Category Archives: DIY Fashion

27
Jul
Monoxious Guide: How to make tassel earrings [Fashion DIY tutorials]
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DIY Fashion, Featured


Dawn has been incredibly obsessed with tassel earrings lately and we decided to make some. This is a surprisingly easy DIY and we ended up making two pairs in less than 20 minutes.

Here are what you will need for this DIY:

  • Tassels
  • Tassel caps (actually I have no clue what the proper term is for this)
  • Jump rings
  • Earring hooks
  • Craft knife
  • Super glue
  • Eye pins
  • Pliers (not pictured)

If anyone is wondering, we got all of these supplies at Brighton Accessories House in People’s Park Complex in Chinatown.

Brighton Accessories House
Blk 32,
New Market Road
#02-1160 (Park Crescent)
Singapore 050032

As you can see from the pic above, the cord holding the tassel together is an eyesore when the tassel cap is on. We’re going to remove it.

Carefully cut it away.

You will end up with something like this.

Stick the eye pin through the bottom of the tassel.

Pull it through and make sure the eye pin stays put and doesn’t go through the whole tassel.

Wind the loops around the tassel, you don’t even need to make sure that it is secured cause the glue will hold it together. Coat the inside of the tassel cap with glue and thread the pin through the hole in the tassel cap. Just make sure everything goes underneath the tassel cap neatly.

It should now look like this.

Do the same with the other side.

Shorten the rest of the eye pin by cutting it and making a small loop on the top of the tassel cap. Protip: stick the end of the eye pin back into the tassel cap again.

Using a pair of pliers, link the tassel and earring hook together with a jump ring.

Your tassel earrings are now ready for wear!

I really hate to sound like a broken record, we’ve had issues with people copying and pasting our entire DIY blog post on their own blog (with full instructions and sometimes even hot linking our photos).

While they link back to ours, it is foolish to assume they will still visit our blog when the full instructions are already posted on theirs. I’d hate to post a disclaimer every time I post a DIY post but this problem comes up every few DIY posts or so. We do appreciate people liking our DIY posts and we feel the best thing they can do for us is to post one or two photos and link back to us from there.

Does anyone have a proper method to solve this? We’d be grateful for any kind of suggestion.

15

16
Jul
Monoxious Guide: How to make your own DIY book clutch [DIY tutorials]
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DIY Fashion, Featured


We interrupt this string of travel posts to bring you something that might actually be of interest. A long time ago, Dawn wrote a post about book clutches and I fancied the idea of making one myself. Fast forward to the time I visited Francfranc in Tokyo, I came across boxes that are made to resemble books and the idea of making a book clutch out of it hit me.

Sourcing for the right materials itself took me a lot of time. I wanted a book clutch that resembles some of those fancy old bibles with book corners, a leather strap and clasp. Searching for the right clasp proved difficult and I had bought clasps from Singapore, Tokyo and finally found the right one in New York.

Enough babble, here is what you will need for your DIY.

Materials you will need:

  • Book Box from FrancFranc (Or any old book you’re willing to sacrifice by hollowing them out)
  • 4 Book corners from Botani trim (NYC)
  • Clasp from Botani trim (NYC)
  • Leather strap or old belt with the same width as the clasp
  • Tools like hammer, pliers, screws and screwdriver
  • Leather punch (not pictured)
  • Craft knife (not pictured)

As you can see, the book box is convenient cause it’s already hollowed out, if I weren’t picky, I could use this on its own. There is a tiny magnet that gives some sort of resistance when you try to open or close it. I wouldn’t count on it to stay closed when I carry it around with my stuff rattling around in it though.

Using a pair of pliers, carefully fix the book corners to each corner. This will protect the edges against wear and tear when you bring the book clutch out.

Next, press the end of the clasp that is supposed to go on the leather strap to make a marking.

You should end up with markings for holes like these.

Choose the appropriate size for the leather punch then make the holes as marked by the clasp.

Screw the clasp in place.

Punch holes in the other end of the strap and make the markings on the book with a pencil. The strap should sit around the center of the book on the back.

Make holes in the book so that the leather strap can be secured onto it.

Attach the leather strap onto the book with appropriate screws. Ideally, I would use flat top screws but I couldn’t find them so I had to make do with these.

The other end of the clasp does not sit flat on the front of the book so I had to make a recess for it. Mark the part that is protruding and cut out a recess using a craft knife. This part took a long time as the cover was made of compressed cardboard, I guess that also makes the book clutch durable.

 

Fix the clasp onto the recess and make sure it sits flat.

Secure it with screws (the clasp came with all these parts).

 

 

The book clutch is now done! It is actually decently sized so it can contain all the necessities like wallet, cellphone and keys.

17

30
May
DIY Fashion Tutorial: How to make your own transparent clutch
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DIY Fashion, Featured


Amongst all the fashion DIY projects that we’re done so far, this tutorial on how to make your own transparent clutch has got to be the easiest. It’s fast, easy and reaps the most reward for such little effort put in. There is absolutely NO sewing required. :D It is in the style of the Furoshiki Shiki by Samira Boon which I came across while reading Love Aesthetics .

For this DIY tutorial, you will need:

  • Vinyl ➔I got mine from a local sundries store, about S$18 a metre and 1mm thick
  • Rotary cutter ➔ I find it easier and neater to cut with a rotary cutter.
  • Cutting mat ➔ I doubt the rotary cutter would work very well unless you use a cutting mat.
  • Ruler
  • Markers ➔ Make sure they’re not permanent markers!

