Funky DIY Fashion

Since I've become a wife and a cook (both which I love being), I decided to make an apron for myself. I had some leftover fabric from other projects which worked well together. I love the blue color, the patterned fabric, and the white eyelet fabric even though white is not a good color for aprons. It's perfect for being a wife!

I found an awesome dress at the local thrift shop. It had a great pattern on the front. The only problem was, it had ugly long sleeves and an ugly high neck. I bought it and cut the sleeves making them into cute puffy sleeves. The neck I cut and put a new facing in to finish the edge. Its a great dress and super comfortable.

This is the dress I made for my luncheon. It's the perfect blue color. I love the long maxi style dress but I wanted to make it modest so I added sleeves.

This is a classic men's shirt from American Eagle that I also found at a thrift store. I tailored it to fit me. I love men's shirts because they are long and have long sleeves. It's a lot more comfortable fit but still flattering.

I made a men's button up shirt for my sewing class. It was really hard but totally worth it. It was even harder because I chose plaid, matching up the lines was difficult but it turned out great in the end, and my husband loved it.

I designed my dream wedding dress and had someone make it for me. It is alternating satin weave striped fabric. Its a ball gown silhouette with a queen anne neckline, petal sleeves, and white buttons up the back. Originally it just had a two inch dropped waist band. After taking my bridals, my seamstress and I decided to add a two inch band around the bottom also. You can see the difference in the pictures. It turned out perfectly and fit me perfectly!

I made a zip-up hoodie for my sewing class. Notice the fabric lining the hood, it also lines the pockets. It's great having a hoodie that is long enough in the body and the arms!

This is vintage paisley 100% silk that I got from my neighbor. Its such a beautiful color (the pictures don't do it justice) and has a gorgeous feel. I made a full circle skirt from it. Its fun to twirl in!

I have a lot of confidence in myself. I choose to be comfortable in what I wear. This past week I dressed up one day and dressed down one day. On the day I dressed up and spent time on my hair and make-up, I felt confident and wonderfully feminine. On the other hand, when I dressed down in workout clothes I still felt confident, but a lot more masculine. I felt confident in myself both days, but each day I felt slightly different about myself. When I began thinking about this difference, at first I found myself thinking, "why would I want to feel feminine?" "Femininity is not strong and powerful." I was shocked that I would think that. I realized that society has been harsh on femininity in the past while as gender-roles have been changing, and it has begun to seep into my thinking. I did not like it and realized that I had enjoyed feeling feminine so much. When I felt feminine, I also felt strong, powerful, and confident.

I just got married and bought an awesome, cheap, and comfortable couch from craigslist. It was blue and white striped with red, white, and blue plaid cushions. I really like the couch I just didn't like the plaid. I re-upholstered the cushions with a dark denim. The couch looks way better now and modern!

No matter what I wear I always know who I am. I know what defines me. I know that the way I feel about myself on any given day affects how people view me. I had a roommate two years ago who naturally has very curly hair. She would style it curly almost everyday. Every once in awhile she would take the extra time to straighten her hair. One day when she had straightened it, she came home at the end of the day and talked about how a guy in the store had struck up a conversation with her. She thought that it was her straightened hair that had made her more attractive. I thought about it and suggested to her that she felt that she was more attractive because she straightened her hair and that made her feel and act like a more confident person. She saw herself in a different way and felt good about herself. She thought about it and realized that she had had more confidence throughout the day because of the extra time she had put into getting ready in the morning. It really struck me how having high self-esteem really makes a difference to other people in how they view you. That guy might not have realized that much of a difference in my roommate, he was probably just subconsciously attracted to the way she viewed her own self. I read a quote the other day that says "fashion is either a way to express positive self-esteem or to overcome self feelings of inferiority." I find this thought very interesting. Fashion expresses so much about people without them even realizing it. Clothing makes a difference, and even though it is usually an inaccurate judgment, people base their judgments off of what people around them wear. The importance of fashion is feeling good about yourself. It's liking your personality and showing that in your fashion choices. It's feeling positive about who you are. Whatever you wear, it is most important that you feel confident in it wherever you are going and whatever you are doing.

I went to a secondhand store and bought three gray coordinating men's button up shirts. I used one shirt for the top putting lots of darts in and gathered cap sleeves. I gathered parts of the shirts onto the waistband which was a buttonhole pattern of one of the shirts.

