DIY Torn Cross Denim Jacket // TUTORIAL

Used to be available at NastyGal

Supplies:

- a denim jacket that you are willing to sacrifice

- an exacto knife (possibly extra blades)

- disappearing fabric ink marker

- tweezers

- sand paper (optional)

- dremel (optional)

Directions:

1. draw the shape you want to look destroyed on the back of your jacket with the fabric marker. The example above is a cross. Don't pick anything too complicated because it will get hard to recognize the more the shape is destroyed/distressed.

2. start slashing horizontally from one side of the shape to another.

3. if you do like an inch at a time, you can pull out the individual blue threads (the weft) with tweezers.

4. if you have a dremel, use the sand paper attachment to sand away the weft (blue threads) slowly not to rip the warp threads (white threads).

5. roughen up the edges with sand paper if you want a more distressed look.

Boom! You have an edgy new jacket that's uniquely yours!

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DIY Striped Sweater

Supplies:

- a sweater you want to jazz up

- fabric paint (not acrylic, fabric is more flexible)

- foam brush or paint brush

- painters tape

- iron

- tpins (or sewing pins)

- newspaper

- a flat surface to pin your fabric to/work on

- blow dryer (optional)

Directions:

1. prep your workspace with newspaper so you don't get your paint anywhere. 

2. pin down your shirt so it's slightly stretched. pin the arms down next to the shirt if you want the stripes to continue in the same place. 

3. put newspaper in between the shirt layers so the paint doesn't bleed through.

4. tape off your stripes the thickness you want. use your iron to press down the tape for a crisp line.

5. paint on your fabric paint in thin layers. if you paint it on too thick it will feel weird when you wear your sweater again. 

6. let it dry completely before you flip it over to paint the other side.

7. once you've painted both sides and let both dry completely, remove the tape. 

8. most fabric paint requires heat setting put your iron in between the layers to iron the back side of each stripe for the time that it recommends on the bottle. usually it's 2-3 minutes. 

Boom! Rockin new comfy sweater for the winter weather! 

ps: this would be super cute if done with metallic for those holiday parties! also neon for that nude/neon trend!

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Sorry I've Been M.I.A.!

Hello everyone,

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed that I've been gone, but I definitely have been. Which I feel super bad about by the way.

In case you didn't know, it's my senior year in college and I've been a little busy. And by a little I mean I've become accustom to sleeping in my studio rather than going back to my apartment. Anyway, I only have one semester left and I will be a free woman!

This next semester should be a little less busy and stressful which is great because then I can have at least some free time to dedicate to things I love, like my blog :)

I will be revamping it very soon, so be on the lookout for some new stuff and a new look :)

<3 Kelsey

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DIY Shredded Tee

I keep coming across these crazy expensive t-shirts lately!

The one I discovered today was from NastyGal.com. One of my favorite places to buy clothes, but sometimes I swear the designers they feature are a complete rip off!

Shredded Tee - $78.00

  

Supplies:

- cheapo t-shirt from wal-mart

(you can get a 5 pack in the mens section for like $7)

- scissors/shears or rotary cutters

- ruler or measuring tape if you wanna get fancy

- fabric pen or just wing it

Directions:

1. lay your tshirt out flat on the floor. iron it down if your are a perfectionist. 

2. measure out where you want your slits and how many rows of sits you want. the shirt above has 4 on the main shirt and then an extra one on the sleeves. have fun with it. you can do smaller slits if you so choose!

3. start cutting! in the shirt above, it looks as though they short-cutted it by doing both the front and back at the same time. notice where the front stops by the neck and where it ends on the back (it's lower down on the back because that's where they stopped on the front. It's also quicker this way if you have a rotary cutter or sharp shears. 

 Rock your new shirt at the beach or to the pool while the weather still permits!

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Knock Off Alert // Jeffrey Campbell Vicious

I'm sure all of you Jeffrey Campbell fans out there have seen the Vicious shoe and all it's gloriousness!

It's heel-less.
It's spiked.
It's neon pink.
It's basically a sin not to buy it. 

Unfortunately, not all of us can afford a $209.95 pair of shoes. Even if they are the greatest thing since Skinny Girl's Cosmopolitans.

Unless you are like me and save up for the perfect Jeffrey Campbell shoe, I found a knock-off!

I'm not sure about how most of you feel about knock-offs, but in case you really want this shoe and you don't care about brand name, I found a knock-off with a price that is way more reasonable!

