Monday, April 30, 2012

Puzzle of ideas

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.
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.
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

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

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!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

DIY Tutorial: Cupcake jumper with sequins

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

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

DIY Sequined Cupcake look

Sweatshirt: Stradivarius + DIY
Shorts: Hollister (I cut them off)
Boots: Hunter by Jimmy Choo
Bag: BCBG Max Azria
Socks: Asos
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.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Drawing with sequins

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Hi everyone!

The DIY inspiration of this week comes from sequins! Many designers are using them as if they were tiles to build up bright and colorful mosaics on dresses and sweaters. Markus Lupfer is one of the designers that use this technique. As I told you in my first Markus Lupfer inspired project, I was planning to do something similar to his sequin jumpers since I started this blog. Finally I did it and I loved it! I found a way of achieving almost the same result without having to hand sew all the sequins one by one. It won't take you more than one hour or two and it doesn't look like a home made DIY... I'll show you in the next post!

I love making DIY inspirational posts because each person sees pictures in a different way, so we all can get inspired to do many different projects. What would you guys do with sequins? Would you do something similar with another kind of supplies?

xxx

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

DIY Project: How to transform basic sandals into stunning

Hey guys!
Here's the tutorial for my CMYK sandals. Beadings are a great source of inspiration and they're also an excellent material to make over any dull piece in your wardrobe. You can use them on clothes, as I did here, or add them to any kind of accessories, such as bags, shoes and, of course jewels. There are thousands of shapes and colors of beads out there, waiting for you to find them. This is a very easy way to create a unique and personal design that will be worn just by you!
The first step should obviously be making your design. Once you've decided how your sandals are going to be, draw a guide line with tailor chalk in order to sew all the beads centered and at the same height.

Finally, paint the heels (this step is absolutely optional). As my sandals had their heel and their instep made of one piece, I had to paint the whole sole.

I used a few layers fuchsia acrylic paint (which sets well over plastic and metal) and a layer of transparent varnish, that provides a nice shine and also conceals any brush mark on the paint. Another option is using spray paint or nail polish, they're both quite resistant to scratches on surfaces such as wood, cork, metal and plastic. I recommend using varnish in those cases too.

I had to put a piece of Velcro at the end of the buckle stripe to fix it to the ankle stripe, as my beadings were so big.



That's everything! It might take you a while but it's so easy, isn't it??
Hi hope yo guys get inspired by this and Dare to DIY your own designs!!
xxx

Saturday, April 7, 2012

DIY Project: CMYK Sandals

Hi everyone! 
Here is a total make over of a basic pair of black sandals you may have in the depths your closet (long live recycling!). These are probably my best investment in shoes ever. I can stand on these 5 inches heels a whole night out, and come back home with my feet as if I came from the masseur (well... maybe not that much but they are really comfortable). I've had lower and much more expensive shoes, but I abandoned them for torturing my feet. This sandals are awesome and they deserved to become a canvas for a DIY.

As I promised, this is a low-cost DIY (less than 15 € in supplies), eye-catching (aren't they?) and easy-doing: I've you have ever sewed a button you'll be able to do this. What inspired me? A little bit of this, and a little bit of CMYK color block.

Sandals: Etxart & Panno
Beads: El teu Disseny (local shop in Barcelona)

This week I've been a little bit overwhelmed with too much work (who stole my Easter holidays?), but I just couldn't wait to show you this project. I'll post the tutorial in a few days, I promise! Enjoy your last days of holidays, if you are lucky and you have them!

When I tried them on I wondered if I had gone too far with these bright colors and these beadings... Will I look like I have a Lego city on my feet?? I don't know, but I absolutely love these sandals now. Anyway... What is DIY for? Isn't it for doing things no one else can wear? Do you guys dare with this project?

Thursday, April 5, 2012

CMY(K) Inspiration

First of all, I have to say that I truly appreciated every single comment you guys left on my Spring Project posts (most of people commented on the spanish side of this blog). It was obviously a hard work but, you know what?? I've gone beyond the ability limits I thought I had. If at anytime I think that I'm unable to do anything... I'll just take a look at that skirt and laugh out loud! Thank you so much guys.

On the other hand... It's been three days since my last update and I was getting anxious! I've been working on a DIY I'll show you in a few days. I absolutely love the result!! It's something really eye-catching, colorful, easy-doing and that will also inspire you to recycle something you might have in your closet. What else can we ask for?? Oh, yes... It's low-cost!!

Here is my inspiration for that DIY coming up...
Color block has surprisingly survived to last summer's abuse, but in a brighter version. Its most popular reinterpretation is based on pastels, but more intense colors are also driving fashionistas wild. Turquoise, bright yellow and fuchsia are my personal choice. I love the combination of those three with black, what I call CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key). This name is not so common in the fashion world, it is only used in graphic design and printing. You can see an example of that color block on Giuseppe Zanotti's shoes I showed you a few weeks ago.

1. Romwe 2. Cambridge Satchel 3. Mulberry Bayswater Bag 4. Topshop 5. Zara 6. Zara 7. Topshop

Monday, April 2, 2012

The best DIY of the week VI

I always enjoy finding new DIY blogs that bring fresh ideas. This week I was so glad when I came across Laura's blog, Trash to Couture. She is incredibly creative and talented, it's really worth it to spend a while looking at her projects: she can recycle and customize any garment with amazing DIY tecniques.

This week she has done a very smart DIY to give a second chance to extremely tight T-shirts. The process is so easy: just cut the seams of the sides (and the sleeves) and sew some crochet trim. Isn't this so cool?? I personally love the result. Take a look to all the steps in her blog.

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