I interviewed a girl and a boy in their early twenties both going to BYU. They are both working full-time for the summer and wanting to look good for the opposite gender. I thought there would be a big difference between boys and girls but there actually wasn't. They both said clothing was important because they like to look good and present themselves well. They also put thought into what they put on and look at other people's clothes. When it came down to what each was trying to accomplish, I found that both dressed to be appealing to the opposite gender but there was a big difference in their thinking. The boy said that if you dress well you get a girl and keep her. Guys just like to look strong and intimidating. He commented, "I don't want a guy to look at me and think, 'Oh, I can take his girl.'" I was very surprised and intrigued by this. I didn't know that guys think this way. On the other hand, the girl said that it was most important to wear something modest, and this is how she can attract the right kind of guy. For both, their driving force was to get or keep a girlfriend/boyfriend. A boy is thinking of being masculine and protecting, while the girl is trying to attract the right kind of guy. Even though girls and boys use different word choices when talking about clothing, they seem to want the same results.

I love the look of legwarmers. I wanted mine to be extra warm, and I had an old sweater I wanted to get rid of. I cut the sleeves off and added elastic on the inside bottom so it would stay tightly around my ankles.

I wanted to make a fun summer skirt without doing the work of using a woven fabric or hemming. I decided to buy four cheap yellow t-shirts from a discount store. I cut out four rectangles from the back of the shirts and gathered them onto an elastic waistband made from extra yellow t-shirt fabric.

I made an apron from a 1940's pattern for my soon-to-be sister-in-law. She loves ducks and she loves green so this fabric was perfect. I ordered the pattern from Etsy. (Its me wearing it in the pictures.)

I found a simple pattern online for spats. So I made some reversible spats that can be worn with flats or heels.

I made a reversible sleeveless sweatshirt out of thermal fabric. I picked three different prints and cut the pattern into different shapes for an interesting fit. Its very fun, and I love choosing either side. Its warm for coming winter too!

I had a friend that needed a hole in his knee mended. Instead of doing a normal mending job, I did a checkered design. He picked the colors, and he loved the result!

My guy friend had a shirt that had small ink spots on it. He liked the shirt though so we decided to put a wing design over it. First, I used heat-set crayons and I colored smudges and shapes all over where the wing was going. Then my friend drew the wing over the colors with permanent marker. We combined my smooth, abstract art with his sketchy, sharp art.

This one was really fun to make. I got the idea from the website burdastyle.com. I got scraps of yarn, string, and netting. I then laid out a design of a tree on the front of a shirt. Over this, I pinned down a sheet of water-soluble backing. Then, I sewed in a sewing machine all over, back and forth, zigzagging in a design all over the design making sure I tacked down all the ends. I then washed the shirt making the backing dissolve in the water. This left the design with cool stitching all over it.

I have a friend in France who sent me a dress for my birthday. It fit me perfectly except I'm really tall, so it was too short for me. I decided to add a little flare to the bottom. Black and white striped fabric.

Suspenders on shirts had been a new popular thing when I came up with this idea. I wanted to put my twist on it. I got a plain fitted white t-shirt and put duct tape on it in the shape of suspenders and a polka dotted bow-tie. I then sprayed red spray paint around the duct tape shapes creating a silhouette of suspenders and a bow-tie.

I had a lot of fun making this shirt. First, I threw scraps of fabric all over the front and spray painted colors over top to give it a very textured look. I also put a heart shape down on the top left to give it the blank spot. Then, I embroidered a heart lock and key onto the shirt. The lock in the heart shape and the key in the colored chaos near the bottom. It came out looking better than I expected!

One of my guy friends wanted patches put on his shirt. But he wanted it to look like professor, with silk elbow patches etc. I did a lot of patches. My favorite one is two on the back. A silk patch right next to a burlap patch.

My other brother told me about a twister dress. His friend had made a skirt out of the plastic twister mat. I got a dress pattern and made the dress. I put it together with duct tape and even put a zipper down the back.It was hard too make but it's so fun! I wore it a couple of times in high school and everyone loved it!

My brother told me about seeing a tie skirt once, and I decided to make one for myself. It took me a long time. I didn't alter the ties at all because I didn't want to lose the effect or the look of the tie. It does make a heavy skirt but its worth it. I chose blue as my basic color, but the skirt turned out to be very multi-colored. I also chose a shimmery gold tie as the waistband. I love how it flairs out slightly like an a-line skirt.

Looking through my items, you can see that I love the beach. The first beach item I made though was on a pocket. I embroidered a beach scene on the back pocket of jeans. It took me a very long time because I covered the entire pocket but it was worth it, and I chose bright colors so it would really stand out.

My sister wanted an embroidered design on the back pocket of her jeans, but also wanted it to be flattering. Her name starts with an S, so I used that for my basic design. I stretched out the shape and distorted it so its almost unreadable. Then I added small dots and petals around the edges. My sister loves wearing them!

I don't remember how I got this idea but I decided to cover shoes with girl faces cut out from magazines. I had lots of fun finding the craziest faces I could find. I had leather shoes to do cover, but I couldn't think of a way to glue them on. Most glue isn't flexible so they wouldn't work. My dad found a recipe for me for bookbinding and leather glue which worked out perfectly! Here is the recipe for the glue:

Bookbinding or Leather Glue
1 packet (¼ ounce) unflavored gelatin
3 tbls. Boiling water
1 tbls. Vinegar
1 tsp. Glycerin

1. In a pan, add gelatin to boiling water. Stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.
2. Add vinegar and glycerin. Stir until well mixed.

