Latest finds: J Brand, Hudson, Forever 21 and a Halloween Sewing project

Tags

crafting, deals, denim, etsy, Forever 21, halloween, hudson, j brand, jeans, max hat, neiman marcus, sewing, Shopping, where the wild things are

I love you, Neiman Marcus Last Call.  My love for you knows no bounds!!!

A few weeks ago I bought a pair of white Hudson skinnies for ~$35.  In the past I didn’t have much luck at this store but I’ve hit the jackpot lately~

From my instagram:

And last week I scored 2 J Brand jeans for $30.87 each! And they’re not weird, high waisted, or in strange colors either!  My local store receives merchandise from their sister store, Bergdorf Goodman, and for some reason, the BG merchandise is heavily discounted compared to the regular Neiman Marcus items.  The Hudsons and J Brands that I found were priced at a mere $49.99 each.  The whole clearance center was having a 30% off everything sale and I was lucky enough to get an additional 10% off because of their Columbus Day sale, thus bringing each pant to $30.87.

I usually perform research on most of my purchases just to see if I can find a cheaper price elsewhere or if reviewers had any problems with fit or quality.  Does this also validate my purchase? Perhaps.

I bought the J Brand Martini flare

…and the J Brand 901 Coated leggings in Smokestack.

I really thought they were regular jeans at first but they have faux front pockets.  The only bad thing about coated leggings or jeans is that they are dry clean only.  But I really like how subtle the coating is.

These are my first J Brands and I have to say that I am a big fan already!  Hudson jeans are normally my favorite but these are quite close.

The Martini inseam is very long and as such I’ll have to lose a lot of the flare shape.  When trying them on I look like I’m about to go scuba diving with flippers!  That’s okay because I prefer a more subtle flare anyhow.

I also picked up a cheap polka dot tee from Forever 21 for $2.99 in a size medium.  Sizing up means a bigger neck opening and a high probability of off-the-shoulder styling

The dots remind me of Japan and the Rei Kawakubo COMME des GARÇONS print!

I was going to put the post up earlier but I’ve been busy sewing this hat for a customer!  If you don’t recognize it, it is the Max hat from the book and movie “Where the Wild Things Are” but without the crown.

At lunch today I’m heading over to Justin’s so I can take a few more modeling pics of him for additional listings.  Then this hat will be shipped off!

I have a lot more material and I plan to go on a hat sewing rampage!  Lately I’ve been unmotivated to sew but this has really amped me up.

♥ E&I

DIY Project – Minnie Ears Headband

Tags

crafting, disneyland, DIY, mickey ears, minnie ears, minnie mouse, project, sewing

Justin and I are going to Disneyland in a couple weeks!  I sported mouse ears when I was a kid and I thought it’d be fun to do it again as an adult!  At first I scoured Ebay and Etsy for some ears… but I found that they don’t come cheap.  The cheapest ones were actually sold by DIY’ers so I thought I could give it a go myself and save some money in the process.

Everything I had was already here at home so this project cost nothing!

What you’ll need:

• Two old greeting cards, or two scraps of cardboard you can fold down
• Scotch tape
• Fabric pins
• A circle template (I used a large lotion container)
• A thin headband
• An old black T shirt you don’t mind cutting up
• A black lace remnant
• A white pencil (I actually used a cheap $0.99 white eyeliner)
• Sewing machine (or you can hand sew)
• Red or pink felt to make a bow (see my bow tutorial here)
• Hot glue

Here’s my folded card, headband and my template (old Bath and Body Works lotion tub)

Use whatever is around the house (perhaps a mug?) to trace your template onto the folded side of the card.  Leave about 1.5″ or so of fold.  Cut out.

The headband will slip through the card fold. If you want, reinforce the fold with scotch tape.

Lay your t-shirt flat, and place the cardstock on top as a guide.  Cut out your t-shirt fabric to size.  You’ll end up with two layers.

Cut out two squares of lace of the same size as your t-shirt fabric.

Sandwich the lace (with the right sides facing in) between the two layers of t-shirt fabric.

Pin the layers together and trace around the cardstock with your pencil.

Sew the layers of fabric together on the white markings with your sewing machine.  If you decide to hand sew this, the right sides of the fabric should face out. (Lace, T shirt, T shirt, Lace)

Trim the fabric

Turn the ear inside out.  Roll up your cardstock and stuff inside.

Flatten out the cardstock inside the ear.

I couldn’t get a good picture of this, but open up the fold of the card stock and carefully slip your headband through.  (This is where the reinforcing scotch tape comes in handy.  If the cardboard rips, you can scotch tape the card stock to the cardboard and then sew your fabric over the headband.)

Optional:  My sewing wasn’t perfect, and there were a few bumps/corners poking out.  I used some hand sewing to tuck these imperfections in.

After slipping the ears on and making sure of the placement I had to hand sew the base of the ears closed.  (You can glue on scraps of fabric on the ear base using hot glue if you don’t feel like sewing here)

Minnie wouldn’t be Minnie without her bow, so we’re going to add one here.