Jeffrey Campbell Vicious - $209.95 - can be found here!

Darea Studded Inward Curve Wedges - £45.99 - can be found here!

How do all of my readers feel about knock-offs? Is this shoe blatantly knocking off Jeffrey Campbell? Or is it more of the new style of "in" shoe and this other company just liked the mix of neon pink and black with silver spikes/studs?

I'd really appreciate your input! :)

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DIY BLEACHED AMERICAN FLAG DENIM

Denim like this has been popping up all over lately and stores are charging outrageous prices for something that all of you at home could DIY very quickly and easily with supplies that you probably already have lying around! Read on for the how-to!

American Flag Jeans - $68.00

Supplies:

- pair of jeans

- bleach

- water to dilute the bleach

- sponge brush

- bowl to put diluted bleach in

- a ventilated place to work

- tape (painters tape or masking tape works best)

- iron

- cardboard (cereal boxes are easy to work with)

- some way to make a star (sponge stamp or stencil) 

- gloves while handling bleach

Directions:

1. first you need to set up your work area. lay out your jeans on a nice flat surface. place the cardboard in between the 2 layers of denim inside the jeans so the bleach doesn't bleed through to the other side randomly. dilute your bleach with water in a bowl. don't dilute it too much. check bottle for diluting instructions.

2. tape away stripes down 1 half of the jeans. to make sure it's a very crisp line, iron over the tape with an iron (no steam). this just melts the sticky stuff on the tape a little more so it makes the seal better)

3. use your sponge brush to fill in the stripes between the tape.

4. figure out how you will do the stars. i would say a sticky stencil of some sort so you can get crisp edges. if it is a sticky stencil that you use, remember to also iron it down so you can get the same crisp edges as the tape! :) fill in with the bleach. 

5. i would let this sit over night. if it's not working as well as you'd hoped. add more bleach with less dilution. let sit again over night. 

6. carefully remove the stencils/tape that you used and hand rinse the bleach off. wash by itself in a washer (or wait to do a whole load of hand bleached things so you don't accidentally bleach things you wouldn't otherwise want bleached).

BOOM! you have a custom pair of flag jeans! :)

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I JUST PRE-ORDERED THE NEON PINK JEFFREY CAMPBELL LITAS! :D

And I've basically been doing a happy dance all day!!
I've been waiting for these shoes for about 7 months now. They've been SOLD OUT since I found them and basically on back-order this whole time.....

WELL HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!
Well...not until June 4th.....

But I treated myself to these :) I already have the basic black ones (which I could practically live in if I wanted) so I really needed to get me some statement ones. I almost spent like over $200 (with shipping) for the rare leopard print and black leather ones that are only available in the UK...thank god I checked one last time at solestruck!

I can't wait to rock these on my 21st since my barcrawl theme is neon! :) These are so me!

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DIY Leather Paper Lunch Bag // INSPIRATION

I always love it when I see totally DIYable stuff instantly on the runway. These bags from Jil Sander fw 2012 are super easy to make!

 

Supplies:
- a throw away paper bag (for a pattern to follow)
- scissors or knife
- something to draw with
- something to take fabric from. I suggest a big purse or a skirt. I also suggest a thin leather/pleather for the material so it's waterproof.
-iron to make the creases in the fabric so it folds like a paper bag
- sewing machine and thread
or
- hand sewing needles and thread
or
- a really strong adhesive


Directions:

1. take apart the paper bag for the pattern carefully.

2. take apart your purse or w/e you are using to get a flat yardage to trace this pattern from.

3. lay the paper bag over the wrong side of the fabric and trace around it. make sure to mark where the folds are. then cut out your bag. now would be the time to add things that are too

4. you can go about this step 2 ways. option a) if your fabric is thin enough and it can be creased, then just marking where the folds are so you can later press the fabric then glue it correctly is the way to go. option b) if your fabric is a little too thick and you want the creases to be nice and perfect, I would suggesting cutting each section out then sewing it back on. you can do this by hand or using a sewing machine.

5. finish your bag with either sewing or adhesive. add stuff to your bag to make it yours with paint or studs or whatever you wish to make it yours!

Image courtesy of Rodeo.

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DIY Balmain Denim Jacket // TUTORIAL

It's finally here! My first ever full tutorial!!!! :)

I hope you all are excited because I worked very hard on this jacket and how-to so all of you can have awesome statement jackets like me! 

