Oct 4, 2009 | DIY
Adapted from the book Cut-Up Couture: Edgy Upcycled Garments to Sew
[though mine is the Japanese version; I’m not sure if the translated version I’ve linked to is the same]
I’ve written about this book a little while ago in this post on how to make a Convertible Blouson Tunic from 3 Men’s Sweatshirts). To me, this sweet little cape seems slightly Chanel-ish, two-toned, sleek…anything but sweatshirt-like.
(And if you made the tunic following that tutorial, you will have found yourself left with the top half of 3 sweatshirts. In this project we’ll use the top half of 1 for our cape, and as to what to do with the remaining 2 sweatshirts…stay tuned!)
How to Make a Chanel-Style Black-and-White Cape With Bow
You Will Need:
*2 sweatshirts (Men’s XL work best), in two different colors
*scissors
*sewing needle for knits
*thread matching one sweatshirt
*hand-sewing needle
How-To
Measure and Cut
1. Measure and mark 5.5″ down from the neck opening on your first sweatshirt, on the center front. Measure and mark 8 5/8″ on each side of neck opening on the shoulder seams. 
Connect the marks you made in a semicircle around the neck portion of your sweatshirt.
2. Cut out the neck along the line you made, cutting through both front and back of the sweatshirt.
3. Mark and measure 15″ up from the ribbed hem of your second sweatshirt. Draw a line straight across the shirt from side to side (it should be very close to right under the arms).
4. Cut along the line, through both front and back of your sweatshirt.
5. Draw a rectangle 4″ high by 8″ long on the remaining fabric of the sweatshirt from Step 4). Cut it out.
6. Draw another, smaller rectangle measuring 2″ high x 2.75″ long on the same sweatshirt and cut it out.
Your cut pieces should look like this:
Pin
7. Turn the 15″-high bottom half you cut out in Step 4) upside down, and pin on top of the cut edge of the neck piece from Step 2). Overlap the ribbed edge about 1/2″ onto the cut edge of the neck piece, following the curved edge. Pin along edge.
8. Fold both the smaller rectangles you cut in half lengthwise, right sides together, and pin edges.
Machine Sew
9. Sew both smaller rectangle along their longer edges, about 1/8″ from cut edge. Turn each right side out again – this will create two tubes. (not pictured)
10. Sew the cape main parts together, stitching on top of the ribbing in a matching thread, about 3/8″ from edge. If both your sweatshirts are exactly the same size, the neck piece should not be gathering despite the stretch from the ribbing. (Mine is b/c I used an L sweatshirt for the neck and an XL sweatshirt for the bottom…my bad!)
11. Hem your cape, turning over about 1/2″ at the bottom and stitching a 3/8″ hem.
Hand-Sew
12. Flatten the larger rectangle tube you made in Step 9), roll the seam to the center, and fold each end over to meet in the middle. Hand-stitch ends together to make a bow.
13. Flatten the smaller rectangle tube, roll the seam to the center, and stitch one end to your stitching in the center of your bow from Step 11).
14. Roll the strip around your bow, pull tight to the back to make your bow “poufy,” and secure in the back again with more stitches.
15. Stitch bow onto the center of your cape, slightly above the ribbing seam. (not pictured)
You’re done! A lovely cape – just in time for cold weather.
And don’t forget to cut the remaining parts of your sweatshirts in the same fashion – and just reverse the colors – and you can make a second cape to give to someone this holiday season! Brrrr! I feel the winter chills coming on!:-)
Happy DIY’ing!
xoxo
Carly
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Oct 3, 2009 | DIY
So apparently I’ve missed the few screenings of Coco Avant Chanel here in Portland that happened earlier this month. *sigh* I soooo wanted to see it, but looks like I’ll have to wait for it to come out on DVD (whenever that will be). Inspired by the sheer idea of the film (since I haven’t seen it), I crafted a few things Chanel-inspired:
Double-C Sequined Perfume-Bottle Brooch
Gold sequins glued onto black fabric in the shape of the iconic Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle, then bordered by silver bugle beads stitched around the edge. I glued on some rhinestone chain that I salvaged from a broken necklace in the shape of two interlocking C’s. Counterfeit couture. (Though I’m using the word “couture” loosely, since I used glue to attach the sequins.) I made this at least 5 years ago now…the bugle beads look absurdly crooked upon closer inspection; a mere shadow of the real thing.Black & White Bow Shoe Clips
Made from frilly white chiffon ribbon and black satin wired ribbon wrapped around, and then stitched onto shoe clips.
