DIY Inspiration: clutch bags

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Hi everyone!

After a week off with DIY projects, I'm back with renewed energies. This week's issue is going to be about clutches. Some of you guys have been asking me to do an envelope clutch bag for a long time. I hope to solve all your doubts this week.

Since Yves Saint Laurent launched its iconic letter clutch (with address and stamp included), envelope clutches have become a classic that every designer wants to remake in a new way. Of course, it hasn't taken so long for mainstream fashion empires to bring them to their stores. Here are 25 inspiring examples, I hope you guys like them :)

xxx

1 y 2: Michael Kors 3: Maison Scotch 4: Jimmy Choo 5: Lulu Guinness 6: Blanco 7: Anya Hindmarch 8: Givenchy 9: French Connection 10: Tory Burch 11: Zac Posen 12: Chloé 13 y 14: Zara 15: French Connection 16: Asos 17: Jaeger.co.uk 18: Blanco 19: Asos 21: Donna Karan 22: Chloé 23: Maison du Posh 24: Salvatore Ferragamo 25: Marc Jacobs 

DIY Inspiration: IGers who dare to DIY

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I must confess I'm addicted to Instagram!! Yes, it's one of my favourite social networks. Beyond that crazy collective obssesion with pictures of cats (with vintage filters, of course), Instagram is a great place to find interesting DIYs. Pinterest is also a good tool, but sometimes its "repin" button becomes a double-edged sword: Only a few people create their own content and, at the end, the timeline is just a mixture of things we all have already seen.

Nevertheless, Instagram is keeping that spirit of sharing your own pictures and the things you do yourself. Many IGers upload pictures of their own DIY's under the hashtag #diy, it's really worth it to spend a while looking at all those pictures. Here's a collage of the best IGer DIYs I've seen during the last few days.

I hope you guys enjoyed these DIY Inspiration boards. Which one of these pictures do you like better? Which project would you do? Have you ever used Instagram to get inspired for fashion or DIY?

xxx

If you want to follow me on Instragram my name is @sylvia_daretodiy 

My Blogger's Night Out Look

Vestido: DIY

Zapatos: Zara

Clutch: DIY (próximamente =)

Cinturón: Blanco

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Today I'm having a small fluffy guest (again). The outfit is the one I wore for Barcelona's Bloggers Night Out, at the W Hotel. I had a great time there and I met a lot of lovely bloggers, like the girls from Fashionably Late. I wore my DIY Pollock Inspired dress with fuchsia accessories. I'll show you guys how to do an envelope clutch soon, but I'm also working on a more simple version =)

Thank you so much guys for all your encouraging comments on the last post! You all really made my day.

xxx

DIY dress: Pollock Impulse

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Hey guys!

Today's post was supposed to be an outfit with this Pollock Impulse DIY dress, but the weather in Barcelona hasn't been so good this week (and I couldn't get the pictures done outdoors). Anyway I simply couldn't wait to show it to you guys, so here is the DIY tutorial. It's super easy, you just have to get some textile paint, a brush and release your inner energies. ¡That's all!

Dress: Asos

For this DIY I was inspired by Pollock's artworks but also by this dip dyed skirt I saw on A Pair & a Spare. I hope you guys liked this tutorial! Have you ever done any DIY with textile paint? Would you dare to do this?

xxx

DIY Inspiration: The Pollock impulse

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It seems kind of weird (and inspiring at the same time) to let the chance decide the final result of an artwork. During the last century, many artists became mere containers of impulses and emotions into the hands of random. Despite his many detractors, Jackson Pollock brought his influence beyond his canvas to many other artistic fields.

Fashion has always been fueled by fine art, but probably it wasn't until Alexander McQueen started making his irreverent fashion shows when they started merging in a more plastic way. Somehow, McQueen was a pioneer in leaving aside the commercial part of fashion in order to turn the runway into an ephimeral art show that sought to provoke extreme reactions into his viewers.

Alexander McQueen closed his runway SS 1999 with an amazing show in which two robots from a car assembly line painted a huge white dress on the model Shalom Harlow.

