DIY: Bedroom Bunting

Hello readers!

Today I have another DIY project for you. I've loved bunting for ages but can never seem to find one that I like at a price that I like as well. So, I thought about it and thought, well actually bunting would be super easy to make. So I did! And here is the tutorial for you!

Things you will need: Pinking sheers
                                Off cuts of fabric
                                Needle and thread or sewing machine
                                Ribbon

Step 1.

The first step is deciding how big you want your triangles for the bunting and to then make a template. I decided I want my triangle to be 6 inches wide. I measured 6 inches on a piece of paper and then made a mark at the mid point another 6 inches below. I then just drew the other two lines down to that point to create the triangle. I then cut the template out.








Step 2.

I then used the template to draw and cut around on my off cuts of fabric. I used seven different fabrics and cut out a total of 28 triangles. However, it turned out I didn't need as many as that, but I will explain that a bit later.

I also used pinking sheers to make the zig zagged edge. This is for two reasons, the first being that it looks good and the second being that it keeps the triangles from fraying without having to hem the edges, which means limited sewing.

Step 3.

The next step is to get your ribbon and cut it to the size that you would like your bunting to be. I got a length of 3 metres but in the end I needed more because I ended up only using half of my triangles. You also have to make sure the ribbon is fairly sturdy and somewhat wide so that it will hang correctly.










Step 4.

I then pinned the triangles to the ribbon at 2 inches apart so I ended up using only 14 triangles. I took the pins out as I sewed along the ribbon. You must make sure the right side of the ribbon is facing down and that the right side of the material is facing down as well so that when you turn it around you cannot see the raw edge of the top of the triangle.











Step 5. 

The last step is to sew along the tops of the triangles. You can either hand sew this is you aren't used to using a machine or you can use a sewing machine as it will be quicker and probably neater.













This is a really easy sewing project so it would be a good project to practise your machine skills. This project was also quite cheap compared to buying bunting in the shops and I could also use fabric that I liked in particular. The offcuts of fabric were £1 in a packet that I got from a car boot sale and the ribbon was £2.37. And it was fun!

Please let me know if you decide to do this project :D

My fashion influences.

Hello all once again!

Now I thought, seeing as this blog is mostly fashion based and I love fashion and being creative with it, I would share with you my influences. Some may be strange, some may be quite normal. Read on for more...!

1. Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan has to be my all time favourite style icon. You may know her from An Education, Shame, Drive and in the upcoming film The Great Gatsby.
She has such a classical style and THE most amazing array of dresses I have ever seen. She always looks so put together and I will admit that I am insanely jealous of her!
Whether she is wearing a dainty little dress of a pair of rolled up trousers and brogues, she doesn't seem to ever put a foot wrong.
And those dimples... some girls get all the luck eh?








2. Suzy Bishop from Moonrise Kingdom

Hmm, yes I know it's a little odd to take influence from a fictional character of twelve years old but there you go. I love the simplicity of her style and innocence of it too. I have a big thing for collars as well which is why Suzy, who is played by Kara Hayward, is one my influences. The sixties has always been an influential era for most people and Suzy Bishop displays a really wearable version that most shapes and sizes could pull off. I wonder if Wes Anderson knew he had created such a style icon?



3.  Katy Perry


I love Katy Perry's style on and off stage because ultimately, she has fun with fashion without going too crazy (most of the time). But also, how can you have a list of fashion influences without a PVC wearing pop princess on it? She has a kind of quirky twist on the fifties look which I find so fun. Her short fringe suits her so well and what's more, she isn't a skinny minnie. I know she is a size 18 but she definitely has curves and I admire her for that.





4. Miley Cyrus

There has been a lot of controversy around Cyrus' style, especially when she was a little younger because she is quite risque. However, I think she is young and learning about what suits her and she is moving with the times. We're not living in the 20's when showing a little ankle was as far as you dare go. She has a real rocky, edgy style and always looks good even on down days. She also has my admiration for cutting off all of her hair! I know myself it is scary but also liberating to do that as I have also had very short hair for some time now, although I'm letting it grow out now. It really suits her and she wears it very uniquely.










I hope you've enjoyed this post and please let me know about your favourite fashion influences!
More of my fashion influences coming soon :D

A Helping Hand

As I am on a saving money BENDER I have thought of a way to help curb my spending on things that I want. I thought that I would make a Christmas list because people are always asking me what I want for Christmas and according to sod's law I always find things I'd like throughout the year but can never think of anything come Christmas time.

