Caught in the cactus - a quick Kenzo clutch

With the (quintessentially 90s) trend of the logo-as-statement-feature reborn in 2016, its latest incarnation has left plenty of inspiration for DIY projects in the quirky new label designs. Kenzo's cactus clutch was no exception, so, with my appetite for craft well and truly whetted, I found myself reaching for my fabric paint drawer.

Inspiration

Kenzo Leather clutch with Cactus print (see more leather clutches)

You will need...

Metallic clutch

Black 3D fabric paint

Pink and white fabric paint

Wide-tipped paint brush

Masking tape

 Difficulty

Hard to gauge; it depends on what it is you're painting (mine was quite fiddly) and how dexterous you are with fabric paint. One thing I will say is that this is a straightforward project without any challenging surprises.

Time

Doable in an hour.

Blooming genius

Decide where you want to paint your design and stick strips of masking tape around the designated area, ensuring they are parallel by aligning them with the edges.

In my logo design, I painted the white lettering by pinching the brush, so the bristles were flattened and could paint a petal-like shape. I painted the pink blossoms normally.

The black parts were done with 3D fabric paint, using thin slivers of paint and spreading them as sparingly as possible with the tip of the nozzle.

Thunder boots - How to customise ankle boots with glitter designs

Inspiration

glitter platform boots by chiccheat featuring ankle boots

After fashion recently took a golden leaf out of the David Bowie book of fabulous footwear with the glitter ankle boot trend, I thought it only right to follow suit with a DIY tribute of my own.

You will need...

Not Pictured

Ankle boots. Don't forget them, they're pretty important.

Difficulty

Quite easy

As long as you're reasonably careful and dexterous with stencils and spray glue, there's no real challenge here - except for keeping your work area clean, expect things to get messy!

Time

1-2 hours.

Get some glamour to boot

Clip a sheet of adhesive paper to the side of a boot and cut it away along the centre back, across the top and along the sole. Draw out a design and cut it out, discarding the bit of adhesive paper inside the design and keeping the bit outside the design - you need to use this to mask the area where you don't want the craft mount and glitter to go. Don't peel the back of the adhesive paper yet.

Lay the templates of each of your designs flat (and adhesive-side-up), on top of the 'wrong' side of another piece of adhesive paper (adhesive-side-down), trace the design and cut it out as before. Repeat this process for designs you want to copy four times, i.e. those that go along both sides of each boot.

Once you have cut out all your templates peel away the backing, stick them in place, spray the stencilled area with craft mount and sprinkle glitter all over it. Wait briefly for the craft mount to dry and then remove  the adhesive paper.

I used face wipes and a dash of white spirit to clean stray glitter off the boots, before applying a thin layer of clear lacquer to hold the glitter in place and keep it from dropping everywhere.

Fur real - How to DIY a Fur logo Fendi sweater

You will need...

A black sweatshirt

Assorted faux fur in different colours

Craft mount

Fabric scissors

Printer (unless you're an ace at tracing and copying templates)

Patternmaster or graded setsquare

A4 paper or magazine (hear me out on this one)

Pins

Difficulty

Very easy

An easy and therapeutic case of cut, stick 'n' colour (if you don't mind things getting a little messy!).

Time

About an hour, if that.

Get your fur on!

Print the above template across a sheet of A4, cut the letters out and place each one on the flat 'wrong' side of a differently coloured piece of faux fur.

A photo posted by Charley H (@chiccheatcharley) on Feb 1, 2016 at 1:47pm PST

Pin the letters down and cut the fabric around them.

A photo posted by Charley H (@chiccheatcharley) on Feb 1, 2016 at 2:34pm PST

The next step is to decide where to stick the lettering - and make sure it's straight! I did this by placing a magazine (you can also use an A4 sheet of paper) along the top of the ribbing and directly above the hem. I also used a patternmaster to make up the extra distance because I felt that the lettering didn't sit high enough.

Once you're happy with the placing of the letters, keep something in place to mark the line out and stick them down with craft mount.

