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!

Read more ...

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! :)

Read more ...

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!

------------------------------------

Dear readers,

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

Read more ...

DIY Cut Out & Studded Denim Jacket

Bored with all the plain old studding you are seeing everywhere?
Well, I sure am. Especially since it's been a trend for at least a year and it's finally now hitting the midwest and I am officially in need of something a little newer.
Still keeping the studded look, but with a new twist. :)



Supplies:
- denim jacket (the thicker it is, the better the cut-out shape will be)
- chalk, disappearing fabric pen, or sharpie
- template to trace or you can free hand it
- shears or possibly a rotary cutter
- studs (square, circle, spikes, etc)
- pliers (to help fix the studs)
- (optional) sewing machine & thread

Directions:
1. lay your denim jacket out as flat as possible
2. draw the pattern you wish to cut out (like a heart or a cross) on the back of the jacket where you'd like it to be. the center will probably look best.
3. carefully cut out the shape using whatever you feel most comfortable with
4. optional: sew along the edges of the cut out about .5" - 1.0" away from where you cut so it won't just continue to fray past a certain point. the more room you leave, the more it will fray.
5. border your cut out with studs! They could be spaced a certain way or just right next to each other.
6. boom ya got a fancy new jacket. go rock it the next time you go out! :)

Read more ...

DIY Distressed & Paint Splattered Denim Shorts

I also just found these here over at topshop.com for a ridiculous $68.00.

I know we can make these for way less. Shall we? :)



Supplies:
- denim shorts or pants that you are willing to cut into shorts
- scissors
- sand paper
- exacto knife
- acrylic pant or fabric paint in w/e color you wish
- bleach (optional)
- tarp or outside place that you don't care to get paint on
- paint brush or something to splatter with

Directions:
1. cut your shorts to the length you want
2. distress with a knife or sand paper
3. lay your tarp down or go outside to where you don't have to worry about dripping paint
4. there are a couple different ways to splatter paint. you can just do it with a paint brush or you can mix it with water and it'll be a little more fluid but it won't be as thick or as opaque on the denim depending on how watery you make it.
5. let one side dry completely then do the other side.
6. (optional) add some bleach effects in some way to give it a better surface quality. either splatter it or dip it. have fun with it and make it yours! :)

rock your new one of a kind fancy new paint splatter shorts!

Read more ...

DIY Neon Bias Tape Hem Denim Shorts

I found these here at topshop.com for a ridiculous $64.00

I think I can do a lot better than that! :)



Supplies:
- denim shorts or pants that you'd be willing to cut into shorts
- scissors
- sewing machine
- thread (contrasting or matching)
- bias tape in the color you want on the bottom. neon looks sweet!
- measuring tape
- pins

Directions:
1. cut your denim to your desired length (shorts or pants). try not to fray it.
2. measure out the length you'll need around each leg hole with your measuring tape.
3. cut the bias tape for each leg.
4. pin your bias tape to the bottom of each leg hole.
5. sew it with a sewing machine carefully.

say hello to some brand new one of a kind shorts!

a pair of these in black with neon accents would look sweet for even a spring/summer casual going out look!

Read more ...

Giant Upcycled Denim Tapestry

Just a quick update in my life. My final project for my textiles studio is a self portrait on cloth. I decided to take all my scraps from all the jeans i've destroyed and sew them into a giant tapestry. :D

this thing is HUGEEEEE. like...beyond MASSIVE!

but it's going to look sweet as hell.

i hope to get pictures up when it's finished!

Read more ...

DIY Printed Denim

There are a couple of ways to go about this.


- You can paint on a design using fabric paint/pigment. The best bet would be to buy commercial quality pigment (aka something you have to order).



Or...


- You can sew on a full pattern over top of your denim. For jeans this would take a decent amount of fabric, time, and perfectionism, but would totally be worth it in the end.



1. find some fabric
2. lay a piece of paper over the denim where you want your fabric and trace a pattern.
3. tape/pin it to top of fabric and cut out your pattern. leave extra if your fabric frays so you can hem it or use no-fray.
4. pin the fabric on and sew your printed fabric on your denim.

Read more ...

DIY Pocket Appeal

Rather than dying or bleaching your denim, sometimes you just want something subtle.
Changing up the pockets is the way to go.



1. Find some cute fabric that you want for your pockets. The remnant pile at hobs lobs or jo-anne's is usually a good place to find some for cheap and you don't need like a whole yard or anything like that.
2. check your pocket's shape on the inside of your shorts.
3. free-hand a shape that's slightly bigger than your pocket and cut it out.
4. if the edges of the type of fabric you are using fray, cut enough off so you can hem it so there are no frayed edges, or put some of that no-fray stuff on it (available at hobs lobs, jo-annes, wal-mart, etc)
5. if you want your pocket to seem larger and stick out the bottom, cut the bottom of the pocket a little longer/bigger than your original pocket.
6. pin the pocket over the old one and sew it!
*you don't need to sew a whole new pocket since you are only trying to achieve the look of a printed pocket*
7. distress the jeans where the pockets are so the pattern can show through.
8. add studs if you desire.

enjoy :)

Read more ...

