Bleach Black Coolest.DIY.Ever. Valerie and Kristin are those cool girls from school that you wanted to be best friends with. Their DIYs are original and edgy and their blog is full of gorgeous photos. If you ever need inspiration, Bleach Black is a great site to visit.

Anchor Bracelet DIY

Ramblings of a Designer Charlotte Tang is a fellow Torontonian and fellow graphic designer! A girl after my own heart she has “caught the DIY bug” and created some really cute bracelets. Visit her site for more!

The Yellow Clutch DIY

Style Scrapbook Andy is always chic and provides us with amazing and simple DIYs that we can’t wait to try. This clutch DIY is on my to-do list!

Balmain-inspired mini DIY

A Pair and a Spare Geneva’s site is one that I visit daily. Her blog is a great DIY resource and just happens to look amazing in all of her own creations including this Balmain-inspired mini skirt that she embellished herself!

The Weekend Bag DIY

The Weekend Designer is hands-down the best site I’ve found that include cute projects and very detailed instructions. The site is not updated much anymore but there are tons of projects including this amazing bag that I cannot believe he hand-made. It’s my favourite find this week!

Elle

I have been haunted by this cargo jacket (above right) with leather sleeves for some time now but I couldn’t remember the brand or price. So I was walking with Wes down Yonge street and I found it in the window of a boutique! It was clearly a sign. I went in and asked the sales person about it and she took the beautiful coat off the hanger and handed it to me to try on but then I saw the price… $396! I died a little inside and didn’t try it on, then slumped all the way back down Yonge. Later, I realized how easy it would be to replace the sleeves on a regular coat! All I would have to do is find the perfect coat and leather pants or a skirt from a thrift store for the sleeves. Here’s how I did it.

Sewing Level: Intermediate

DIY cost: $33.80 Jacket, Forever 21; $14.00 Leather pants, Double Take Thrift Store = ~ $48 vs. $396

Instructions:

1. Find a jacket without lining that is suitable to your taste and budget. I wanted to look in second-hand shops for a cargo coat but I figured it would be easier to buy them in-store since they’re everywhere and because I wanted the body to be similar to the original Vedo coat. I found mine at Forever 21 (Fairview Mall) for $33.80.
2. Using a stitch ripper, separate the sleeves from the jacket and then the seam of the sleeve, making it lay flat – make sure to note the front and back sleeve and mark.
3. Create a pattern using packing paper, newspaper, gift paper or whatever you can get your hands on. Lay the sleeve on the paper and trace around it. Mark the seam allowance which you can see from the dismantled sleeve. Again mark the back and front on the sleeve pattern.
4. Find leather for your sleeves. You can try the “big” name thrift stores but they usually charge a lot for their leather. Try to find a “mom-and-pop” second hand store. I got mine at Double Take for $14. Try to find leather that would be easy as possible to sew. Mine is calfskin so it’s nice and thin.
5. Place the pattern on the leather pant leg (dismantled the same way as the sleeve). My pant leg was in panels so there were seam lines throughout. In this case I lined up the tip of the shoulder with the main seam on the pant leg so it would match up with the shoulder seam on the coat. (see below for how I positioned my pattern). If you are using a fabric other than leather make sure to match your grainlines.
6. Sew up the sleeve seam.
7. Attach the sleeve to the body of the jacket matching the back and front of the sleeve to the back and front of the jacket.
8. Finally hem the sleeve hole.
9. Be careful sewing with leather. Use a walking foot and a needle suitable for leather… unlike me, who broke four. Eeep!

Pics

For those of you interested in Veda Jackets (which are awesome!) they can be found online at ShopBop. If anyone knows of any boutiques in Toronto that carry Veda let me know and I’ll post them.

So ever since I saw these  burberry boots from the Fall ‘10 collection I’ve been obsessed with finding my own version, ie. cheaper and flat. BUT after searching high and low I can’t find any! I’ve seen many similar styles but they are all either heels or just ugly so I’ve taken it into my own hands (like any true DIY-er) and made my own. I took the boots I got from Common Sort last year and jazzed them up with shearling inserts. Check out how incredibly easy it is to make your own!

Materials

• Shearling (currently on sale for $12/m (down from $40) at Fabricland)
• scissors
• pen/chalk for tracing
• sewing machine

Instructions

1. Cut a large piece of shearling and place it in your boot to trace.
2. Use a pen to trace around the boot- keep in mind that you may want to extend the shearling to the front of your boot where your laces are.
3. Add a seam allowance, I used 1/2″ and cut.
4. Fold sides in and pin. Then fold (cuff) the top of the shearling down and pin where side fold is.
5. Sew down the sides making sure to catch the top- this creates an open “cuff” that will fit over the top of your boots. By sewing down the sides you make sure that only shearling will show and not a raw edge showing the suede (in my case leopard suede).
6. Done! Hopefully the pictures help illustrate this DIY- it’s a bit hard to explain. Let me know if you have any questions!