Makes about 1/3 cup. For larger projects, double the recipe.
How to use it: While the glue is still war, apply a thin layer with a brush. This waterproof glue is excellent for binding leather to leather.
It also makes a good flexible glue for use on paper, or for gluing cloth to cardboard for making notebook binders or scrapbooks.
Stored in a tightly capped plastic or glass jar, this glue will keep for several months. It will gel in the bottle after a few days. Warm bottle in hot water to reuse glue.

I used acrylic paint and painted beach pictures onto a pair of sneakers. I made each panel different so they're very fun to wear!

I've been adding to this jacket for a couple years. I started when I embroidered the unicorn. I then added fabric, buttons, and the stitching designs.

In high school there was a casual dance with a beach theme. So I designed a beach shirt for myself. I chose a light blue shirt so it could double as the sky and the ocean. I used acrylic and spray paint. The sand is spray paint so that it looks really sparse. A palm tree and sun are the main designs on the front. The fronds of the palm tree are on my shoulder and even curve over to the other side. There is a blue line that goes from the sand to the other side acting as the horizon and below that there are small waves scattered around.

I made a shirt with thunder and lightning. I found a large grayish brown t-shirt which I then took in to fit me snugly. I also used the extra fabric to add sleeves to the shirt. I decided to do open gathered sleeves to give it a windy/cloudy look. For this design, I used crayon stuff. You draw the design onto fabric with special crayons and then set it with a hot iron. It does fade slightly but I love the faded look. I like wear this shirt when I'm angry or irritable, so watch out! I always wear certain outfits to fit my moods.

I had a shirt that I loved wearing with a beach picture on it. It got a bleach spot on it one day and it made me really sad. Instead of throwing it away, I threw sprinkles of bleach on it and made the beach look like it had a cloudy sky.

I had a music note shirt for awhile that I really liked but I realized that a couple other girls at school had the same shirt. It really bothers me when I look the same as someone else so I decided to change mine. I cut out a basic rectangle from white cotton fabric and finished the edges. Then I made a stencil of piano keys out of tape and taped it onto the white fabric. I spray painted black over it but made it look sketchy. It came out really cool looking and then I sewed it onto the front of the shirt. Also, there was a small bleach spot in the bottom corner that I wanted to fix. So I used the crayon iron-on stuff and drew a couple notes over it. I distorted the shapes of the notes to give it an artsy look.

I made a dress with fabric on sale and a free pattern from burdastyle.com. The pattern wasn't the best so it turned out the wrong size. I fixed it by adding the gathers on the sides and on the back. It turned out really well and was very flattering on me!

I wanted my formal dresses to be different from everyone else because I feel like at my school everyone always looked the same. I bought a cheap simple A-line royal blue dress and a discount store. I wore a poofy slip with it and added a pale yellow to the bottom third. I used a lot of fabric and gathered it to make it very full. On the dress I gathered little spots here and there like the popular style right now. I put yellow sequins and beads at each gather. Also, I beaded yellow beads around the empire waist to pull together the colors. All my friends told me I looked like Snow White and Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

I remember when I was first in high school and searching for cheap formal dresses online. I found this certain dress that had thick vertical stripes the whole length of the dress. I thought it was the coolest dress I had ever seen and I fell in love with it. I had never seen anything like it before. I didn't particularly like the colors and it was really expensive so I never got it but always looked for a dress like it. My senior year of high school a shop opened up in my town where custom prom dresses were made. I went in with the vertical stripe design and they were able to make it for me. I chose a dark sky blue (the closest I could find to my favorite color) and white. I left it very simple with no beading but whenever I wear it I always stand out.

My favorite show is Project Runway. On the last season they did a challenge where the contestants had to make a design out of jeans. The guy who ended up winning put jean jacket sleeves onto the bottom of a pair of skinny jeans. I loved the idea and decided to make a pair for myself. I also added a jean loop across the front just below the left knee.

I made a small bag out of seat belts that I found in an old car. I wove it together and only anchored the belts on the edges. I used a seat belt buckle as the fastener of the opening of the bag. Unfortunately, it fell apart the first day. So I put it back together and embroidered little designs to keep the bag woven together. Its awesome and not too hard!

I once saw a girl with a bag sewn to look like a sweatshirt. I studied it and decided to make my own bag out of a sweatshirt. It turned out looking pretty different but its still cool. I sewed up the bottom and sewed the sleeves together. I also put a slit at the neckline to make it easier to open and get into. I let the hood fall over for the flap. It works great and I can put a lot of stuff inside it.