DIY Alteration Project – Tribal Blazer

24 Friday Feb 2012

Tags

alteration, blazer, crafting, DIY, Fashion, project, sewing, tribal

Quick disclaimer: This isn’t a DIY alteration tutorial; its moreso sharing a DIY project that I’ve completed.

A little consignment shop opened up nearby and I saw this vintage blazer on sale for $11:

I did a quick Ebay search on my phone and it turned out someone had already chopped the original blazer in half… you can see under the wooden toggle that this jacket ends abruptly. The size wasn’t marked and the material tag was long gone.

The material of this jacket intrigued me… I guessed that it was made out of cotton and it had interesting varying tribal designs on the stripes. Normally I don’t wear much red but I do love me some tribal!

And to make this jacket even sweeter, it had a black yarn trim around the lapel. It was almost as if a Chanel tweed jacket and a Rastafarian blanket had a love child!

I took a chance and brought it home with me. The shoulders were huge on me:

I’ve read altering the shoulders at a tailor isn’t worth the jacket itself. DIY it was, then. I took this Forever 21 vest and traced the outline on the fabric with an alteration pencil to follow the shoulder and sleeve outline. (Sorry I forgot to take an image of this.) Then I cut the sleeves off and cut away the body of the jacket.

I’m no expert in alterations… I just hoped that the heavy fabric would conceal any mistakes that I’d make. I’m much better with hand sewing.. so I fit the sleeves to the garment with pins and started hand sewing.

After cutting the body and attaching the sleeves:

I thought I was going to be done but the sleeves looked a bit baggy. So I took my sewing machine, went over all of my hand stitched seams, and took in the sleeves.

Here’s the finished product:

I wasn’t too sure if the cropped look was too juvenile but there wasn’t anything I could do to add any extra length. No matter though I think it looks ok since my torso isn’t that long.

I’ll more likely wear it open anyways. I apologize for the blurriness in the photos.. this mirror is vintage and it has spots that I can’t get out!

Phew! Success! I let the blazer sit out for days before I mustered up the courage to start this project.

Thanks for reading

♥ E&I

Sewing Tutorial: Cropped Ruffle Tube Top

02 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by elle & ish in Crafting, DIY

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

crafting, DIY, sewing, sewing project, tutorial

This is an intermediate sewing tutorial for a cropped ruffle tube top! I’m no expert in using a sewing machine but I’m learning

I was initially inspired by this gorgeous Lucca Couture tube top via THE HONEYBEE:

This is a breezy, light, tube top that’s perfect for lounging around at home or at the beach. I *did* happen to see this exact top on Hautelook for $16, but it was already sold out.

There are also 2 other tube tops by Lucca Couture in different fabrics:

A lace version at Urban Outfitters:

And a printed paisley top at Free People:

You’ll need:

a sewing machine
1 yard of fabric (choose something lightweight and with good drape, nothing too crisp)
matching thread
1 package of elastic (1/4″ width) (example here bought from Michaels)
pins
a small safety pin for threading elastic
an iron

First, lay out your fabric:
Fold down the top (this will be your hanging ruffle). I chose 9″, but you can go as short or long as you’d like.

Then cut your fabric to these dimensions. The total fabric length will be 40″ but fold in half to create the tube top.

Next you’re going to make the casing for the upper elastic:

(the ruffle/overhang will be on top)

Stop sewing at the casing… If you sew over it, you won’t be able to thread the elastic through.

(This is to close up the ruffle so that the hem is hidden underneath)

Now let’s sew down the fold pocket for the elastic:

I ended up using a ~16.5″ of elastic to hold up the top (My chest measurement is 32″). Before sewing the ends you can pin the 2 ends together and try it on if you’re not sure of the length you need. Close up the entry point when you’ve finished sewing the elastic.

Now for the bottom:

For the bottom I wanted the elastic a bit looser so I ended up using ~20″. Again, close up the entry point when the elastic has been sewn together.

At this point you can overcast stitch the top for a finished look, or just leave it raw. You can even add a lace/ribbon trim too!

So that’s it! Hopefully that wasn’t too confusing, this was my first involved sewing tutorial.

Have fun & good luck!

♥ E&I

DIY Felt Mail Sorter

30 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by elle & ish in Crafting, DIY

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

crafting, DIY, felt, mail sorter, organization, project

I’ve had this felt pocket sorter from Apartmenttherapy pinned on my Pinterest board as inspiration for a future DIY… I love how organic it looks and the pop of color is a really nice contrast to the charcoal gray.

My favorite material to work with is felt, so I had a lot of extra material to use. Instead of an orange backing, I used teal.

I’ve been in need for a mail sorter ever since I bought the condo, and it cost me $0! I have a hard time sorting through little piles of mail so hopefully this will help me.

To make this all you need to do is get two equal sizes of felt, sew the outer edges together, sew rectangles for pockets and cut openings using sharp scissors. Then I used some extra hooks for hanging. That’s it!