The other useful thing about this is, is that you can get better deals throughout the year so if you let your friends and family know then they are saving money too! For example, I have wanted a pair of hair wavers for a while but they are typically £50-£70. Now, my hair isn't quite long enough for hair wavers at the moment but I know I want a pair for when it grows a bit more. And quite handily, this will probably be around Christmas time! But even more handily is the fact that Argos are having a sale at the moment and I have found a pair for around £22! That is less than half the cheapest price I've seem them at previously, and they're not just Argos value ones either, they're Andrew Barton Hair Wavers and they have very good reviews on them.

I've also been able to track down an uber cheap boxset of Doctor Who. I know, I know, I'm geek, I've heard it before. I found the first four series' in a big boxset for £30 on the CEX website so my parents got them for me for Christmas while they were still there. I then looked on the HMV website and the same boxset is £65!! I know the one from CEX is second hand but they check to make sure the disks work and don't have scratches on.

This works the other way round too. You can listen to what your mum, dad, siblings and friends say they want during the year and then get it for a good deal cheaper. It stops it building up to one small part of the year too so you don't feel so hard on the pocket.

So really this idea helps everyone to save money. Then when someone asks you a couple weeks before Christmas what you want as a present you can say, 'Well, let me just get my list!' ;)

DIY: Scalloped Collar Necklace

Hey all! Today I made a scalloped edge collar out of those squares of felt that you can get in craft shops. It's more of a necklace really but looks good on a crew neck or a dress with a high neckline. So I'll just on with how I made it!

You will need: Felt in the colour of your chouce
                       Matching or co-ordinating colour ribbon
                       Decorative button
                       Needle and thread.


Step 1. http://downloads.luckymag.com/downloads/pdf/collartemplate.pdf
            Print off this template and cut one of the templates out.


Step 2. Use the template to draw around on to the felt in your chosen colour and then cut the two pieces out.

Step 3. Simply put the bottom corners of the two pieces over lapping one another just a little bit. Then do a simple hand stitch where the two pieces over lap so that it secures them together.

Step 4.  Take your decorative button and sew it on top of where you sewed the two pieces together. This way, you can hide the stitch that you've made.

Step 5.  Cut two pieces of ribbon that will be long enough to tie at the back of your neck. Cut the ribbon at a diagonal angle so that it doesn't fray as easily. Attach the ribbon to one of the ends of your collar with another simple stitch, making sure it is secure. Repeat at the other end of the collar with the second piece of ribbon.

Finished! Now tie it around your neck and arrange so that it looks good.

This whole DIY project cost just over £1. The ribbon was 45p per metre which I used only about half of. The button came in a pack of three for 99p. I already had the felt but if I were to buy it, it would probably have been around 50p.

Bargain!

DIY: Skull Cut Out T-shirt

Hi all!

I was looking through my wardrobe yesterday and realised that I have a few, quite boxy t-shirts that I don't wear a lot because... well, they're boxy. Soooo, I was also looking on the urban outfitters website (the US one, even though I'm from the UK) and saw this http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=24004178

I thought it looked pretty cool but it's $39 which is about £24 and I wouldn't pay that for something that is so easy to make.

I looked at the top and it's just a regular t-shirt shape with capped sleeves and a wider neck line so this is what I did.

Things you will need:   A t-shirt (I used a mens t-shirt which worked really well)
                                  Tailors chalk or pencil
                                  Scissors
                                  Sewing machine


So this is the t-shirt before I did anything to it. As you can see it's just a regular man's t-shirt, nothing special, nothing fancy.

 Here is a close up of the sleeve before I cut it.

1. So what I did was cut a piece off the end of the sleeve. However I made sure that the piece I cut off was narrower at the bottom and wider at the top so that it would sit correctly on my shoulder. I basically cut in a straight line up. I then did the same to the other side.

2. The next step was to hem the arm holes. I decided I wanted them to look like turn ups so I hemmed on the outside rather than the inside. All I did was roll it over twice and did a straight stitch along the outer edge.


3. Sorry for having no picture for this part. I then took to the neck line! If you look at your t-shirt it already has the hem on the neckline and all I did was cut this hem out as close to it as I could. This makes the neckline wider and then I hemmed this myself. To do this I rolled the edge over twice towards the inside of the shirt unlike the sleeves where I rolled them the other way. I then did a straight stitch all the way around.



So this was the result of those steps (sorry about my dog in picture, she wouldn't move).

As you can see the edges are neater than the raw edges before I hemmed them. The neck line is wider and the sleeves are shorter.

4. So then you need to lay your t-shirt out flat so that you are looking at the back of it. You then need to draw with tailors chalk or a pencil the skull that you want to cut out. This part is easy but takes a bit of time. You can see on mine that in the eyes I have drawn a line in them so that they aren't just massive holes.

