Archive for the ‘Crafting’ Category
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Make your own instant (bang-on-trend) wardrobe update for £5 or less.
Guess what? I’ve been using a needle and thread! (cue murmurings of shock and horror). And I’ve been using tea as a make-do method for home dyeing. Yes, I have. In fact, I discovered a good strong brew of proper builder’s tea is the key to this season’s predilection for nude and neutral shades!
After hitting the various haberdashery and cheap jewellery shops of London’s Soho I spent no more than £5 on a couple of bits and bobs to create my own bang-on-trend instant wardrobe updater.
So here’s a free tutorial of my (totally humble) take on this season’s key fringe trend. Wear the necklace with a plain vest or dress for instant fringing (and straight from the catwalk) style.
You will need:
• 1 plain link necklace (I got mine for £1.25 from one of the budget jewellery shops on Berwick Street in London.) For a tougher look, you could get a length of chain from the hardware store and tie it with a ribbon at the back of your neck.• Fringing of your choice (The minimum length I could purchase was one metre, which was enough for optional layers – or extra necklaces for thrifty gifts!) If you’re in London, I recommend visiting Kleins haberdashery at 5 Noel Street, W1 (Tel. 020 7437 6162).
• Needle and thread in a colour that matches your fringing.
• Optional: tea bag and white vinegar for dyeing.
How to make it:
1. The fringing I found at Kleins was actually a stark white with tiny gold beads. A little too Texan cowgirl for my liking. I couldn’t find the on-trend nude/neutral shade I was after, so I decided to experiment with some home tea dyeing.
2. To dye the white fringe an antique-y nude colour, soak it in a (cooled) cup (or bowl) of strong tea. Take it out every couple of minutes until it’s turned the exact shade you’re after. Five minutes did the job for me. Don’t leave it in for too long unless you want it quite brown! Take it out and set it in a cup of water with white vinegar . I’ve heard that salt is also quite effective for setting the colour. Leave to dry on a piece of kitchen towel.
3. Cut the fringing to the length of your choice – experiment by pinning it to the necklace to see what kind of effect you like best.
4. Thread the needle and carefully hand-sew the fringing to each link of the necklace. At the end of the length, secure it with a double knot. That’s it – you’re done.
Watch me make the necklace on the video below.
Make your own instant fashion update! from OolaMoola on Vimeo.
Total spent: £4.75 (1 metre of beaded fringing £3.50; Chain necklace £1.25)
Cost of similar-style fringe necklace on Net-a-porter: £215
Total saved: £210.25
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Make your own instant (bang-on-trend) wardrobe update for £5 or less.
Bang on trend, you say? For a fiver or less? And you want me to actually MAKE it myself? (*insert stunned silence whilst I pick myself up from dead faint*). Seriously guys, what are you trying to do to me?When I think of “wardrobe update” I think of hitting the nearest high street and shelling out the better part of £100. And you know I’m not exactly handy with a needle and thread (I managed to avoid using either in my last fashion-based DIY tutorial!).
So whilst I un-boggle my mind, let’s have a look at one of this season’s hottest trends for a wee bit of inspiration: fringing. The SS09 collections were a veritable fringe festival with designers from Alberta Ferretti to Alexander McQueen sending a flurry of feminine and flapper-esque frocks swinging down the catwalk.
I think I may just be able to do something with this – take a look at these utterly fabulous tiered fringe necklaces by ACB from Net-a-porter:
I like that these necklaces are not only (a) bang on trend, but (b) they’re both completely versatile and can be worn with several basic pieces (vest, t-shirt, dress) from last year’s wardrobe. Only thing is, they’ll set you back a cool £195. But I reckon I could have a stab at making something inspired by these pieces for less than £5. Maybe. I’m going to make a beeline for the nearest haberdashery now.
Check back here tomorrow to see how I go.
Images courtesy of Style.com and Net-a-porter.
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How the DIY wedding adventure began…
It all started in a midwestern high school way back in ‘97. Seriously. However, there were eleven years of romantic whimsy and wanton deviance of all sorts between our awkward adolescent fumbles and a two-week courtship in December ‘08 that led to an impassioned engagement and subsequent whirlwind wedding taking place this month (and, no, I’m not preggers, before the thought even enters your mind)!
Which, in very short form, brings us to here and now, with my fingers furiously and nimbly crafting away as my mind goes through a mini-checklist of ‘to dos’ for the forthcoming DIY nuptials.
