DIY project: Markus Lupfer inspired sailor dress

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A few months ago I saw this wonderful dress by Markus Lupfer and it completely dazzled me. How could such a simple dress be so stunning? It is nothing but a printed long sailor t-shirt, so paying 200 euros for it was not an option. Although I bet the quality of the fabric is pretty good (100% merino wool) I'm not sure if it is a good investment.

 

I've been wanting to do a few DIY's inspired by Markus Lupfer for so long. I'll be doing another project inspired by Lupfer's sequined jumpers with my own design. 

The original print is made of feathers, but I decided to go my own way with this and I made green leaves. It's your dress, It's your choice. You just need Textile paint, a thin brush and a dress or a t-shirt. Start putting some cardboard, paper or even a book inside your dress. Otherwise the paint will transfer to the back. The drawings I made are actually pretty geometrical and simple.

Making a stamp is another option for this DIY (probably faster). The girls from A Beautiful Mess did a lovely project last week stamping a pony silhouette on a dress. They explain perfectly how to do it, and their tutorial is really useful for a large amount of DIY's. 

The rush is the secret ingredient of a disaster. If your working with paint over clothes, there's no turning back. However, it is quite easy to hide mistakes in this project. Be careful with your hands: avoid at any time leaning on the palette or on your dress. Your hands might get stained and you'll end up making unwanted marks over the fabric. You need to handle the brush as far from the metal ferrule as possible, but keeping a good control over your strokes.

Don't skimp on paint.  Specially if you're working over knitted cotton, your brush will get almost dry after drawing a short stroke. Don't make it go further, dip your brush again and keep on drawing. Lines should be accurate and defined.

Listen to good music. I've been painting for years and I noticed that the results I achieved, somehow, were influenced by the music I was listening to. Sometimes we are too concentrated to realize if there's something annoying out there, beyond our canvas. Your work is like a mirror that shows off your mood.

Follow the instructions form the manufacturer. This is so obvious but we all sometimes forget it.  I used a water-based paint (although I do not recommend thinning it down, at least for this DIY) which needs fixing with the iron.

I hope you guys like this, I enjoyed so much doing it! I'll post a outfit with this dress soon. If you finally Dare to Do This Yourself (or any other DIY), please let me know! That would make me so happy :)

Thanks for reading!

DIY Inspiration: Burberry Prorsum ss 2012

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I don't think there's any other collection this season as exciting as Burberry Prorsum's. It its for me an endless source of DIY inspiration. Every detail on accessories, geometrical colored beadings, leather braiding... it's simply awesome. I'm dying to start a few DIY's inspired by this, but I'm having some troubles on gathering all the materials and stuff :(

My wardrobe claims a shirt like this... So I've been thinking about two possibilities for doing it myself. On the one hand, finding wooden beads with those shapes (I gave up hope). On the other hand, I can buy some wood, cut off the pieces in the shape I want, polish the borders and paint those home-made beads... This is what I might end up doing, but it will be a hard work... It will probably I'm sure it's going to worth it! At least, I hope so... 

The best DIY of the week

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Hi Everyone! It's been a short time since I started this project, but I have received so much support and encouragement. Thank you guys!

Today I'm starting a new section in which I'll show you the best DIY project of the week from the blogger world. To choose the winner DIY I'll bear in mind these criteria :
_Applicability: is it easy for people to follow up?
_Is it impressive? Is it innovative, surprising and cool?
_Technique and result: How is the result compared to the trend it was inspired by?

This week I loved the project of B a la Moda inspired by a shirt that Giovanna Battaglia wore. She is a stylist and fashion icon. I think this DIY is great because it's based on contrasting styles, as it mixes a striped classic shirt with overelaborated crystal beads. The video is in spanish but you'll easily understand this DIY just watching the images.

I found another version of this DIY on Everything Fab made of independent beads. 

If I had to choose, I would go for Everything Fab's technique, as I think the result looks more similar to the original shirt. However, I think this is a harder work and it is more difficult for people to follow up. Anyway... I think the colors and the shirt that B a la Moda used look much better, I definitely hate   checked shirts.

From my point of view, this is a great DIY, simply brilliant. I'll probably do my own version of this someday. What about you? Do you Dare to Do This Yourself?

U can stand under my umbrella!!

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For winter I love bright colors such as mustard yellow, they provide a cool touch to any dull look. I'm wearing the customized t-shirt I showed you in the last post and a silk pleated skirt, which is one of my favorite pieces of my wardrobe.

T-shirt: DIY

Silk Umbrella Skirt: Boutique by Jaeger

Coat: Zara

Tights: Wolford

Shoes: Aldo - eppihimer (Asos)

Bag: See by Chloé

Go for buttons!

