DIY Floral Circle Skirt

Recognize this fabric? Well if you do it is from this summery tutorial I did way back in August of last year, DIY floral printed shorts. Boy, did that year just whiz by. As the new year arrives I am busy clearing out last years things, when my friend and I bought this fabric I clearly remember the shop keeper desperately trying to sell us the entire roll, 3m extra than we needed. We stood there for about 20 minutes trying to say no thank you, we don't have enough money! We barely had any pocket money left. Luckily in the end he gave the rest of it to us for free, I am sooo happy for that. Linen is the perfect circle skirt material, and I still don't have enough pocket money to go out and buy more of it. Oh the problems with being a teenager. For this DIY adventure I was inspired my a present that my mum bought me for christmas, this gorgeous Topshop dress. It is so simple, but the circleness of skirt  is incredibly flattering on any body type. I've seen many people wear circle skirts around town, it usually looks stunning.

Stuff you need:
Zipper
2m of floral linen
Sewing machine

1. Measure you waist and calculate the radius of that (correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that is your waist length/2pi). Fold your fabric in half horizontally and then again vertically as can be seen below. The quarter-circle labeled w needs to have the radius of your waist. L should be length you would like your skirt to be + seam allowance. Cut along these 2 lines, once you open it all up it should look like a large donut.

2. Next cut a slit to open up the donut. Seam both the outer and inner circles.

3. Fold over the open edges and seam them up.

4. Bring the 2 edges together place the zipper face down on top, mark where it ends. Making sure both edges are touching and fronts of either side are facing each other sew from the bottom of the skirt up till the mark. Then attach the zipper. I found this tutorial really helpful.

 Spin and twirl around in this new artwork. Until next time!

DIY Floral Printed Shorts

This season I have been drawn to prints, especially floral prints. There are tons and tons of varieties of prints to choose from but to me summer just shouts FLOWERS. After searching for an hour my friend and I finally found the perfect fabric.

Stuff you need:

A pair of shorts that fit you well (Just for measurement)

Floral fabric

Sewing Machine

Newspaper

Elastic

1. Fold your shorts in half and place them on the newspaper. Trace it using a pencil or chalk.

2. Leave a 2cm gap between the outline of the shorts and where you cut the newspaper. This is for seaming the shorts. You may or may not want to reduce the gap on the far straight side of your stencil depending on how snug you want the shorts to be.

3. Fold the fabric in half making sure the far straight side is on the edge. Pin it down and cut around it. Repeat this step twice, making sure the second time the you cut around the edge of the opposite side of the stencil.

4. Lay both pieces back to back like this.

5. Pin and sew down the curve of one side. Not all the way down.

6. Now fold over the top and bottom of the shorts and iron in place then sew. The top seam should be 1.5cm wider than your elastic.

7. Use a safety pin to thread the elastic through.

8. Pin and sew the other curves together.

9. Fold the shorts (still inside out) so that the two sewn seams are facing each other. Pin the unsewn straight edges together so that the edges facing each other are sewn together.

 Have fun showing off your new florals!

DIY Simple Strapless Dress

Now that summer is officially here it is the perfect time for all s's: swimming, smoothies, sunglasses and strapless dresses. This tutorial is an easy and inexpensive way to get your own strapless dress.

The result of this dress all depends on the fabric you choose. I was fortunate enough to come across an amazing summery floral while strolling through the fabric store the other day. I fell completely in love with it bought it immediatly.

Stuff you need:

1 meter of fabric

Elastic

Sewing machine (needle and thread will do)

1. Iron the fabric.

2. Measure around above your chest, under your arms. Add 10cm to this measurement. Find the center of the top of the fabric, this should also be where the center of you measurement is. Cut from the sides of the measurements to the bottom corner of the fabric. It should now form a trapezoid.

3. Fold the fabric in half and pin the sides together. Then sew them together.

4. Now fold the top of the dress inwards. The seam should be large enough for the elastic to fit inside. Sew in place and leave a gap to put the elastic through.

5. Cut the elastic so that is 7 cm shorter than the initial measurement you took at the beginning of this tutorial. Use a safety pin to pull the elastic through. Sew the 2 ends of the elastic together and close the seam.

6. Last but not least trim the dress to your desired length and fold to make a seam.

Now that you've got yourself a new basic, dress it up and have fun wearing it all through summer!

DIY Ruffled Necklace

I thought this would be an incredibly funky DIY:

I found it in my look book. What is my look book? It's where I keep pages and photos that I love from fashion magazines, catalogues, the internet etc. Every DIYer needs a look book. It is a necessity.

Here is the result:

Stuff you need:

Fabric

Chain

Needle and thread

1. Cut a strip of fabric that is 5 x 90 cm long.

2. Begin folding the fabric making sure each fold is about 2 cm wide. No need to be perfect here.

3. Once you have folded all of it thread your needle and put it through the fabric. Knot at either end.

It should end up looking like this:

4. On either end of the ruffle make a wide hole using a pin.

5. Open either end of the chain, hook them onto both holes, then close them... Ta-daa!

My mum has started a vegetable patch in the backyard and I thought I would share these lovely photos of flowers that came up instead of pumpkins. Aren't they charming? I love the orangey yellow color. Bye for now!

DIY Fabric Flower Ring

My inspiration: Pink flowers and sunny days. 

Ever since July of last year I have had an obsession for fabric flowers. I find them so fresh and feminine. But whenever I wore them they would always be in my hair, for a change I decided to make one in ring form. I have hundreds of floral headbands and hair clips lying around.

Stuff you need:

A ring base(I used a broken ring and stuck the flower on top)

Fabric

Paper

Needle and thread

Felt

1. Draw a flower that is the size and shape you want your ring to be and cut it our. Fold a strip of fabric 4 times and pin the flower cut out on the fabric.

2. Remove the excess fabric.

You should have four flower cut outs.

3. Fold each of them in half and half again.

4. Cut out a circular piece of felt.

5. Sew the petals onto the felt.

Add an embellishment and glue it to the ring. Tadaa!