A lot of designers have worked with this "Pollock impulse" that makes every garment become a unique piece, thanks to the random falling of paint. A few seasons ago Yves Saint Laurent (Cruise 2008), Dolce & Gabbana (SS RTW 2008), Proenza Shouler (2010), Tory Burch (2010) and many others built their clothes with paint splatters.

Recently, the brand Never Denim brought this artistic impulse back to the fashion spotlight. I personally love their splattered collection.

Background: Jackson Pollock, Number 1 (1950)

Never Denim SS 2012, via Rodeo.net

Background: Jackson Pollock, White Light (1954)

Proenza Schouler RTW Fall 2010 / Tory Burch RTW Fall 2010 / Dolce & Gabbana RTW SS 2008

This is the inspiration for the next DIY. If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you might have seen a little sneak peek. Would you dare to splatter your clothes with paint? Which one of these interpretations do you like better?

xxx

Mini DIY: Daisy Sandals

Here's another small DIY. As you might have seen it's an adaptation of my Spring DIY project, but in a much simpler way. I know that my daisy skirt is not so easy doing for most of you guys, because it requires a lot of time and patience. I used the same technique for these sandals but ¡I finished them in half an hour!

I'm making a giveaway of a pair of sandals like these in the spanish side of this blog, but it's only for Spain. I hope to do an international giveaway someday, so everybody can enter. Meanwhile, I hope you guys got inspired and dare to do something like this yourselves.

xxx

Mini DIY: playing with nail polish

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Hi guys! As I told you, I'll be doing during these weeks a few smaller DIY's. Today I'm bringing you the second one from that series.

It is a very simple idea; I had this necklace since some time ago, but I wanted to make it more wearable for the summer. So I decided to paint it with nail polish. Probably most of you guys have already done any DIY like this, using polish. I think this is one of the most suitable paints for any fashion craft. Even tough over our nails, most of times doesn't last so long, over surfaces such as plastic or metal works really well. It resists scratches, doesn't fall off and doesn't wear out, as it happens in nails. To achieve a perfect finish, you'll need to apply a few layers. The final result looks shiny, even, and without brush marks. However, note that the thicker the polish is, the worse it will look. So you'd better buy a new nail polish or use one liquid enough.

At first I tried mixing a few colors, but in the end I removed them all and painted the necklace only yellow. This is one of the best things of this DIY: if you don't like the result or just get bored of the color, you can always remove the paint with nail polish remover.

Some kinds of acrylic paint can also work well, but you'll probably need to put a few layers of varnish to prevent scratches. I tried a few weeks ago to do something similar with spray paint and the result didn't look as I expected, probably I didn't have the right spray...

I hope you guys liked this. What do you think? Have you ever used nail polish for a DIY? Have you done anything similar in another way?

xxx
Sylvia

DIY espadrille wedges

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Here's the final result of the "blank canvas" DIY. Some of you guys suggested me doing something related to sailor style. I found that idea so surprising, maybe I was too obsessed with doing the comic print to see any other possibilities... Everyone has a different point of view, so that's why sharing ideas is always so interesting.

As you can see, this is a very simple DIY, but I think it's transforming enough to bring a new appearance to any boring shoes. In the next few weeks I'll try to do a few small DIY's, faster and simpler than what I usually do. This is partly because I don't have much time, but also because I think that kind of projects are more useful to most of people.

Sandals: Primark

The first step is to cover the fabric with adhesive tape in order to keep it clean. Then, paint the espadrille. I used a dye for paints I already had at home, but I recommend you using textile paint or textile dye. Once it's dry, unpick the original bow and make your own. As you can see in the pictures, mine is made of two pieces. I think this is the easiest way to get a nice bow.

I should say I like the result, but I'm still thinking of doing the comic print. I'll probably buy these sandals again and try to transfer the ink in another way, let's see what comes out!

I hope you guys liked it and dare to do your own DIY ideas!

Puzzle of ideas

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This is probably one of the most special posts I've ever done, thanks to all you guys who participated in the brainstorm I launched last week. This post is made with all your ideas, so I hope you guys like my graphic interpretation of them.

