for sale

  

I'm very excited to announce that I've just opened my Etsy shop! This little collection of painted skirts (and denim leggings) are up for sale as well as a couple of pieces of jewellery from my last post HERE. I'm in the process of putting lots more up so keep a look out.

Come visit my shop NOBIGTRUTH.ETSY.COM
You can also keep updated through my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/nobigtruthblog

recap

Mini / Maxi dress

Future basic tank

Collars

Floral shorts

Ombre skirts

Paint pants

Metallic peplum blazer

Splatter skirt

Candy stripe dress

Velvet peplum top

I've been looking through my 'DIY history' and decided to do a recap post on my favourites. This is partly spurred on by the fact that I'm in the process of a whole new load of DIYs which I'll be putting up for sale. Sometimes I'm tempted to sell some of my designs when people tell me they'd pay for me to make them something or buy an existing piece off me, but the problem is that most of the time I've made something out of a small piece of fabric, without a pattern and fitted to my body measurements so it's extremely hard to replicate. Another issue is my emotional attachment to pieces, I may not get a whole lot of wear out of some stuff but just the thought of never seeing designs again is enough to haunt me! Sounds silly, but when I slave over a piece and end up producing something I'm seriously proud of it sits close to my heart. SO that's why I'm making pieces specifically for sale! It will be a mini collection of painted skirts and jeans, all exclusive styles. So far I've finished one skirt and started a second, hoping for them to be done and up for sale before July starts. Watch this space!

minted

I went impromptu shopping the other day, the best kind of shopping I think because I always seem to find something good when I'm not really looking for anything in particular. I'm talking about this minty knit from Sportsgirl. It's such a perfect colour, I've fallen in love. This will definitely be a staple to brighten up my winter wardrobe.

And no you don't need glasses, I went a bit photoshop crazy and decided to quadruple myself (the same effect as my 'new' header, read: old header reincarnated. I got over that colourful block type one I had before quicker than a bee on speed (?!?!))

[wearing: Sportsgirl knit, DIY painted jeans, Therapy boots via The Iconic, COS necklace]

splatter skirt

 My latest DIY involved reviving this nursey-looking navy blue pencil skirt I bought years ago from an op shop with the full intent of doing something creative with it. I went into this insane painting phase after getting all Van Gogh on my jeans in my last DIY HERE, and now I see a vast majority of my wardrobe as having the potential to look amazing if I splashed some paint on it! These urges must be reined in though, or else I will end up looking like a walking canvas (that a 2 year old painted).

So I promised myself this will be the last garment I paint for a while now. I started off with an ocean greeny-blue background and went a bit Jackson Pollock over the top of it. Unfortunately some of the white splatters look a lot like a bird pooped on it, but that's just the price you pay for being an inexperienced paint-flicker.

Wearing with: Asos top and boots, necklace from Vietnam, vintage ring and bracelet

paint pants

All my creative energy had been bottled up inside me for so long until I finally got around to doing a long awaited DIY painted jeans project yesterday! So so simple I'm not sure why I didn't think of it earlier, but I guess it's true that the best ideas are the ones you leave brewing for a while.

I bought these jeans from Primark when I was in London in February. I'm sure most people know about the craziness of Primark and how you just don't bother trying to line up for the change rooms, so it's all a bit of a lucky dip sizing-wise. Thankfully these jeans were a perfect fit, although for £11 it wouldn't be much of a loss if they didn't!

Materials:

Any odd pair of jeans (light colours work best)

Acrylic paints

Textile medium (I used Chromacryl)

Paint brushes (various sizes)

Instructions:

No prep required, but if you are using brand new jeans it's probably a good idea to put them through the wash first to get any excess dyes out.

Lay your jeans flat on a surface with newspaper or a drop sheet underneath, slot extra newspaper inside the legs so the paint doesn't seep through either side.

Mix up your acrylic colours with textile medium in separate disposable tubs/bowls (the medium should come with instructions, mine said to use 2:1 parts paint to medium).

If you plan on using light colours or not covering the entire fabric with paint put down a thin base coat in white or any background colour you like.

Then, go nuts! But not too nuts, you should try and just stick to a few complimentary colours and have a theme going (mine was inspired by lush tropical rainforests). It's really easy to go overboard with the paint so step back every now and then to think about your work (sorry if I sound like your 8th grade art teacher!).

If you're not very artistically confident and are lucky enough to know an abstract painter, get them involved! But I'm pretty sure anybody can whip around a paintbrush as I've done, so don't be afraid.

Hang the jeans up to dry. When the paint's completely dry iron the jeans under a tea towel or scrap fabric on the hottest setting to set the paint. Hand wash them in cool water to make sure the paint doesn't run (if it does though, there's basically nothing you can do except try and set the paint with the iron again). If you're paint runs it means you haven't used enough textile medium, so my advice would be to try and wash it all out and start from scratch unfortunately.

Wearing with: Style Nanda top, COS necklace, DIY perspex cuffs (as seen HERE), Windsor Smith Loren heels.