I made a felt red bow using my bow tutorial here, but with a rectangular backing.  The center strip of the bow holds the bow and the rectangle piece together.  I then cut the corners of the rectangle to give it a cute finish.  You can add whatever type of bow you want here.  Or get creative and add a little tiara, or a bridal veil if you wish depending on the occasion!

Using hot glue, I glued the 4 corners of the bow to the ears.

And that’s it!  Hopefully this wasn’t too complicated.  I did this project on the fly and I think it turned out well for an hour of work!  The lace really helps to conceal any sewing mistakes.

Thanks for reading

♥ E&I

 

 

Easy DIY Necklace from Chandelier Earrings

Tags

crafting, DIY, earrings, jewelry, necklace, project

I have another quick and easy DIY project for you!

Well, maybe this doesn’t really count as a real DIY project. It only takes a few minutes to do and although you probably won’t have the same materials as I do, hopefully it’ll give you some ideas for your own jewelry stash.

So this month I visited Urban Outfitters during a 50% off clearance haul (blogged here) and I picked up a couple of gold and silver chandelier earrings for $2.50 each (buy here for $5 each):

After taking the earrings home I realized that they overwhelmed my face. But! The connector rings for the bottom tier were easily bent and I removed them from the earrings. I decided not to waste the extra pieces and use them in a new necklace.

The finished product:

What you’ll need:

• Chandelier earrings that are cheap, broken, or ones that you’re bored of
• Pliers (or your fingers if you wish)
• A leftover necklace chain

Earrings before:

I removed the lower tier with my fingers first.

Ahh much better! The earrings are a little smaller and more wearable.

I took the original connector ring, opened it up, and closed it around the necklace chain. Then I did the same for the other side.

Easy, right? Almost TOO easy!

I could have stopped there, but I decided to add the extra gold piece onto it as well for a nice contrasting effect.

I ended up making two necklaces since I had two bare chains laying around.

A short one:

And a long one:

Yay! I already wore the long one out already. I like it because it’s dainty yet eye catching.

If I had the materials on hand, I think one of these fringed crescent pieces would make a REALLY cool ear piece, kind of like this one from Boticca:

Here’s another example!

Take these earrings from Forever 21 for $4.80.

If you connect them to a silver chain, you’ll get a dainty version reminiscent of this $258 Anthropologie necklace.

The shape is not exactly the same, but you get the idea, right?

The nice thing about working with metal jewelry is that it’s so easy to change it up: add pieces, take pieces away, combine pieces… the choices are endless and very easy to switch around as long as your connectors don’t break.

Have fun!

♥ E&I

DIY: Turning a vintage sequin top into a zippered clutch (Part 1)

Tags

bags, clutch, crafting, DIY, Fashion, pouch, sequin, sewing

This is my 4th clutch project in my zippered clutch series!  Check them out along with other DIY projects here.

I asked you for your opinions on this $5 sequin top at the end of 2011:

…and 60% of you said to turn it into a clutch instead of leaving it alone!  I also thought about turning into a skirt, but honestly A) I don’t think I’d wear it and B) I haven’t made a skirt before!

As I readied the sequin fabric for sewing I realized I could make an additional makeup pouch out of the two sleeves.

Here’s the finished makeup pouch!

I think I’ll sell this one for either at my Etsy shop or my blogshop.  I haven’t posted it up yet though, I’m about to head to another LASIK appointment right now.

The larger sequin clutch will be completed later on.  Thanks for reading!

♥ E&I

Easy DIY Fabric Bow

Tags

bow, crafting, DIY, dog collar, fabric, project

Here’s my embarrassingly easy fabric bow tutorial!  To be honest, I didn’t measure out any of the fabric for this project, as I made this bow on the fly.  Just use an extra scrap of fabric laying around!

The finished product:

What you’ll need:

• Fabric (preferably something that isn’t too flimsy so it can hold its shape)
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• String

First I cut out a rectangle of fabric!  I had this lightweight cotton canvas lying around to use.  I decided to use the plain brown side for the bow.

I used my hot glue gun to fold down the raw edges to make a square.  This is a roughly 3.75″ x 3.75″ square, but you can make this any size you like.  (If you don’t want such a “fat” bow you can make a rectangle instead of a square.)

Put a dot of hot glue in the center of the square.  This will be the back of the bow.

Fold in half:

The glue leaves a crease in the fabric:

Add another dot of glue underneath the crease…

… then fold in again.  Keep adding glue dots until you finish both sides of the bow.

Here’s what you’ll end up with!

Tie a string around the center to keep your bow in place.  Knot and cut off the extra string.

To make the bow “band,” cut out a long rectangular strip:

Use the glue gun to fold the edges down to make the band:

Wrap the band around the body of the bow, and glue down.  Cut the excess band off.

The bow is complete!

Some ideas for the bow:

You can hot-glue a brooch backing to attach it to anything.. a winter hat, on your sweater, or a purse!  Or attach it to your shirt collar  This is a really cute project for kids too.

Here’s what I did with my bow… I found a scrap piece of wide elastic and glued the ends together:

I glued the little elastic circle to the bow and slipped it over Buddy’s collar.

Tah dah!

My little GQ Buddy.

Have fun crafting!

♥ E&I