from work to a party to a dinner to your divorce court proceedings with ease.When I went up to Shenzen recently, I decided it was high time I got one made in the shape, style and fabric I wanted. Having obviously done a lot of hands on research on the subject of black dresses, it wasn't hard to come up with this one. It has really nice paneling on the front and a lovely cinched in waist. Will probably wear it with sheer spotted or opaque tights for work. It's such a lovely shape I'll probably get it made in a few other colours and a longer version too.

Post update: in response to your comments and emails - the dress is a silk crepe material with a light horizontal pattern and it has a V back with a bronze exposed zip. I chose the fabric in the fabric hall and then drew up the pattern at the tailors using a couple of examples (pics and dresses I had with me). It took a week to get made (its perfect). I'm looking forward to showing you the spoils of my last trip once they are ready.

Wearing: Handmade dress, reiss mesh heels.

Reader DIY - DIY Geometric Raincoat Dress

Ok so I almost peed my pants when the lovely bloggette from A Matter of Style emailed me to let me know about this amazzzzzee-ing DIY she did recently. It almost feels wrong to call it a DIY because this is much much MUCH more than that. Inspired by Irina Shaposhnikova's recent collection, she designed and put together this dress (or raincoat), cutting a geometric pattern out of a thick clear table cloth. Genius from beginning to end! Head over to her blog for a multitude of amazing DIYs.

Holiday DIY - Silk Lined Dress

Found this gorgeous mid length dress for about £5 in a market in Kandy in Sri Lanka. It had the most horrible white nylon lining though so I got a few supplies together and in the car on the way to Colombo (3 hours to drive 98km... gotta love asia!) I got crafty. I cut out the lining of the top and bottom and sewed some black sheer silk into the bottom, by literally wrapping the lining around and sewing it to the waistband. This simple change made such a difference to the overall look. I left the top of the dress unlined so I can wear sweet little lace triangle bras with it. Don't you just love slightly altering something that you buy for next to nothing and turning it into something perfect?

Cherry pattern dress from market, river island gladiator sandals, zara satchel, ebay cat eye sunglasses.

DIY Weekly - Tassel Earrings

Remember this post about DIY tassel earrings? I found some handmade tassels during my exploration of HK (once you start noticing you can see that tassels are everywhere in this city) and decided to make some Anywho style tassel earrings. They were soooo easy to make. I simply attached them to a pair of stud earrings that I already had - little gold ones, by tying them on. So very easy! I wore them on a night out recently with my favourite oriental style dress. The dress is another DIY creation - when I found it in a market in Brisbane it was floor length and had a high collar, I think I improved it no end.

Wearing: DIY tassel earrings, DIY black and gold dress, Zara wedges.