DIY Dip Dyed/Bleached High Waisted Denim Shorts

Do you have so many pairs of plain denim shorts laying around and you want to spice a pair up in a head turning way?

Mix some bleach with water. Like 1 part to 1 part. In a container that you can somehow pin or place your shorts in the same place for a while to "dip" them in the bleach so you get the desired effect below. leave them in until you get the white you wish. careful not to leave them in too long because the bleach can eat away at your denim.
to stop the bleach, wash it in some vinegar.
boom, done!
distress at your will <3

Read more ...

DIY Half & Half Studded Jacket

Although this would be difficult to pull off, it would be SO WORTH IT once completed.

I've been thinking about doing a half denim half leather jacket for sometime now and I might get it done over break if i can find a leather jacket and a denim jacket for decently cheap that are around the same fit. it should be interesting, but soooooo worth it.

i can just imagine some sweet way to do the back seam.
options?:
1. straight up and down then fill the whole line with the same sized safety pins
2. cut it zig zagged and fill with chain and safety pins





Suggested Directions:
1. Find a denim jacket and a leather jacket in the same fit/size (remember that mens and womens sizing and fits are different)
if the both zip, make sure they zip together somehow. if they don't match, you may have to rip both zippers out and just sew one on yourself.
2. decide how you want to join the two.
3. make sure you have a good sewing machine and the correct needle to sew denim and leather.
4. make sure you have a really good quality thread to sew the two together. don't want to go through all this work to just have it fall apart after you wear it out a few times.
5. buy studs in bulk. this would look bitchin with some spikes as well.
6. before conjoining, do all your bleaching before hand the denim if you wish. you can always distress it after but bleach can harm the leather/pleather after you join them if you aren't super careful.
7. be unique with it. don't copy this style exactly. add some patches or destress the leather a little bit in some places like the elbows, cuffs, and neckline.
8. rock your new one-of-a-kind denim leather jacket and turn some heads, baby!

Read more ...

DIY Bleached Skeleton Pelvis Black Denim Shorts

I saw these and I literally died!!!

if you are skilled with a paint brush, knowledge of the human pelvis, and bleach. then you got yourself a kick ass pair of completely unique shorts.

TOTALLY MAKING THESE ASAP!!! probs over winter break in 2 weeks. :D

Read more ...

DIY Hot Pink Studded/Embellished Denim Cut Off Jacket - LMFAO "Sexy & I Know It" Music Video

If you haven't seen this music video, I suggest you go watch now. Pretty funny.

Obviously the bright pink studded/embellished jacket that one of the main guys is wearing caught my eye right away. I'm very determined to make this before the year is over :)

Supplies:
1. Denim Jacket
2. Pink Dye (or w/e color you wish. yellow would be pretty too) Rit dye will work.
3. Studs & other embellishments. hit up hobs lobs or order in bulk online.
4. e6000 glue (if you hot glue things on, they will fall off in the cold/if you wash it)
6. needle nose pliers to save your fingers from death. they help with traditional studding.
7. needle and thread if you feel like sewing anything on. make sure you get bigger embroidery sharps. they are stronger and sharper to pierce the denim.
8. scissors
9. exacto knife

full tutorial after pictures!





Full Tutorial
CAUTION: please wear gloves.
if you want any distressing or a destroyed look to your jacket, do this BEFORE you dye it. unless you want the distressing to be white looking, then wait til after it's dyed and dried. :)

MAKE IT PINK
1. grab an old denim jacket
2. bleach it with one part bleach, 1 part water (if you don't dilute it, it will literally destroy the denim so bad it will fall apart)
3. After most of the blue denim color is out, rinse out the bleach completely either by hand or in the wash. i just wouldn't put detergent quite yet.
4. get some hot pink dye (rit dye for those of you who don't have access to the commercial grade stuff should work). you might wanna get like, 3 packs if you want it super saturated pink like this
5. find an old 13 gallon storage container in your storage room. empty it out, wash it out so it's clean
6. follow the instructions on the package for the dye concentrate to water ratio.
7. cut off the sleeves of the jacket at your discretion. (if you want to that is. I know it's fall/winter for most folks so I'll be keeping my sleeves attached when I do this DIY).
8. put the jacket in the dye. make sure you stur it with a big spoon or big piece of metal or something (most likely this will get permanently stained with dye so stir with something that you will use in the future for dying or something you can throw away). make sure it's sturdy though.
9. stur like every 2 minutes so there is no uneven dyeing taking place.
10. after you leave it in the dye for as long as the instructions allow, follow the rest of them for suggested washing after. most likely you'll rinse out the jacket until the water runs clear. I suggest a bath tub for this. it shouldn't stain it. if it does, clean it. simple.
11. hang your jacket up to dry. don't dry it in the dryer unless you want your dryer to be stained pink.

-------------

STUD/EMBELLISHMENTS
Now that your jacket is awesomely pink and dry, you can stud it!
1. gather your supplies
2. plan out what you'd like to do. where do you want your studs, and where you want your other embellishments.
3. BE CREATIVE! let your imagination run wild! do what you want and make it look good.
4. If you want just a mini statement, stud and embellish the shoulders. :)
5. tada! done! go out for a night on the town and rock your new statement jacket!

Read more ...