Getting married is hard work (but the prep is satisfying too and I am silly excited to become Mrs. Teas). No doubt about it, dears. Even with shed loads of dosh, I bet it’s still a full-time job. The minutiae of it all boggles the mind. The Future Husband (henceforth referred to as FH) and I decided to do it on a temporal (out of necessity) and monetary budget (out of principle. I would rather die than spend a mint on a wedding), having only four months and limited finances to pull it off. Now, if you truly wanted to do DIY, you could just elope and carry a crate of wine to a mate’s house for a cozy party but doing that would have broken my mother’s heart and I don’t want that on my conscience. If elopement’s not an option, then I’m hoping my blow-by-blow posts might shed some light on how to make a wedding look fabulous without costing a fortune and leaving you insolvent before the words ‘I do’ even leave your lips.
The challenge: spend as little as possible while creating a stylish, intimate wedding by hand where possible; maintain my sanity; have a good time (I outright refuse to be so stressed out that I don’t enjoy the lead up to the big day or the day itself. What’s the point if I don’t enjoy it!?).
The checklist:
- Booze
- Cake
- Centerpieces
- Decor
- Dress
- Flowers
- Food
- Games
- Glasses/utensils, etc.
- Guest book
- Guest Favors
- Hair and makeup
- Honeymoon
- Invitations
- Judges
- Marriage license
- Music
- Parents gifts
- Photographer
- Rings
- Suit
- Tables/chairs, etc.
- Thank you cards
- Venue
- Vows
(You’ll notice a few things missing, like ridiculous engagement ring, rehearsal dinner, bridal party and all its trimmings, shower et al. The first and easiest way to cut down on the price of your wedding is to cut out all the unnecessary faff.)
And now the fun begins. Tools needed are: elbow grease, creativity, an eye for bargains and a well of personal favours. To date, we’ve nearly completed our wedding checklist for just shy of $10,000 (approx. £6,000. Sounds like a lot but add up everything and it’s a steal, really). The average cost of a wedding in American in 2009 is apparently $30,000 says the Bridal Assoc. of America. (And let’s be honest… I don’t know many who’ve spent even close to 30K… as FH has said, 100K is just an entry figure in the parlance of so many people. Stats are misguiding and this one is a national average and thus includes the full spectrum of weddings. Plus, it doesn’t include the price of engagement rings, which men spend too much on.) So, in reality, we’ve planned ours on a fraction of the typical spend on a big wedding nowadays (we still have 100 people coming. Big families).
And it’s friggin’ fun.
How are we doing it? Visit this space to find out.
(We’ll break down the numbers below for you post by post as they’re written since this in a sort of reverse chronological order.)
Total spent: £6,280 ($9,500 at today’s exchange rate)
Total saved: £13,554 (based on the average cost of an American wedding at today’s exchange rate)
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DIY tutorial of the week: make your own statement neck piece
Statement necklaces are big this season, and are excellent for adding interest and detail to a plain t-shirt or dress. I recently spotted a really cool plaited jersey neck piece in an East London boutique for about £60, and thought I would have a go at making one myself. It actually turned out waaay better than I had initially planned – with a bonus ‘rose’ detail that came about by accident when I was trying to work out what to do with the ends.
It’s relatively quick and simple to make and you don’t need any specific skills – apart from the ability to plait. I wore it on Sunday and attracted loads of comments from people wanting to know where I bought it!
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial to making one yourself.
You will need:
• 90cm x 150cm of jersey fabric in colour of your choice (if you want to make a longer necklace, you will need more than 150cm in length)
• Extra scraps of jersey to make two ties – I had enough left over because I bought a metre-length of 150cm-wide fabric
• Water-erasable fabric pen
• Scissors
• Gaffer tape (or someone to hold your braid)
• Ruler
1. Lay your fabric out flat and mark out 30cm points along the shortest length. Do the same on the other side.
2. At your first 30cm point, rule a line with the water-erasable fabric marker along the longest length so you create a 150cm x 30cm strip.
3. Cut along the line so you end up with a length of 150cm x 30cm fabric.
4. Rule another line at 30cm along the shortest length – this should divide the length of fabric in half. Cut along the line. You should now have three separate strips of fabric measuring 150cm x 30cm. Dab out any visible pen marks with a wet cloth.
