Hats, hats, hats and Hollywood

Hats galore! The trend started taking off last autumn and the street style from various fashion weeks in January confirmed the fedora's ascendance.

Red Carpet | Mullet dresses

Covered-up cleavage but exposed shoulders and back...kinda like a mullet (in the best possible sense of the word) - all business in front, party going on behind!! In any case, here's Rose Byrne at last year's Oscars and Taylor Swift at this year's Golden Globes, a trend to watch and learn from? I like it anyway!

   

DIY | Tassels

This Emma Watson for Lancôme ad. came out ages ago (I believe her hair has now grown out?) but though she's undeniably gorgeous and the guy's not bad and the perfume's probably alright, what really caught my eye was her necklace - a small pink tassel hanging between two heart charms.

There are loads of way to make tassels (here's a site dedicated to them) but my method is good if you want to use tassels for jewellery since the jump ring makes them easy to attach to chain.

You will need:

• machine embroidery thread (normal thread will do but machine embroidery thread is glossy). They cost €2.50 per bobbin at A. Rubanesque and are also available at Hickeys I think.
• Jump rings

Plus

• Stiff cardboard
• Scissors
• Sellotape

Happy Monday!

 The weather outside is frightful but hopefully spring will show its face any day now...Happy Monday!

Dublin Directory | Online Directory "Dublin Town"

I came across this website today as I was searching online for the opening hours of a shop. It's called Dublin Town and is essentially a directory of Dublin ; shops, bars, cafés, culture and events. What distinguishes it from other online directories is its slick design and comprehensive lay-out which make it easy to find both things you're looking for and things you might not be! It is run in collaboration between Dublin City Business Improvement District, local creative talent and business owners. Most importantly, since it's updated regularly (with a monthly newsletter should you wish to subscribe) it seems reliable.

Fix it | Taking-in Jeans

Everyone (unless you've decided to embrace flairs...) wants their jeans to be slim and pretty tight-fitting. But the difficulty of buying a good-fitting pair of jeans is what keeps fashion agony columns in business. However, once you've got a pair that fit well at the waist, adjusting the tightness at the leg is actually pretty easy! All you need to do is take-in the side-seam.

Ingredients:

• Many pins
• Sewing machine
• Thread the same colour as your trousers

Other DIYers | Folded Skirt

I thought that this skirt, made a while ago now by Ivania Carpio over at Love Aesthetics, was pretty awesome. Would I make it out of insulating foil? Probably not...I'd probably opt for material myself, but I like the concept!

DIY | Topshop-style T-shirt

Why would you pay €27 for these...

When you could pay €2.50 for this...?

The trick to buying cheap, slouchy t-shirts is go to the men's section. I picked up this 100% cotton t-shirt in Primark from their men's Slimline range. They have other colours too - burgundy, black, grey, blue etc. - and at €2.50 you could probably afford to buy a selection!

All you need to do is fold the sleeves up... 

...and put in a few stitches at the top and bottom to keep them in place. A bit of an iron to neaten it up wouldn't go amiss either. Then hey presto!

I'm working on a fool-proof way of adding graphics, so you can imitate the 'sick' and 'geek' t-shirts too.

Tip : In order to stop the thread coming out when sewing one-off stitches like this, take the two ends on the wrong side of the fabric and double-knot them together. Then you can snip the ends leaving very little tail and without worrying that it will come loose.

Recyled Xmas Cake Corkboard

Om nom nom nom!

Christmas is great fun but it's also a time of huge waste. Once you've eaten the Christmas cake and unwrapped the presents don't throw out the board or the wrapping! Usually the xmas cake board is sticky and cut-up and you don't seem to have much choice but to chuck it. Meanwhile you often get lovely wrapping paper and ribbons, but have no use for it other than just binning it all. Mlle.Brico to the rescue! Use this Christmas' would-be rubbish to create a corkboard instead!

Ingredients;

• 1 xmas cake board
• Old xmas wrapping paper
• Ribbon
• Thumb tacks

Plus

• 1 Stapler

Take your destroyed cake board...

Super-fast Skirt-to-Dress

Have you got a New Years Eve party to go to in 3 hours? I have. Got any idea what you're going to wear? Ahhh! Noooo! Help!! Here's a dress I made out of one of those beautiful but difficult (see impossible) to wear bias-cut silk skirts. The photo quality leaves a little to be desired because I wasn't kidding, it really is last minute! But it's easy to do in a flash, and updates something that you'd love to love but just can't make work.

Military-esque Tracky Bottoms

So comfy and so easy to make! I love the juxtaposition of sloppy and smart and of course tracksuit bottoms as formal wear with a pair of heals have been all over the catwalks for years. Originally I was just going to add the tux stripe using Petersham ribbon but decided that the gold trimming was a bit more gala!...though defo more tricky to add.

DIY | Military Collar

Use buttons and chain to create a military-esque shirt collar. This DIY channels the hardware-in-fashion vibe through a combination of the idea of chains and tipped collars on shirts, the general vogue for gold and chunky gold at that, and the perennial winter attraction to military. [Xmas present #2...this time for your female friends? (and males too, not to be gender-biased)]

DIY | Real Cuff Links

Xmas idea number 2 : my last post was about making cuff links that go on normal shirts. But if you're stuck for a present for a man (or anyone who would have occasion to wear an evening shirt - let's not be gender biased) why not make a pair of real, customised cuff links?

You will need;

• 4 buttons this time
• 2 lengths of chain (approx. 1 cm) OR elastic
• 2 jump rings

Choose your buttons (these shell ones are mother-of-pearl, dead cheap but lovely looking, especially with gold)

Then attach the chain to each button using jump rings.Here's the first cuff link

Now just repeat for the second one! Simple as! 

Just note that:

1. Elastic can be used to tie the buttons together, but they don't tend to look as good.
2. Buttons cannot be the type with holes through them, they mush have their attachment at the back, otherwise there's nowhere to attach the jump rings
3. Buttons much be small enough to fit through button holes; in the other cuff link DIY the chain passes through the hole making the size of the button irrelevant - they could be as big as you wanted them.

DIY | Cuff links for normal shirts

Why should cuff links be reserved for formal occasions? Not only do they add a funky detail but they also fulfill a practical role in keeping shirt sleeves up...as well as tapping into the masculine vibe.

You will need :

• Chain, at least 4 cm
• 2 jump rings
• 2 buttons
• elastic

Plus 2 pliers

Buttons and Chain

I've spent this weekend messing about with buttons and chain, as well as other bits and bobs that any DIY-minded person would have lying around. Check out the following posts with the three DIYs that I created out of these basic ingredients! Funky Xmas ideas anyone?!