DIY City Blog

Curvy mustaches haven´t been in fashion for decades, but recently I´ve noticed them popping around everywhere. One of these places has been Etsy and a few of my favorite blogs. Tens of different Etsy shop keepers have listed mustache-items lately (currently 414 items). Not only does a carefully waxed and shaped mustache give you a classic 20´s look but it also gives you a humorous disguise. I bought mine from Paraphernalia a few months ago. When are you going to join this Poirot-movement? How about making your own and maybe hosting mustache theme party for your friends??? Who ever thought that the Bearded Lady would be a DIY trendsetter one day?

Felt mustaches and beards by Lupin at Etsy.

Strap on mustaches by NDechent at Etsy.

Faux facial hair by Born Lippy at Etsy.

Mustache envy kit and mustaches-on-a-stick by Some Things Hiding Here at Etsy.

Mustache pint glasses from Bread and Badger. Via Design Sponge interior blog.

by: Outi Pyy

More and more cities (San Francisco, LA, Modbury in Devon England,…) have banned plastic bags from super markets and shopping malls. Taking your own tote shopper with you gives you something to carry your shopping home, but what to do with those small vegetable and fruit bags? You have to pack your veggies somewhere to weigh them! A few Etsy sellers have an exellent alternative - tulle fruitbags. The see-through material means the cashier can read the produce number/barcode, and the bags can easily be washed and reused. A few dollars gets you a variety of sizes and colors from fabrik.etsy.com and ficklefaerie.etsy.com.

Discarded to Devine 2008 recycled fashion show was held in SF in April (previous post HERE). The organization has now released some runway and entry images of this fantastic event on their site. Click to “Design & Designers” and 2008 images. Definitely worth checking out! Also keep in mind that Discarded to Devine 2009 is coming, so check back to the site for more info. Maybe some of your designs will make it to the 2009 show!

by: Outi Pyy

Queen Michelle from Kingdom Of Syle blog created this wonderful and very stylish peblum to complete her wardrobe. What is a peblum, you may ask? According to Scarlett Closet bridal fashion glossary it is “Waistlines: Peblum - Short flounce or overskirt attached at waistline”. Prada had some lightly padded versions in their Fall 2008 collection. Sounds interesting, looks stylish and is easy to make for yourself! I have a stack of shoulder pads in my craft supplies closet (cut out from secondhand 80´s clothes) that would work great in this project. I´d cover the pads up with lace, trim the edges and sew together to a elastic waistband. Quick trashion and an instant facelift for any pencil skirt you wear!

Peblums at Prada Fall 2008 collection:

I have learned so many new fashion related words (in English) since I started this blog. I´ve studied fashion terminology in Finnish and felt really frustrated in the beginning of my writing when I could not express myself correctly. But as I have browsed through hundreds of fashion blog posts, I have picked a few words on the way. I´m still a looong way from being an A student so I thought getting some proper fashion dictionaries might help. I found two from Amazon: Fairchild Dictionary of Fashion and The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers (World of Art).

by: Outi Pyy

I´ve spent the whole morning just googling zipper inspired jewelry. Found some fab things and artists. I got one tip through StyleBubbles blog comments (thanks Clover!) to check out artist Kate Cusack. Absolutely stunning work! In some pieces she uses only a few zippers, which is very good if you don´t have many same colored zips to use for your project. But of course my favorites have more than 5 zips. I also found a zipper tab earring tutorial from Cut Out and Keep craft community.

Zipper necklaces by Kate Cusack.

This Zipper Necklace from Khoon Hooi Features: chiffon, wood, pearl, jewel and zipper detailing on body.

Zipper necklace available from 80spurple.com

Zipper tab earrings by wickedmoxie.etsy.com

Earrings by darhling.etsy.com

Earrings by mybloomnart.etsy.com

by Outi Pyy

You´ve probably heard about Blurb.com where you´re able to make your own books about holiday pics, wedding pics and so on. Not many crafters and artists have realized that these blurb-books can also be made to portfolios or hardcover inspiration books! It would make a very good addition to your Etsy shop or website shop. With the prices starting from 20 dollars they are very affordable. Check out Blurb-bookstore Crafts&Hobbies category.

Lori Stanstedt aka lorimarsha has done just this. Her new book Re:find goods - Wear. Smile. Repeat. shows her clothing reconstructions and inspiration. It makes a wonderful addition to your craft book library. See the book preview here (40 pages, published: May 13, 2008).

