Wednesday, December 21, 2011

ombré skirts











Spent yesterday dip dyeing these two skirts! The purple one was an old thrifted linen skirt I shortened, but have probably worn it once in my life, I'm thinking this makeover will encourage me to wear it more often.
The second skirt I made from pieces of old silk scraps that were wedding dress offcuts. It's very cut and paste, plus I'm yet to hem it (partially out of laziness, but also because I was too excited to not blog the result of the dyeing immediately!) so it looks seriously scrappy. The ombre is pretty subtle on the blue so I'm considering re-dipping it, but all I can say is watch out to every piece of white clothing in my wardrobe... You may soon be receiving a serious dipping!

Wearing with DIY sequin collar (HERE), DIY tank (HERE), DIY pendant (HERE) and Diavolina wedges

Monday, December 19, 2011

summer or something like it










 My summer inspiration.
The weather has been super unpredictable in Melbourne lately, but just over a week and I'll be in Jervis Bay, NSW home to some if the clearest ocean and whitest sand in the WORLD!! Can't wait to spend new years with great friends, beautiful beaches and some serious beverages.

All images from Tumblr

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

copper dreams







Obsessed with the newest addition to my necklace collection; Kirrily Johnston inspired bengal choker (see tutorial HERE!) I think it goes so nicely with this terracotta pleated dress.

Wearing with Asos dress, Topshop Ambush boots and DIY leather belt

Monday, December 12, 2011

kirrily bengal choker DIY tutorial





What you need:
5 copper capillary couplings (I used 20mm ones but you can either go bigger or smaller, like the three 15mm ones shown here, depending on what look you want)
2 copper capillary end caps (the same width to match your couplings)
Metal polish (I used Brasso)
Earring hooks, clip fastening, jump rings
Clear gloss spray paint (can be either enamel or acrylic)
Minuscule drill (to make holes in the end caps)
Jeweller's pliers and clippers
Scissors
About 2m of black shock cord
Thick cotton thread
Hot glue gun
(Materials sourced from Bunnings Warehouse and jewellery supplies stores)

Start by polishing up all your copper using the metal polish and an old cloth rag, wear gloves otherwise you will have black hands. Once they are all shiny and nice, spray all pieces with the clear gloss paint, this protects the copper's shine and stops it from discolouring (copper goes green with age). Give the copper several coats (making sure you spray from a distance or else the paint will form drips).
Drill a small hole in the centre of each end cap (the hole shouldn't be much wider than the earring hook wire you will be feeding through them).


To make the end caps:
Thread through your earring hook so the wire is poking through the outside. Thread on a little metal bead (not sure what you call these things exactly). Using the pliers, twist the wire around to form a small loop, cut the excess wire and nestle the cut end into the metal bead so you can't see it.
Attach a jump ring. Repeat these steps with the other end cap.
On one of the end caps, attach the fastening clasp (these things also have a name I'm unaware of!).


Get your shock cord and measure it around your neck to the length you want. I used large couplings and needed 3 widths of the fatest shock cord I could find. Cut three pieces of cord all at the length you want.


To whip the ends: wrap the ends of the shock cord in your cotton thread to bind them together. Trim the ends. I also used a lighter to melt the ends of the cord so they wouldn't fray, but be careful not to set the rubber inside the cord or your cotton thread alight!
Make sure your glue gun is extremely hot and place a blob of glue on the end of the cords and immediately push on the end cap, holding tight until the glue has cooled (don't put the glue in the end cap because it will squish out and make a mess when you push in the cord).
Repeat on the other side.

Voila! There you have a beautiful statement necklace, a near replica of Kirrily Johnston's Bengal Choker, at a tiny fraction of the cost!

DIY Bengal bracelet coming soon

Saturday, December 10, 2011

back to future basics










Recently I've been on a mission to replicate the beautiful high-cut race-front style necklines seen in Josh Goot's future basic tanks and dresses (which can be viewed HERE).
After making several prototypes (the red being the first, floral second and blue dress third!) I finally settled on a design in the wonderful black and white print silk in the first few pictures. The fabric is gloriously lightweight and breezy, toughened up with the exposed chunky plastic wetsuit-style zip sewn down the back.
Can't wait to wear this out on a hot summer night very soon!


Thursday, December 8, 2011

dear santa



My Christmas wish list.. For anybody who was considering buying me a present, now you have no excuse because you know exactly what I want!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

silly season outfits


Kirrily Johnston Bengal Choker
Dion Lee Sleeveless silk-georgette blouse
Alice McCall Lovers Must Elude dress
Mink Pink Sloane sunglasses in Toffee
We Are Handsome The Amazon panther-print swimsuit
Ellery Honey Mooner Heel in Yellow
Josh Goot Classic A Line Skirt in white print



Windsor Smith Hana platforms
Alpha 60 May drawstring dress
Seventh Wonderland Amadora underwire bikini in Aubergine
Luv AJ Chainmaille Bib necklac
Sunday Somewhere Matahari mid brown Demi sunglasses
Rebecca Vallance silk playsuit
Therese Rawsthorne Greenhouse pants


I'm not a massive fan of Christmas (or December in general really) not in a The Grinch who stole Christmas kind of way, more in a can it be new years already?! kind of way if you get my drift. Although I do enjoy having more excuses to dress up! I think my new years resolution will be to maximise colour in my outfits, a hard task considering my wardrobe is made up of 90% black.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays if you're lucky enough to get them!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

collar crazy









Went a little collar crazy this past week after being inspired by one of my all time favourite blogs A Pair & a Spare, so much DIY collar inspiration it's quite overwhelming! My friend kindly gave me her childhood box of sequins so I could make a crazy sequined collar. Very happy with the results, but to be honest it took about five times longer than I expected! Went with the totally 'random' approach, which involves methodically placing the different colours and sizes so nothing doubles up. I left the stand on the collar (which was cut off an old denim shirt kindly donated by my dad) because I didn't want it sitting flat around the neck, but they look just as good without the stand.

The second collar I did wasn't much trouble at all, since I had this strip of silk I had painted when I was in high school! Also found an old (op shop) Country Road shirt hanging around the back of my wardrobe, it has a lovely frill at the neck, but the collar was stained which made it perfect for a collar makeover! After I finished sewing the fabric onto the collar I realised that the silk was probably painted with ink, meaning I can't get the collar wet or the ink will run all over the rest of the shirt. Woops! I'll just have to be super careful when I wash it.

Hope everyone's enjoying their weekend!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

an open bottle





I had the pleasure of being asked by 2threads to do a post on how I'd style the gorgeous Elsa Peretti for Tiffany & Co. Bottle Pendant.
I think when you have such a unique piece of jewellery you need to keep all other details to a minimum, so I've gone with a dainty, sheer maxi skirt paired with the incredible leather cropped top from Ellery with sleeve detail and plain neckline so as not to draw attention from the pendant. Finished off with the Stylestalker jacket which has cute, intricate laser cut-out details on the sleeves and back.
If I had this pendant I would pop a little fresh cut flower (rose or orchid maybe) in every time I wore it. Such a great statement piece, check it out HERE.
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