Remember: This is just how I interpreted Balmain's style. Please just use this as inspiration and make your own awesome, one-of-a-kind jacket! :)

- scissors/fabric shears

- pliers (needle nose preferably)

- lots and lots of various studs and spikes

(studsandspikes.com)

- various safety pins

- xacto knife/blade of some kind

- seam ripper

- pins

- sewing machine (not shown)

- thread/bobbins/etc (not shown)

- adhesive (E6000 preferably)

- bleach/bleach pens

- pens such as sharpie (not shown)

- paint (metallic looks sweet on dark denim)

- fabric to add on to jacket (optional)

- a denim jacket to makeover

- lots of free time

1. Here's my denim jacket that I will be giving a makeover. I got it from goodwill for like $5.

I laid it out on a table to see what I had to work with. It's good to plan in advance kind of what you'd like to do to your jacket because sometimes after a certain point it becomes very difficult to go back. 

2. I decided to cut out the yolk of the jacket. Cut it out nicely and very close to the inside of the seam so you have a good template for the next step if you choose to replace it with another fabric.

3. Take the yolk you cut out and lay it over your replacement fabric. I used lace. I just pinned mine to it and trimmed around it, leaving about half an inch on each side so I would have more than enough to later attach it back onto the jacket.

4. Un-pin the old yolk from the new yolk. I then pinned my new yolk (the lace) to the underside of the denim jacket so it would look flush with the jacket. This part was rather tricky.

5. After you have pinned the new yolk to your jacket, now is time for the somewhat challenging part -- sewing the dang thing. Because this was lace that had a little stretch in it and again, the fact that it was lace, I set my stitch to a very tight zig-zag. After all this work, I didn't' want that lace to go anywhere. I used black thread that was unnoticeable on the other side of my denim jacket. You may want to do a test stitch to check how visible the stitch is on the other side if you have a lighter wash denim. 

Finished yolk :)

6. I then studded around the yolk. The seams here are usually very thick so I used an xacto knife to push through so the stud would stay secure to the jacket.

7. I knew the back of my jacket would be my focal point. I grabbed some extra news paper and laid it over the back of my jacket. I traced/eye balled what the 2 side panels would look like. I then cut out that template.

8. I then laid out that template and traced it twice onto my leopard print fabric with a metallic sharpie. I again added about half an inch to each side for later hemming. I only did this because my fabric frays. If yours does not fray, feel free to skip this step.

9. I hemmed these panels with my sewing machine using a zig-zag stitch. Again, I only did this because my fabric frays. Skip this step if your fabric is awesome and you do not need to do this.

After I hemmed my panels, I pinned them the best I could to the back panels of the jacket. They aren't perfect because I eye-balled it. 

10. I then used a straight stitch to attach these panels to the jacket. You could use a zig-zag stitch if you wanted. 

11. At the same time on the front of the jacket, I used a seam ripper to take off one of the pockets. I then used that pocket as a template and traced it onto the leopard print fabric. I left a seam allowance to hem it. I then pinned it to where the old pocket used to be and sewed it using a straight stitch.

12. I decided to somehow put my logo on my jacket. It could have been the exact thing, but I decided to abstract it -- with safety pins :)

I printed off a cut out of my logo the size that I wanted it. I then cut it out and traced it onto the back of the jacket where I wanted it with a fabric marker. You could use chalk as well. 

13. I then played around with different sized safety pins and how I would like to conquer this crown so it looked like a crown. I succeeded!!! :)

Caution: please close all of these safety pins with a needle nose pliers. You could get stabbed in the back if you do not take the time to complete this step. I recommend closing sections at a time as you complete them rather than at the very end. 

14. Remember what I did for the back panels of the jacket? I did the same thing for one of the front panels. I eye-balled it, traced it, cut out the template, traced that template onto my fabric leaving a half inch on each side, hemmed it, pinned it to my fabric, then sewed it on using a straight stitch.

15. Between a lot of these steps I took breaks of studding and spiking various places of the jacket:

- the back panels

- the front pocket

- the collar

- the arms

- the cuffs

Here is MY final jacket! :)

top pocket and collar detail

left front pocket detail 

finished crown detail

spiked elbow detail

front panel detail

full back shot

full front shot

I will always keep adding on to this jacket as I gather more materials and such. I want it to be super over the top like Balmain :)

But for now... it is finished!

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Dear readers,

If you make a jacket, please send me your pictures! I'd love to feature you on my blog! :)

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