I started this project a long time ago. I drew a deer, photocopied and enlarged my drawing, cut out the leather pieces, taped them on (pinning through leather breaks nails), then started sewing… and promptly stopped. I realized what I was doing was impossible. Initially I wanted to sew around the edges of the pieces, outlining them (was I drunk?) but soon realized how difficult this was. This project laid on my “to-do” pile for about a month before I got a brainwave(!) last night and decided to just sew them straight on with diagonal top-stitching. I can’t believe how long it took me to come up with this super simple solution…

I hope you like my latest DIY. I’d love to hear what you think!

Patches are on everything this spring! I remember when I was little and my mother used to put heart patches on top of holes I made in my jeans and I loved them. As I grew older and kept wearing out my jeans, I became “too cool” for patches, making a face at my mom who would offer to mend them with her signature heart patch. I’m happy to see that patches have become a trend! What’s great about patches is they’re so easy to sew onto a pair of old jeans or shorts! Check out my DIY below to see how easy it is to participate in this trend.

Inspiration

Materials

• jean shorts
• fabric squares – use broadcloth and wovens for patches
• thread to match your fabric and denim squares
• sewing machine
• denim squares
• scissors
• pins

Instructions

1. Cut out your squares to various sizes. Have fun with the shapes! If you want to do hearts, stars, unicorns go for it!
2. Pin into place. I have these jeans and hate the back pockets (obviously) so a patch is a perfect way to cover up the ugly embroidery! I used the same fabric from the legs of the jeans for the large patches on the back just so it doesn’t look too… patchy.
3. Baste your squares onto your shorts. (largest stitch length)
4. Zig-zag edges or use a short straight stitch close to the edge of the patch.
5. You’re done!

Be sure to avoid sewing down the front pockets. My back pockets are now unusable because of the patches. If you’re ambitious and want to put patches on your pockets but still remain functional, you can take off your back pockets, sew on your patches, then sew your pocket back on.

Gallery

Unfortunately I didn’t finish the shorts. I have had some DIY disasters in the past few days and this is my third project (the first two failed). I still need to use a zig zag stitch to complete the shorts but realized I didn’t have the right colour thread (and I’m not going to use the neon green I have just lying here). I’ve been v. frustrated but decided to share this DIY with you anyway. I’ll get this done and share the results as soon as possible.

What You Need

• Chain
• Rings (to connect the flower and chain)
• Lace
• Hand-sewing needle and thread

How-To

1. Cut out your flowers or designs from lace.
2. Pin to decide on placement. I find planning this way really helps me decide on the design. I initially started with three types of lace flowers but it was too much when I pinned and tried on the necklace
3. Sew rings onto the back of your flowers with a hand-sewing needle
4. Attach the flowers!

The Gallery

Leather and Cotton Leggings

I actually saw a girl with similar leggings on and I made a mental DIY note to myself to figure out how to make them. But now I can save my brain power (phew)! This lovely project from Blooming Vogue shows us how to combine leather and cotton in a successful way.

For entire project click here!

Painted Jeans

This is on my DIY to-do list too! It’s crazy how DIYers think alike. These jeans are done with fabric markers (the site is in dutch in case you don’t have a translator) and just drawn straight on. I want to do a version with flowers and more of a sponge effect. Courtesy of Fashionable and Me.

For entire project click here!

Get Your Paint on
This project is done with fabric paint and a paint brush. I absolutely love the look of both the oxfords and the jeans and think the colours applied are perfect. This DIY and many others are from PS I Made This. I have so many DIYs to do!

Leggings, I Dye

Shini from Park and Cube uses bleach and pearls to jazz up her leggings. I love her version because it’s very subtle and beautiful. There are so many ways to personalize this project, get going!

For entire project click here!

Leather Disc Jacket

The more I add to this post the more excited I’m getting. I may have a heart attack these DIYs are so awesome. This jacket is made of leather discs that Sophia from Phosphene made is completely brilliant. How do people think of these things? I’m definitely going to make my own version.

For entire project click here!

Zipper Cuff

Anni J from Style Hurricane has the most amazing accessory DIYs on her site! This zipper cuff is just one of many that she makes. And although she doesn’t give the steps to how to make it if you’re lucky you can snap one up from her Etsy store.

Visit project page

I hope you guys liked the DIYs and forgive me for not providing one myself
Which one is your favourite?

The Final Result

The Instructions

1. Cut off sleeves, fold under and sew. You can also leave this unfinished for a more raw look
2. Decide where you would like to crop the shirt. I also finished this by turning up the raw ends and sewing and if you decide to do that too make sure you compensate for it. So if you’re going to finish it you’ll probably turn the ends up about 1/2″ so cut it a 1/2″ longer.
3. Decide where you want the yokes and the style. I did a “sweetheart” style but marked where the yokes would come to so I wouldn’t reveal too much IF you know what I mean…
4. Cut out your yokes. To make it easier just cut to the shoulder seam and the armhole seam and to the buttonhole placket (center). Don’t cut into the entire sleeve-hole. See the pictures below for reference.
5. I wanted this to be quick and easy so I sewed the lace directly on. From the “right side” (the side that shows) I pinned the lace underneath the dress shirt so I could easily sew right around.
6. Using the width of my presser foot (1/4″) as a guide, I sewed all around the lace applique attaching it from the right side.
7. You’re done! Quick and easy!

The Gallery

I hope you enjoyed this DIY!