Here´s how she describes her book, “Our culture glorifies the new. Trendy garments with built-in obsolescence quickly lose appeal when they appear on the “what’s not” side of the “what’s hot” fashion column. So they’re relegated to the back of the closet….stuffed into a bottom drawer… and, if they’re not dumped into the trash, they eventually find their way to thrift and consignment stores where they languish under the humiliation of multiple markdowns and overpopulated racks. As every savvy recycler knows, treasure often hides between purple power suits and polyester broomstick skirts. And the thrill of finding a mustard dupioni silk blouse or a fine gauge British wool dress makes the sometimes exhaustive searches worthwhile. I am proud to say that I design all of my garments from recycled materials.”

At the moment Blurb offers only 48 books on crafts and 8(!) books on recycling… I know you guys have talent to make more! You can fill your book from anything to product images, making-of-pics, inspiration book scans and drawings or sketches as long as they do not violate any copyrights. Of course book-making requires a certain ability for lay-out design and quality pictures from your items. But as I have written about DIY photography in the past, all this can be done at home. Just use your imagination and creativity. The Blurb.com book-design program is very helpful in this. Now how long it would take for me to construct my own book from my inspiration book pages or my trashion tutorials???

RECYCLE RUNWAY book written by Nancy Judd. Book detail HERE.
Check out their website.

by Outi Pyy

I spent a good part of my weekend browsing through Firstview.com fall 2008 fashion collections. Every fashion blog is posting about the next fall trend so there´s propably no point of me doing the same. I concentrate on finding ideas from them that you fellow DIYers can apply in your projects. And boy did I hit the motherload!

I´m sure most of you have seen pics of the unreal 3D slogan jackets in Viktor & Rolf Fall 2008 collection. Quite stunning, but they take a bit of planning and pattern making to pull off. I want to see fast results in my DIY fashion projects (plus my sewing machine is at the repair shop) so that was not the thing that caught my attention… It was the STAPLES!! The entire collection is filled with seams with random staple-details. V&R also used them for gathering volume and combining pieces (sleeves to bodice). The best thing is that this DIY tip is unisex so you can style your mans wardrobe at the same go.

I had to go get my husbands staple gun immediately and try this out. I don´t think this would work so good on my silk party dress, so I´ll start from refashioning old tees, shirts and jeans. The staples need to be shot against a surface that absorbs the hit but allows them to be taken out easily - thick styrofoam. Be careful when pulling off the garment. The staple is through the fabric but it still needs to be bent underneath to secure the fastening. Hammer the staple ends down to finish the detail. I´m sure V&R have sewed the seams normally before stapling them, but I would not bother if you are in a hurry… In this case “less is more” does not aply. The more the merrier.
I´m not sure if the staples I have are stainless steel, but I´m kinda hoping there not… I want them to rust when the garment is washed!! That would make a cool effect. Looooove rust. If the washing machine does not work in rusting, I´ll try soaking. CheapBoutique at Etsy also gave me a tip to use Boiled egg yolk works, Ammonia or urine for rust-treatments. Ammonia (chlorine/bleach) might be easiest. I remember some denim buttons rusting when I soaked a pair of jeans in raw bleach. Ooops.

by Outi Pyy

Janna Ambags-Alberts makes incredible design jewelry from recycled leather. Her work has the right (stylish) kind of 80´s vibe but at the same time I see them as very modern wearables. They have a punk feel to them that will elevate any little black dress to gala status. Janna has also a Flickr gallery by the name of Artable.nl.

Since her jewelry cannot be bought online I recommend checking out Fleathers.etsy.com. She makes earrings from colorful leather.

by Outi Pyy

“DIY tutorial: Marc by Marc Jacobs Lego Belt”

I´ve done stuff from legos in the past but doing a Lego belt buckle?? I´ve tried to figure out the fastening since I saw these in Marc By Marc Jacobs SS08 summer collection. Then I was doing some google searches this evening for something completely different and stumbled upon Morgan´s lego-belt tutorial. How simple solution! I mean it is always like that isn´t it? Simple just works! Great job girl! Now the only question is how will a make this work for a belt buckle for guys??

by Outi Pyy

I adore worn down secondhand leather and bags made from recycled or repurposed leather clothes. You just can´t beat vintage leather. My all time favorite bags designer in the sustainable fashion scene is Ashley Watson but recently I have also found other great designers and bag makers!

BAGGAGE recycled leather bags from Canada.

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Recycled leather bags available at Amoosi.

Matières à réflexion bags by French designers Laetitia Azpiroz and Cyrille Railliet. Also check out their blog. Found via TheCoveted fashion blog.

Red leather bag sewn from a thrifted leather jacket. Made by a fellow Finn Jaana-Mari.

Recycled leather goods from thecraftydevils.etsy.com.

Charlott Vasberg inspires me with her bag designs. The Twiste bag from 2005 still looks new and fresh (zippers yey!).