5. Gather the ends together and gaffer tape the ends to a chair – leaving around 10cm of fabric loose at the end. (Warning: make sure the chair doesn’t have a varnished or painted surface as the tape may damage it. You might want to choose some other surface, or alternatively, ask someone to hold the end for you.)
6. Start plaiting the three lengths of fabric together. Ensure you keep the tension consistent so the plaiting is even.
7. At the end of the plait, use a narrow scrap of the same fabric to secure it by tying a double knot. Ensure you leave around 10cm loose.
8. Unstick the plait from the chair and use the ends of one knot to tie a double-knot around the other end. Do the same with the other end of the plait. You should now have a plaited loop.
9. Line up the ends of the plait in your hand and trim it to make sure they’re even.
10. Pull out and fan the ends to create a flower shape. That’s it – you’re done!
TOTAL SPENT: £9.10
COST OF DESIGNER NECK PIECE: £60
TOTAL SAVED: £50.90Check out the video below to see how I made it…
Make your own statement neck piece from OolaMoola on Vimeo. -
What would grandma do? Make a granny blanket!
Last year the crafty blogosphere went a little bit nuts over Cath Kidston’s £160 vintage-style crochet square blanket (see left). I actually liked the colour palette so much I cut the pic out of the catalogue and stuck it in a scrapbook for inspiration. Now, I can’t crochet to save my life, so I’m not exactly an expert on crafty stuff, but a lot of bloggers were talking about how easily you could make one yourself – and for a whole lot less than the hefty £160 price tag.There are a load of online resources to help you get started on making a crochet square from scratch. One of my absolute favourites is Pip’s tutorial for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS over at Meet me at Mike’s.
It sounds unbelievably straight-forward, and Pip gives excellent advice on such matters as crochet hook size and exactly what kind of yarn to buy. She’s also posted here as well.
She also links to some other cool resources for making granny blankets. Check it out – it might just get ya hooked (geddit, geddit?).
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What would Grandma do? Recycle choc boxes
Thought this might be a good, timely post with Easter and a mountain of chocolate just hours away. These chocolate boxes (my favourite are Prestat and Charbonnel & Walker) are just too pretty - and practical - to throw away. I recycle them as storage containers for all kinds of things - from spare buttons and badges to business cards. Saves buying a horrible new plastic type to serve the same purpose!
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DIY tutorial of the week: Spring basket
Check out this timely and super-pretty Easter craft tutorial over at MayaMade. We love the detailed instructions and awesome step-by-step images. Let us know if you made it!
Many thanks to MayaMade for sharing her super-clever tutorial with us, and to Meet me at Mike’s for telling us all about it!
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What would Grandma do? Recycle ribbons
Recycling ribbons and wrapping paper was a common-place practice in my household growing up – anything deemed salvageable would be carefully folded and packed away in the cupboard for use again.
But I’ve taken the recycling thing to a new level recently, by squirreling away the ribbons from the bags of one of my favourite brands, COS. They’ve always got such lovely grosgrain ribbon handles in a variety of colours. I just tear off the handles and pack them away in my ribbon box.
Here they are adding a simple and chic touch to brown paper parcels:
TOTAL SPENT: £0
COST OF NEW STRIPED GROSGRAIN RIBBON: £2.77/metre
SAVINGS OVER A YEAR: £16.62 -
The best thrifty investment
Here at Oola Moola we’re always on the hunt for clever thrifty tips, budget buys and easily-digestible money management advice. So we were naturally thrilled to discover that the latest book by author India Knight, The Thrift Book: Live well and spend less, rather brilliantly ticks all the right boxes.India’s known for her exquisite taste and sense of style – after all, she penned a book all about shopping! So she’s quite the expert guide in showing you exactly how to dress on a budget (and still look fab); make your own awesome gifts; travel the world with very little money, and grow your own delicious food.
And more. So much more, in fact, that you’ll just have to run out and buy it. But be warned – you might just surprise yourself and save quite a lot of moolah!
Posted in Beauty, Crafting, Decor, Entertainment, Fashion, Food, Gifts, Health & Fitness, Travel, Vintage
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DIY tutorial of the week: Make a dress out of a pillowcase
I’ve been scouring the web for the ultimate in Make Do and Mend. And I think this genius tutorial for making a dress out of a pillowcase pretty much fits the bill.
Marceline over at Asking for Trouble shows you how to work some magic on an old pillowcase in very clear, easy-to-follow steps. All you need is a sewing machine, a pillowcase and some basic sewing skills. Read full post