To start, you need to make markings on the vinyl. Helpful diagram below!

You can actually make this clutch in any size to fit your iPad, laptop or book. You’re essentially cutting out a cross made up of 5 rectangles of the same size.

I marked the corners so there isn’t so many ink markings before I cut.

Cut out the vinyl carefully using the rotary cutter and ruler.

After you’re done, just fold everything inwards. The nature of the vinyl material ensures that everything “sticks” together. It might not be stick after some time due to an accumulation of dust on the surface of the vinyl. Wiping it with a damp lint free cloth should fix everything.

I had some material left over from making the clutch so I made an iPhone holder!

I even went on to make a namecard holder. Everything took less than an hour. Try it out this weekend! :D

 

17

18
May
Monoxious Guide: How to DIY your own Jil Sander Paper Lunch bag [DIY Tutorial]
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DIY Fashion, Featured


It’s taken us a while to get this DIY done mainly cause I had to order the right paper for it. The Jil Sander Paper lunch bag is amongst the most popular bags from the Fall 2012 collection and is set to be the “it” bag of the season. Jil Sander isn’t going to cut off the top of their existing paper bag to sell, it has to be something that can withstand wear and tear. An actual paper bag will also tear at the slightest drizzle, leaving all your contents spilled over the floor. It’s a great idea if you only want to use it for one time (and hope that it doesn’t rain on the day you decide to bring it out) but I’ve decided to make one with a material that is waterproof and able to survive the daily grime.

You will need:

  • Kraft Paper
  • Scissors/craft knife
  • Ruler
  • Thick thread
  • Needles
  • Glue (I would recommend spray mount glue or a really strong adhesive)

You will need specifically waterproof Kraft paper. Google it and you’ll be able to find many sources that sell it. Basically, I’d be able to spill water on my bag and the contents will still be dry. It will crumple like regular paper and I really love the worn look.

You will need the size of the paper to be 74cm by 34cm.

Fold the ends so that they overlap in the middle by 1com. This will create an allowance for sewing them together later.

Fold the side inwards like an accordion, the panels are 5cm each. In effect, your paper bag will open up to be 10cm wide.

Prepare a length of thread that is about 85-90cm long.

Poke stitching holes along the side. They are about 5mm from the side. Be sure to poke carefully and only have the holes go through the 2 ends of the paper and not the other side of the bag.

I am using a 2 needle saddle stitch which is commonly used to stitch leather. I found a really helpful tutorial here.

This will be what you get after you have finished the entire length.

Fold a line about 12cm from the opening of the bag and fold the side into a neat triangle like so. Repeat with the other side as well.

Fold everything flat and it will look like this. After that, fold the flaps inwards and secure with glue.

Your bag is now done!

Once again, if you like the tutorial, you’re welcomed to post it on your own blog but please do not repost the entire tutorial. Post one or two teaser photos if you will and link back to us. We would really appreciate it.

12

8
Jun
[DIY Fashion Tutorial]: Ann Demeulemeester Epine thorn bracelet
posted by
DIY Fashion, Featured


This DIY is an user request, we thought we’d take up the challenge. It was a pain in the ass trying to source the proper leather in Singapore so we had to end up ordering online. I’m pretty sure our readers overseas have better leather sources than us.

You will need:

  • Leather: preferably lambskin or kid leather cause it’s softer. You really need the malleability of the softer leathers in this DIY.
  • Chalk: or something you can use to mark on the back of the leather.
  • Scissors: something that you can use to cut leather properly.
  • Black craft wire: which is used to finish off the edges of the bracelet and hold the leather together.
  • Black jump rings: Also can be used to perform tasks as above.

Mark a length of “vine” on the leather. After trial and error, we found the ideal width to be about 0.3-0.4cm, the thicker the “vine” the more unrefined it looks. We had to end up trimming it down several times. If you can manage a longer length, you could make a necklace instead.

Start marking the thorns along the length of the vine. Again, we found the thorns to be more refined if it was thinner, the ones pictured were far too thick and close together to give an ideal look that is close to the Ann Demeulemeester ones.

Rinse, repeat. You will need 2 of these vines. Cut them out and prepare for the next step.

Use the black craft wire (or black jump rings) to attach the two vines together. Make sure that the “right” side are both facing out. Begin to twist them in opposite directions (one in clockwise and one in anti- clockwise) as you would with a rope braid.

You will end up with the leather pieces looking like this. Once you’ve reached the end, secure it with the craft wire as you would with the other end.

And there you have it!

We have also decided to take it a little further and did something a little more challenging because we are masochistic like that with the same method of wrapping and twisting.

If you would like to try this out, you will need extra materials like a thin metallic hairband and also a thinner and more malleable craft wire (possibly more leather as well). We’re so in love with ours we decided to wear it out the next day. Pictures of it coming up real soon!!

(All photos taken using my new Fujifilm X100)

Feel free to comment if you have any questions!

And as a last end note:

We would like to remind ALL readers that as much as we love bringing you DIY posts, it has been disturbing to see other people copying and pasting our DIY photos on their own blog with full instructions and everything. We know you’ve enjoyed the post and would like to feature it on your blog as well but we would appreciate if you just used the first photo and then post a link to us. We do know that there are some who have linked to us but with all the photos and instructions on your own blog, there really is no sense in clicking on the link to us anymore if you think about it. Thank you for reading and we hope that with the decrease in this matter, we would be spurred to make more DIY posts.

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