Black & White Bow-Detail Cape
Made from two men’s sweatshirts. I’m posting the tutorial next, so stay tuned! I’ve posted the tutorial here, so check it out!!
Pirate Triple Pearl Necklace
The messy hair is on purpose. That’s the only way it can be explained.
I know this is a little bit of a deviation from the standard Chanel pearls, but I liked the pirate-esque nature of them. I made them from some cheap pearl rope I had laying about – and I added some little charms and this cool carved nut I found at a bead show. I know they would be much better if they were real – or even faux! – pearls and not these pearls fused to the string like this…but this would seriously take so many pearls and so much knotting in order to make I got tired of the idea before even attempting it.
Chanel-Style Camellia Brooch
This is the photo from the book; I didn’t actually make the brooch, sorry.
Adapted from the book “Ima Sugu Tsukuritai Co-saju” [“Corsages I Want to Make Right Now” Bunka Publishing, 2006]. Here’s the scanned, translated-by-me instructions below – just omit the instructions for the stem and attach the brooch back to the back of the flower for a Chanel-style piece. See here for more DIY corsage patterns, by the way!
Click above for full size.
The book page is 8 1/8″ wide by 7 7/8″ high if you want to print it out, in order to make sure the petal pattern is sized correctly. The pattern requires the use of a round-headed stylus in order to create the rounded, 3D-effect to the petals. Not completely necessary, but it helps create a finished, professional look to your corsage. I haven’t sprung for the $30 heated stylus tool specifically for this purpose; I just use a metal muddler that has a small ball on the end. You could probably find a paint mixer or similar stylus tool at a crafts store. [And if you’re wondering where I found the muddler, it’s actually for mixing cel paints, courtesy of animation school in Japan. I don’t think you’ll find anything similar stateside.:-)
Hope this helps to get you into a Chanel-style mood – and hankering after black and white, stark contrasts, tweedy fabrics, pearls, and girly flowers. Have a lovely Chanel day!
xoxox
Carly
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Sep 19, 2009 | DIY
I know the studded Burberry Prorsum Harlech Studded Warrior Belt has been around for awhile (since Spring 2008, to be exact…and in fact, I wrote an article about how to DIY your own for FashionTribes.com here). But the fruits of my DIY labors were never posted to FT’s blog, so I decided to post the finished photos and my tute here.
The studded stretchy belt is still so on-trend for Fall ’09…and the edgy, punky look is both bold and glamorous.
Now it’s the unique studs that make this piece – and since despite searching high and low I could not find anything even slightly similar to the diamond-shaped beauties, I settled to create a diamond pattern with 1/4″ pyramid studs procured from Studsandspikes.com. ($3.03 for 100 studs is a fricckin’ fabulous deal.)
A trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics and I picked up 1/5 yds (30″) of 1″ wide vinyl belting (sold by the yard on a roll in the trims section), a black plastic parachute buckle, and Loctite glue (for vinyl, plastic, and leather). At Michael’s I found a mixed bag of buttons that had these oversize faux-Grecian faux-silver coin buttons in the pack.
And that’s all you need!
How-to:
1. Fold one end of the vinyl belting over the parachute buckle connection tab, secure with Loctite glue (I folded under about 1/2″, and used a clothespin to keep the belting pressed together until the glue had dried).
2. Wrap the belting around your waist or where you want to wear your belt, fold around the other connection tab of the parachute buckle. Open up the buckle, trim your belting to have 1/2″ underlap, and glue the underlap together.
