DIY: Ombré Clothing

Okay I know it seems like I've died or abandoned this blog and I'm here to dispel both of those.

In between working almost every day during this summer and trying to pack for my big move back to Austin I have little time for anything else. BUT I'm here to publish this DIY.

Ombré seems like it's everywhere lately. In hair, in fashion, even on WALLS. So I wanted to try to make an ombré shirt myself and I did!

I bought a shirt from a thrift store in Houston for like $2 because I figured if I messed it up it wouldn't be that big of a deal. When buying a shirt to dye you want to use something made out of a natural fiber (cotton, linen, rayon, etc.) If you try to dye something like polyester or nylon you are literally wasting your time because it won't dye. The dye I used was from Hobby Lobby in Tropical Green by Dylon. Now I do have one thing to say about the dye. This was my first time dyeing anything and I don't know what happened but as you can see it come out as turquoise, not tropical green. I still love it though.

So I followed the instructions about mixing the dye and I used our big sink in the laundry room. Make sure to use a stainless steel or glass sink to avoid tinting the metal or marble (this is very important). Also, if you decide to use a new article of clothing to dye, wash it before to prep it. 

Once the dye was mixed I put the shirt on a hanger and because I couldn't think of anything better I held it up the entire hour and a half it took. This is the hardest part. In order to get an even ombré and not a striped gradient (*moment of silence for striped ombrés*) set a timer in even increments. I did four 20-minute increments and then one 10-minute increment. 

Starting, you dip the bottom of the shirt (or whatever you're dyeing) into the dye and let it sit for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes is up, dip a little more of the shirt into the dye, I moved the shirt in 2-3 inch increments. Don't do much more than that or you'll get stripes. Continue this process until the time is up. It took me an hour and a half. 

After you're done ombréing just drain the sink of the dye and rinse the article with cold water making sure to rinse the dye from the lightest part to the darkest part. You're done! Throw the shirt in the wash by itself (ON COLD) and wear it out after it dries!

Get ready for the #OOTD I did with this shirt! It'll be posted tomorrow :)

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DIY Jil Sander Veiled Beanie

So I made this veiled beanie from Jil Sander's Spring 2012 collection!! 

If you want to make the infamous beanie just keep scrolling, it's super simple to make!

Keep reading to see the full tutorial!

Styling the American Apparel Easy Jean

American Apparel has a series of high-waisted styles and one of their most popular pick is the Easy Jean. This style comes in 11 colours and is a bit pricey at $72 but it's totally worth it. They smooth out your body and lift your butt (I'm not kidding). Everything looks perfect in these jeans. Can you tell I'm in love?

So, because these are pretty popular I wanted to give some ways of how to wear them. These looks would cross-over to any gender, as I dress pretty androgynous anyways. 

THE MORE YOU TALK, THE LESS I LISTEN

Silver Hair is ALL THE RAGE

I made a video detailing how to get the coveted colour...

• Make sure to foam up the dye as much as possible, unless you do want purple streaks. 
• Have fun and just go for it!

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DIY: Spikes!

Today I replicated a shirt I saw online. The shirt's price? £60.00 ($94)... My shirt's price? $18. 
Here's what mine looks like:

I went to a thrift store to get the white shirt I used and it was only $13. The spikes I bought off of eBay for $6 and those came from China so it took awhile, BUT if you have time to wait I suggest you get most craft supplies from eBay... there are tons of cheap suppliers to purchase from and they usually have nice quality for a low price. It beats shopping in any store.

First off, I traced the collar's shape onto a piece of paper to make a template like this:

Make sure to allow room for any space that the threading takes up since you don't want to put the spikes in that area to avoid unraveling. After I cut the template out, I used hole reinforcers to make the spacing perfect. I started with drawing the circles on the template but it didn't seem uniformed and so I figured this way out. I had 24 spikes (12 for each side) so I tried to make it work as best I could.


Next, I used a hole punch to punch through the reinforcers (fig. 1) so I could trace it on the shirt (fig. 2).

fig.1

fig. 2

You want to make sure that you draw a small dot even though the hole is bigger. It's better to have a struggle forcing the spike in than to make a hole so large, it simply falls out. 




Once both flaps of the collar have the dots traced onto them, take a Xacto knife or any other craft knife and start twisting it into the dot so it makes a hole. You can then stab the hole with a small screwdriver to make it a bit larger and make room for the screw to come up through. 

The spike consist of two components, a screw and the actual spike. The screw screws into the bottom of the spike and then it's done. Just poke the screw through the bottom of the collar and twist the spike on top of it. That's all. Here's what the bottom of the collar will look like with the screws in:

After the spikes are in, go out and ROCK IT!! 

This is what it looks like! Check out my lookbook for how I styled it!

Don't forget to leave a comment if this helped you ^.^
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