5. The next stage is to cut! So this is the back of the shirt after I cut out everything. I chose to use a cutting mat and the cutter that you see in this photo as I had it and it was easier. But you can do it just as easily with scissors. And now your new t-shirt is complete! Well done!

And this is my finished t-shirt from the back. This was so easy to do and I think it looks really good and doesn't look too DIY because it's supposed to have those raw edges.

It's also really easy when it comes to the sewing parts so if you're a beginner at sewing then this is perfect for practising. However, if you're happy with the neck and sleeves on your t-shirt then you don't need to do those steps.

The best thing of all was that it was totally free!

Please comment with your pictures if you decide to give this a go!

Sam x

DIY: Acid Wash

Soooo, I had a few denim items that I don't really wear anymore. They're the kind of denim which is a heavy blocked blue sort of denim if that makes sense, and I just don't rate that sort of denim really.

I wish I had filmed or taken picture of the process but I didn't as I hadn't thought of doing a blog at that point, but I will next time.

This time I will just have to explain my process. So I had one pair of shorts, a dress and two pairs of jeans, all denim obviously. The first thing I did was cut off the bottom of the jeans to make them into shorts, so I ended up with three pairs of shorts and a dress.

Things you need for acid washing:  Your denim garment
                                                     Thin bleach
                                                     Water
                                                     Spray bottle

So these were my steps in acid washing the denim;

1. Lay down black bags on the surface. In my case it was outside on the patio as the bleach will majorly stink your house out. And I'm not joking, it stinks like a toilet!

2. I dampened the clothes that I wanted to acid wash and then laid them out on the black bags.

3. I then poured some of the thin bleach (which was 29p at Tesco bargain!) into a spray bottle and sprayed both sides of my garments making sure that they were well and evenly covered as this was the effect that I wanted.

4. After the first 'coat' of bleach I sprayed another on as they colour wasn't turning at all.

5. I waited an hour, constantly checking them at about 20 minute intervals.

6. They weren't turning white as much as I wanted so instead of spray the bleach on, which I think was too thin a layer, I used a fairy liquid bottle and squirted it on. This worked much better and the colour drained from the material very quickly.

7. I waited about 20 minutes longer and then people say on YouTube to wash them on a cold was but for some reason my washing machine doesn't have that. So instead I put them in for a rinse and spin.

8. And now they are outside drying!

The colour on the dress is absolutely awesome, it couldn't have gone better. The pair of shorts that were already shorts were quite light to start with but they have come out pretty well too. I'll post a link to a picture of the dress so I'll let you know that the dress was quite a dark blue.

However, I don't think that this method of acid washing works on all denim as the jeans that I cut into shorts did not work very well. The bleach had near enough no effect on them. But I'm not too worried about them because they're not unwearable and the two pairs of jeans were 50p each from a car boot sale a few weeks ago.

All in all this method of customising my clothes was a success as now I have an awesome new dress and a pair shorts to wear! This effect was extremely cheap to create as I already had the clothes and used old cleaner and fairy liquid bottles as applicators. The only thing I paid for was the bleach which was a whopping 29p!!

Here is a picture of my dress after the acid wash http://instagram.com/p/OhYON7SsjS

Please let me know if you decide to try this and make sure to post some pictures if you can!

Sam x

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! Nice to meet you. Please, let me take your coat. Make yourself at home.

Now let me tell you a bit about this blog. Basically, I spend way too much money on clothes and accessories and shoes and bags and... well, you get the picture. So! I have made a pact with myself to spend less money and instead, update things I already have or even better, find some free things! Although I don't think my mum will be pleased with any free things even as she did say the next piece of clothing I buy she will burn.

Aaannnyway. By helping myself with this problem (maybe even an addiction?) I thought I could share my ideas and thoughts that I've had or found and take you on the magical journey of saving money whilst also being fashionable and not having to scrimp (or to at least have fun scrimping!).

Now let's get real, I'm a student, you might be a student, teenager with no money or a full grown adult with no money! So we need to learn in this economy how to live on a budget but at the same time, not look like you are!

Like me, you probably have a lot of clothes and sometimes look in your wardrobe and think 'I have nothing to wear!' Well, this is where it ends (or wear it ends (see what I did there?!))

I'll also share ideas that don't necessarily involve fashion such as food shopping tips, going out and other stuff I think of along the way. 

I will also seek permission to share any videos that I have found helpful!

Hope you're looking forward to this as much as I am!

Sam x