DIY-scapades - a pompom cardie

A busy schedule and a spell of apathy I've been feeling under the oppressive grip of winter were the motivation behind this quick cardigan refashion. It's something about the fluffiness of the pompoms plus the fact that you simply have to sew press studs along the middle and then stitch the pompoms in place and Bob's your uncle that made this just the right project for a bleak winter's eve. All that's left to say is that when you do sew the pompoms in place, make sure you stitch through the middle of the pompom, pulling the thread as tightly as it will go.

Get it in the neck - an extra easy choker tutorial

With chokers taking centre stage as a trend - starting last year and it appears it's meant to go on for next season - you can't go far wrong with anything from metal masterpieces to 90s retro. I plumped for an easy tutorial to tackle the latter, remembering vividly how I used to love the new age look of an adjustable choker fashioned from black cord and a single charm (ideally a mood stone or an ethnic-style bead). Take it from someone who's been there, adjustable single-bead chokers are every bit as much of an authentic '90s staple as their velvet and stretch wire contemporaries.

Crossover chic - DIY lattice ankle boots

In one of my more indulgent entries, I thought I'd round off the party season with some bold yet adaptable gold lattice ankle boots.

You will need...

Ankle boots

Gold leather or faux leather

Stick 'n' Stay craft mount

Scalpel

Fabric scissors

Sewing machine or stapler

Staple gun

Black laces or ribbon

Difficulty

Challenging

This turned out to be one of my more challenging and time-consuming projects, taking more than five hours to make, so I'm writing it as a log of what I've been getting up to and what I learnt to do differently.

How to make them

In hindsight...

From here onwards is where I would change the method to make the project both easier and neater. What I should have done and would recommend doing would be to cut away the remaining fabric from the boots completely, fold it in half, trace the design onto the other side and cut it out. I would then have needed to cut away the fabric on the other boot, laid it flat, traced the design onto that and cut it out.

My next step would have been to lay the two cut out pieces face-down onto the gold material, facing the 'wrong' side, and trace around them with 2cm strips where I wanted the laces to go (which I'd fold into loops - as I did later on) and 1cm of excess fabric along the base, before cutting them out. After cutting both pieces out, my last steps would be to stick them to each of the matching pieces of material I cut from the boots with craft mount and attach them to the boots by stapling the material along the soles.

The boots

New year's eve-angelic - How to DIY Sophia Webster Evangeline sandals

Spot the difference

Designer

DIY

All set to party for new year's eve? Got plans in place? (Like, had them since April, duh!) And yet completely stumped on what to wear for the big night? I here at Chic Cheat can help assuage your last-minute wardrobe worries a straightforward statement shoe refashion that can give an old pair of black evening shoes a lift or - one might even say - wings!

You will need...

Black high-heeled sandals (unless, of course, you want yours to be in another colour to the original. This is, after all, a free country!)

Gold leather or faux leather (I'd recommend the latter in terms of affordability)

Scalpel

Stick 'n' Stay craft mount

Glue gun

Gold fabric paint

Black pen

Printer (optional but recommended)

Difficulty

Quite easy

In principle, it's very straightforward in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of a way; you cut out a design and stick it in place. On a practical level, however, it does help to be dexterous with a scalpel on leather (faux or otherwise - I'd say both were the same difficulty) and therein lies the challenge, if any (if that makes sense).

Time

A few hours; cutting shapes can be painstaking!

Taking flight

This is a template for the design I used. To save yourself the hassle of tracing or copying, I'd recommend printing the design, which measures roughly 18cm x 10cm, and cutting it out.

On the back of the gold material, trace around the template twice, then turn the template over and trace around it twice again, so that the last two shapes mirror the first two shapes.

Using a sharp scalpel (I'd recommend one with a fresh blade) cut all the shapes out.

Use craft mount to stick the shapes along the sides of the shoes and a glue gun to stick the four points down at the back of each shoe. Finally, paint the backs of the wing shapes gold to match the front sides.