3. Now stud! Using an awl, open a hole in the center of your belting on either side of your buckle. (I used sharp scissors when I did this project…and believe me, they are the worst thing to use to open holes to push your studs through!! I figured since the studs’ prongs were flat points, then I should make a slit in the vinyl. WRONG! Use an awl or something to make a ROUND HOLE – and s-t-r-e-t-c-h that vinyl around the prong as you force the stud into the material. Once you fold the prongs over on the wrong side of your belt, the stud will sit properly on the material…whereas if you opened a slit and not a hole in the vinyl, the stud will be loose and the vinyl will “pull” away from the stud resulting in a visible gap. Very bad.) Spread glue on the back of 2 buttons, and push a button through each hole on either side of the buckle.
4. Now estimate the spacing of your embellishments all the way around your belt. (You may have to mark where you want them with chalk or a pen.) Set your stud groupings next to your buttons and keep alternating between embellishments until you’ve covered the whole outside of the belt.
5. To make sure your buttons are DOUBLY secure, thread a jumpring (as large as you got, doesn’t matter what color) through each shank on the wrong side of the belting. Now they should not be able to pull back through their holes, and, like mine, rain down in a trail upon 6th avenue as I hurried to the Bryant Park Tents last Fashion Week.
6. BONUS POINTS: If you’re worried about all the studs’ prongs and button shanks catching on your finer garments on the inside of the belt, glue a strip of fabric (I used poly satin lining) on the inside.
Now I know the original belt is a stretch belt covered in super-thin leather…but who wants to source the leather, sew it into a tube, and thread elastic through it? Especially when there is this el-cheapo belting to be found! The final product is not adjustable, so a little bit of a letdown there.
My sweet little boy.
(Know.Label dress [DIY’ed into a bubble hem], camisole from I forgot, DIY belt, Hue tights,
Maison Gilfy [Japanese brand] shoes)
I love the detail on this dress! (It was only $43 – but it’s not available anymore…but Know.Label has some awesome, incredibly affordable pieces – so check it out if you have time!)
Happy DIY’ing!
xoxo
Carly
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Sep 19, 2009 | DIY
So we probably all saw this on Rumi of FashionToast a little while back – and pretty much all of us probably thought “How ingenious! How clever! How fabulous! Me want!” (I’m guilty too, I’m afraid.)
But it was a little difficult to figure out exactly how Rumi had converted the piece from the Forever21 necklace she had bought, since she didn’t share her DIY instructions. A couple other intrepid bloggers made similar pieces and posted them, namely here and you can buy one on Etsy for $89 here. But since some of you may still be wondering how to make the piece, here’s the step-by-step DIY below. It’s not particularly difficult to make, it’s just fiddly and time-consuming. My first try I was just holding the necklace in my hand and looping and unlooping jumprings, and I got pretty confused. Laying the necklace flat to work and securing with pins is, I found, the easiest way to figuring out what you’re doing and keeping everything neat and untwisted.
(more…)
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Sep 1, 2009 | DIY
So you can buy your own even at Fred Flare ($18) or Macy’s now…but early this Spring I couldn’t find these anywhere except online for the staggering price of $72 or something (this was somewhat before the trend broke and Lucky Magazine had showcased one of those headbands in January or so, sparking my interest). So I made my own with a pack of feathers bought at Michael’s for $2.99 (I think they’re guinea?? but don’t quote me on it LOL), and a plain black headband from Claire’s for $3.50.
I cut out an oval from a stiff piece of felt, and hot-glued the feathers onto it, beginning at the top of the oval and working my way to the bottom. This created a nice overlap and I was able to use the fluffy down feathers at the bottom that goes right above the ear, so I look like I have some nice old-man fuzz growing out of my ear there – exactly what I was going for!!
Then I cut out another oval of felt and sandwiched the headband in-between the two ovals, to create a stiff curve. The whole process took about an hour because I was picky about the placement of the feathers.
Of course, I could have just bought a hat pad at Michael’s (which they NOW carry, 6 months after I completed my project) or online at plumesnfeathers.com. (But then again DIY’ing it really gives you complete control over the types of feathers and the placement of them…so to each her own!)
Happy DIY’ing!
xo
Carly
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Connect the marks you made in a semicircle around the neck portion of your sweatshirt.
14. Roll the strip around your bow, pull tight to the back to make your bow “poufy,” and secure in the back again with more stitches.