Amarillo Neón and Amanda from  Fashion Room Lounge

Roxanne from Head 2 Heels

Many of you told me that painting could be a good option. I do think the same so, following Jade's advice, I thought of painting some sort of pattern and made these two designs. For the first one I did exactly the same I did here. For the second one I used a pattern I designed in watercolor (like forever ago...)

Christal from I Wore That and Marie-Eve from A Pretty Nest

Stefania from Rollolollo, and many of you, suggested me using neon colors or lace.

Kate from Style is always fashionable and Ana from ¿Qué puedo hacer con esto? 

This was my first idea. I've been working so hard illustrating a comic during the last few weeks and I got so inspired. I thought it would be a good idea to transfer the ink of a comic to the fabric of the sandals, the same way some beauty videobloggers do on their nailart tutorials. I also found some blogs that transfered ink from paper to fabric an I decided to try. I did a test but the result was not as intense as I expected, it looked kind of worn out. At the end I went for a much more simple DIY, which I'll show you in a few days.

Thank you guys for all your ideas and comments ¿What's your favourite design? 

xxx

New blank canvas

Today I'm proposing you a challenge!

Last week I found in Primark these spadrille wedges and I simply had to buy them. They were almost free and super comfortable!! I think they could be a perfect canvas for a lot of DIY ideas. I've been thinking about a few ways to make them over, but I would like to know what you guys see here. What would you do with this sandals? Painting? Sewing? Cutting? Let your creativity flow!

DIY Tutorial: Cupcake jumper with sequins

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Hey guys! How's this weekend going? Ready for a DIY sunday?

Here's my tutorial to customize a sweatshirt (or a jumper, or whatever you want) with sequins. This might seem so hard and difficult, but it's actually quite easy and fast to do. Are you wondering what the secret is? I used textile glue and sequins in strips (instead of using independent sequins). Well, if you are a superdiyer you may think that it's obvious... Anyway, this project is not so different from those crafts we all did at school when we were little.

As I told you, I did this project using the cupcake illustration I did for the background of this blog. You can download it here.
Supplies
_ A sweatshirt or a jumper: the less elastic, the better
_ Textile glue
_ Sequin strips
_ A textile felt tipped pen

Start tracing the design, or drawing your own with the textile felt tipped pen. In my case this didn't make much sense, but I wanted the cupcake to be exactly as my illustration. If you have a glass table, put a lamp underneath and fix the drawing to the table with sticky tape. Draw a line with taylor chalk in the center of the sweater and also on the paper, this will help you to make your drawing in the right place.

Next, fill your drawing with the sequins. Textile glue usually dries very fast, so you'd better work on small surfaces. Spread the glue and stick the sequins. Use different shades of the same color to achieve a nice shadow-light effect. Finally draw the outlines with a strip of black sequins; this looks better with smaller sequins.

Even though this DIY might seem kind of delicate, it's actually quite resistant. I'm really surprised by the strength of textile glue; it resists even the washing machine! However, I decided to sew the sequins (just a little bit) on the beginning and the end of each strip. Anyway, this was so fast as it's not necessary to sew the sequins one by one.

Important tip: Textile glue works well, that's right, but it's not a miracle. Try to handwash your DIY or, or wash it inside out in the washing machine.

What do you guys think now? Do you dare to do this project? I hope this was inspiring. If you finally do it, please send me your pictures!

xxx

DIY Sequined Cupcake look

Sweatshirt: Stradivarius + DIY

Shorts: Hollister (I cut them off)

Boots: Hunter by Jimmy Choo

Bag: BCBG Max Azria

Socks: Asos

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Here is my Markus Lupfer inspired sequin project. At the end I decided to do my own design, this is the cupcake I drew for this blog's background and the button for BlogLovin'. As I told you yesterday, despite that this DIY might seem so difficult, I did in a very fast and easy way, it didn't take me more than an hour and a half. What do you guys think? 

Take a look at my other Markus Lupfer insprired project.