Couture to ribbons - how to make a DIY JW Anderson slatted top

JW Anderson's slatted chic is set to be a blinder for next season.

Inspiration

J.W. Anderson Ready To Wear Fall Winter 2016 London (clipped to polyvore.com)

You will need...

A top or sweatshirt (believe it or not!)

Bondaweb

10mm jump rings x 50

4mm eyelets x 100

Eyelet punch tool

Interfacing

Marker or tailor's chalk

Patternmaster or graded setsquare

Long-nosed pliers

Difficulty

Quite easy

Can't think of anything too demanding here but getting everything perfectly neat and professional-looking can be challenging.

Time

This took a lot longer than expected! Unfortunately, it took me somewhere between five and eight hours, although a lot of that was down to trial and error, so I'd say the actual work itself, without setbacks, would take somewhere within the region of five hours.

Slat that

Turn the sweatshirt inside-out and cover the front and back with interfacing.

Decide where you want the slits to go. I set mine out at 10cm intervals across the front, using my patternmaster to measure parallel lines 6cm from each side of the top, followed by two lines for the 'edge allowance' (you'll see what I mean later on) - each 2cm apart - and repeating the process until I reached the centre. I repeated this process across the back.

Cut strips of Bondaweb to cover the edge allowance on both sides. Again, mine were 4cm wide and I wouldn't recommend making them any narrower, otherwise the eyelets may be too wide for them. Iron the Bondaweb in place.

Cut lines along the centre of the edge allowance (you should have these already marked out) with V-shaped tips at either end.

Fold the edges back on themselves, including the pointed tips at the ends, and iron them to fix them in place.

Turn the sweatshirt right-side out and punch eyelet holes, measuring them as you go along to make sure they're the same distance apart and that they line up. I set mine out at 10cm intervals. Insert eyelets. You will need to use the eyelet puncher for this part.

Finally, join the eyelets together along the slits by inserting the jump rings. After that, your sweatshirt should hopefully look like this:

DIY Digest: The eyelets have it

With knots, studs and eyelets bang on trend, this season, it's fair to say there's a distinct flavour of DIY in vogue - and wouldn't it be rude for me not to try it, myself? I plumped for curtain rings to add some oversized, statement eyelets to an old coat of mine. Let's just say that it you want to put some purpose into a re-purpose, you need to go beyond the standard clothing fastenings and think big. Thankfully, making such a statement couldn't be simpler.

You will need...

Sewing machine

Curtain ring tape of the right length to cover the desired area (you may want to measure first)

Curtain rings (again, the right number to cover the desired area is always helpful!)

A garment made from non-stretch fabric. Also, avoid sheer or flimsy fabrics.

Fabric scissors

Craft mount

 

Difficulty

Quite easy

It does help to be dexterous with a sewing machine, as the curtain ring tape can slip when you're trying to sew it in place, even after you've glued it down. Apart from that, it's a quick, straightforward project.

 

Time

My project took about half an hour and, while it's a relatively quick and easy task, it may take you longer depending on what you want to do and the area you want to cover.

 

Make it hole

 

A photo posted by Charley H (@chiccheatcharley) on Apr 5, 2016 at 2:34pm PDT

Place the curtain ring tape where you want your eyelets to go and stick it in place with craft mount.

A photo posted by Charley H (@chiccheatcharley) on Apr 5, 2016 at 2:38pm PDT

 

The craft mount alone is unlikely to hold the tape in place, so you need to sew it down. As you can see, my eyelets ran along the bottom so I aligned the edges of the tape and my stitching with the hem. You need to be careful for this part, as the tape can slip quite easily and it's difficult to keep your stitching neat.

 

A photo posted by Charley H (@chiccheatcharley) on Apr 4, 2016 at 2:54pm PDT

Finally, cut out the holes and insert the rings from the front or 'right side' of the garment. Mine just snapped in with in-built catches but you may be using slightly different rings, in which case, you simply need to follow any instructions provided (obviously, just saying!).

Spring up!

Owing to a frustratingly manic two weeks in which giving the blog the attention, love and what I would consider worthy entries has proven impossible, I haven't been too busy or, you know, trapped in a cave in a place hitherto undiscovered by western civilisation as we know it, to follow what's been going on during the recent fashion weeks, especially in the fashion capitals but I'm not there yet with my take on it and would rather do that the justice it deserves.

So, now that we've got disclaimers and related niggles out of the way, here's what I have been getting up to over the past fortnight (along with turning 32, getting asked for ID on my birthday and thus undeniably winning at life), I thought there would be no better time to celebrate the 'springing' of the new season than now and no better way than to share some easy-but-effective craft projects to inspire you, in the form of a necklace and some customised flip flops (yes, yes, I know it's still spring and far from tropical but still dreaming, right?).

A photo posted by Charley H (@chiccheatcharley) on Mar 28, 2016 at 9:02am PDT

When DIY met denim

This season's quirky customised jeans trend was too tempting not to try myself, so I thought I'd share some tips with you from my latest project. One among many advantages of having your own place is to have the luxury of bleaching jeans, like the dangerous rebel that I am, without aggressive parental opprobrium and disapproval. Never mind the carpet-mauling potential bleach has for sending the neurotically house-proud into a frenzy, it was more a case of having to sit through my dad's classic anecdote of his failed attempt to bleach his prized pair of 'baggies' back in the '60s; after dousing them in bleach and leaving them out to dry, they disintegrated in his hands as he picked them up from the washing line! Thankfully - and perhaps because trusty denim essentials are made from tougher substances these days - it was never enough to put me off. I have ways of avoiding such a scenario, which I thought I'd share, along with a few more ideas for re-purposing a pair of old jeans.

Elle, yes - Metallic jacket DIY inspired by Louis Vuitton

Celebrity Style (clipped to polyvore.com)

This Louis Vuitton metallic jacket, worn by Karlie Kloss on the cover of Elle magazine, whetted my fashion appetite and inspired me to craft a version of my own - well, customise a £5 electric blue PVC jacket I rescued from a charity shop! It was a lengthier-than-expected five-hour project but it was worth it for the result. It's possibly the easiest project I've ever done, as it didn't require any skill, except for a bit of paint blending. It's a fun, straightforward project but be warned - things are going to get messy!

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.