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Anything around you may have infinite profits. Stop looking at the objects as what they actually are, and forget the function they were created for. Analyze their shape, color and texture... then a flood of DIY ideas will come up.

Have you ever used a button for any other purpose than fastening your shirt? In this project I'll show you how to cheer up a basic t-shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons. You can customize any garment or even make a necklace, but what about bringing this idea beyond fashion? Why not making a lamp, a frame or a vase? There are thousands of buttons waiting for you at the haberdasher's... They want you to do something creative out of them!!

Before starting Dare to DIY sewing a button was the furthest point I ever got to on sewing. Where there's a will, there's a way!

I started with the medium sized buttons and afterwards I filled in the gaps with small and big ones. At first, my intention was to cover the sleeves and the front, but in the end I focused on the sleeves. I think this way is more wearable. I also believe that this project looks better if you use a large amount of buttons over a small area, rather than spreading a few buttons over a big surface. Anyway, that's completely up to you!

¿What do you need?

_ Basic t-shirt (mine is from H&M)

_ Buttons: at least three sizes (100 aprox.)

_ Thread: I used white thread, but you can use a contrast color.

_ Needle 

_ A little bit of patience: ¡There are exactly 99 buttons in my DIY! Nevertheless this project took me less than two hours. You don't necessarily have to do this in one day.

DIY project: the most stunning shoes ever

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When I came across a picture of these Sam Edelman shoes, I just couldn't bear with the idea of not having them. Yes, I do recognize this was a silly/childish whim, but I just needed to have them in my closet. Finaly Santa Claus left them under my Christmas tree, which made me sooo happy. These shoes are even more amazing in live than in pictures. Now the funniest issue is that I'm kind of afraid to wear them, because I don't want to damage my favourite shoes ever. Isn't that crazy? Fashion whims are like this.

Santa bought them at Amazon, but they're also available in a few online stores such as Asos. For some reason, the price in dollars and pounds is very similar, so buying them in dollars is totally worth it, you can save a lot of money.

So... even though I own those shoes now, I should admit this could have been a very easy DIY. If you finally Dare to Do this Yourself, you are going to need...

Spikes - Or any kind of studs, of course you can change the design. You can get them on Studs & Spikes.com
Court Shoes - I like them better in black, but those shoes ar also available in a large amount of colors. So pick any court shoes from your closet (they don't necessarily have to be peep toes), the color is up to you.

Glue - Get a super strong one, I'm not sure if contact glue will work well with metal and leather. Your spikes may fall off as metal is a poreless suface. I would try with a hot glue gun or maybe with screwed spikes.

Svarowsky Chrystals / trimmings - There are a few sparkly pieces between the spikes. You can choose any other trimming.

Take a look at my DIY Shopping Guide

Tips:

1. Remember to clean carefully your shoes before starting this DIY. Although they might look clean, there's probably some dust on their surface that will affect the way glue works.

2. Have Fun! They don't have to be perfect. Let yourself go and dare to DIY!!

Sweet poisoned apples Nail Art Tutorial

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Today I'm doing a Nail Art tutorial, which is the last post related to Carnival and Snow White. Even though It may seem to be so complicated, It's actually a combination of some easy and simple steps. Just take it slow and let the layers dry well between the steps.

Start painting the shape of the apple with two brush strokes. It's like painting a heart but a little bit wider. The bite is completely optional.

Now, create a black border dipping a pin or a toothpick in black polish. You can skip this step if you have unsteady hands. Let it dry and go for the green leave. I mixed two polishes to get the green I wanted. Avoid mixing the colors so smoothly, so you'll get a more natural result. Add a touch of bright with white polish and use a cotton swab to clean the edges for a flawless finish.

Poisoned apples allowed II

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Hi everyone! Here I'm explaining some details of the snow white DIY fancy dress I showed you in the last post!

Enjoy the weekend :)

Instead of attaching the sleeves to the corset, I did a jacket. Use any bolero jacket you have as a model.

The collar is not too difficult. Just cut out two rounded pieces of white satin and sew the outside rounder border with the lace edging in the middle. Remember that the edging should be upside down, so when you turn it around it will be right. I stuck some fusing before sewing to keep it raised.

Puffed sleeves seem to be more difficult than how they actually are. You just need to make a regular sleeve pattern, but twice bigger. Then you'll have to gather the fabric on the armhole and the cuff, this is what provides that puffed effect. Actually, this sleeve is easier than a regular sleeve, as there's no need to sew so accurately.

About the accessories

I got a black apple necklace from Asos and painted it with a few layers of nail polish.

I covered a headband (I already had it) with the same red satin from the sleeves and sewed a bow. Of course you can buy a red headband

and even one with a bow.

Finish this look attaching two red bows on a pair of white over knee socks (mine are also from Asos) ¡That's all!

Don't forget your make up!! Red lips and huge lashes are a must :)

I'm wearing:

_ NARS Sheer Glow foundation (Punjab)

_ MAC Matte Bronze Bronzing Powder (for contour)

_ MAC Fluidline Eyeliner (Dipdown)

_ Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara

_ Clinique High Impact Lip Colour (Red-y to wear)

Poisoned apples allowed

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Hey guys! Carnival has finally arrived! It is (without a doubt) my favourite fiesta of the year. I actually use to take my fancy dress project so seriously. My Carnival DIY has become my personal annual tradition! This Snow White fancy dress is probably the biggest DIY I've ever worked on, at least it's the longest. I even had to do some steps twice, as I wasn't happy with the result. So... I'm dividing this DIY into a few posts so I'll be able to explain it in detail. Despite all the difficulties I went through, it's totally worth it.

Probably you won't have enough time to do your own DIY fancy dress for this year's Carnival... Nevertheless you may find this post useful as I'm explaining some basic techniques that you can apply to a large amount of DIYs. Anyway, you can also get started with this if you want it for halloween, any other costumes party. I hope you guys like this : )

What do you need for this?

_ DIY basics: sewing machine, thread (White, yellow, red and navy blue), thimble, pins and needles, measuring tape, fabric scissors, tailor chalck, unpicker, card or paper (to make patterns)

_ Clothes: Corset / bandeau top (optional). Mine is from Asos,

_ Accessories: Headband, apple necklace, over knee socks

_ Fabrics: Red or white tulle, satin (red, yellow, light blue and white ), navy blue velvet, light fusing (optional)

_ Trimmings: Red ribbon, yellow bias (edging), golden and red sequins, lace edging,

_ Others: Rubber band, black Velcro®, hook and eye or buttons (to fasten the petticoat)

As this is going to be a full skirt, we are going to need a large amount of fabric. Once you have a long rectangle of fabric (follow the drawing above), sew the pleats, the waist and the hem. You'll need to do some pleats, otherwise you'll find it so hard to sew the waist. Then sew the rubber band to the measure of your waist, then stretch the rubber band circle as much as you can and pin it to the skirt. Sew the rubber band stretching it all the time, you may need someone to stretch meanwhile your sewing. If you have any doubt about this, you can watch this video where a guy makes a women's top out of a men shirt. He does exactly the same process.

The petticoat is so easy. For the waist cut a rectangle of fabric (red satin), bend it in half and bend the borders inwards using the iron. Then bend the pleats of the tulle and pin them to the waist. Sew an straight line through the waist and sew two hooks and eyes to fasten it... That's all!!

Here comes the hardest part: the corset. Start marking the tapered edge with tailor chalk and cut it out along that line, don't be afraid!. Then cover it with the blue velvet. I did it with three big pieces of fabric (one for the back and two for the sides of the front). Once you've sewn those three pieces together, bend inwards the bottom and the top and sew them and cut out the spare. Decorate it with sequins, they're great to hide messy stitches. I hand sewed all the sequins but you can save a lot of time using fabric glue.

I didn't like the zip in the middle, so I covered it with a light blue triangle with crossed red ribbon. I finished it off with a yellow bias edging and some sequins. One side is sewed to the corset and the other one opens with velcro.

I'll tell you about the jacket and the accessories in the next post

Have fun and Dare to DIY :)

Inspiration

Let's get started!

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Felt-tip pens are not just for schoolgirls. They may be an excellent DIYng tool if you dare to think broader. Do you know that there are special felt-tip pens to paint clothes?? You'll find them at any crafts store.

Now, let me introduce you to one of my very first DIY's. I did this a few years ago, but I still love these trousers. Actually, I'm thinking of making an update of this project. What about doing the same on a dress?? I haven't made up my mind yet.

I found the inspiration on the tattoo TV show Miami Ink. I got really impressed by the great jobs those guys did over people's skin. Although I would never dare to get a tattoo, I thought that maybe bringing that art style to my clothes wouldn't be a bad idea.

Please note that those DYIed clothes are so delicate. You have to be very careful when washing, otherwise your little art piece may end up a little bit worn out. Always wash it backwards with cool water. You can also handwash it, but avoid rubbing your drawings.

Just one tip: depending on the fabric you take, you'll get different results. It is much more difficult to achieve nice gradients on cotton than on textured fabrics such as wool.

Now it's your turn! Dare to DIY :)