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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Guess we haven’t been very productive, I remembered how some people told us they enjoyed reading it. Sorry. (._.)

This time we have a simple DIY to do, it’s a collar with chains that acts as a necklace. I honestly don’t know what else to call it but I guess you get the drift.

We’ve got the collared choker thingama from Miu Miu a few seasons back and that proved to be quite a hit and I guess giving our own twist on this thing might make it a little more interesting to wear.

For this we would need several items:

• Old shirt (or a new one which doesn’t fit your boyfriend’s ugly shirt. We used a cheap shirt we got from Primark London.)
• Chains
• Pliers
• Unpicker
• Needle and thread

First, use the unpicker to unpick the stitch line which holds the collar stand to the shirt.

Once it is completely detached, re-sew that line to keep the edges tucked in and neat.

Optional: Try it on your cat for size. but srsly no, or it will do this:

See what I mean?

We’ve attached the chains to a separate holder(?) instead of sewing it all directly onto the collar, it makes everything neater. You can make it as understated or as dramatic as you like. We’ve decided to go over the top and added waterfall chains to the collar.

Attach the other side and voila! your very own waterfall chain collar necklace.

It’s certain to jazz up your outfit. It’s something that can definitely be done over the weekend.

Also, let us know if you have any DIY requests! We’re always looking for DIY ideas.

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We’ll teach you how to make your own Ann Demeulemeester zipper headdress, and an accurate one at that down to the number of zippers and darts because we are -that- anal.

This DIY is a little more high-level than the rest that we have done so please read through every single line of instructions carefullly. I’m also assuming that people who attempt this have a basic knowledge of sewing (ie sewing darts and bias tape).

You will need:

1. Pleather or leather if you can afford it (or have access to it) approx half a meter would be more than sufficient.
2. 7 Open-end zippers with metal teeth. (We counted 13 zipper straps on the Ann Dem one so you do the math)
3. Bias tape. (we used the polyester ones cos the satin ones wouldn’t be accurate)

We drafted a pattern piece like so. This is only half of the actual headband section which means the fabric needs to be cut on-fold. (Simply meaning you place that pattern piece on a folded piece of leather, the folded part to be along the “CF” line)

The darts are there to contour the headband so it sits nicely on the head instead of sticking out awkwardly. We counted 5 on the Ann Demeulemeester one, so 5 it shall be.

The side is well, the side. Take note of it though, I will be mentioning this part later so make sure you know what I’m talking about.

Transfer the pattern onto the fabric. ONCE AGAIN, make sure the pattern piece is traced over the fabric when it is on-fold. You’ll end up with a long piece of symmetrical fabric after it’s being cut. Remember, on-fold !!!! Also, you’ll need to trace two pieces of this pattern.

After the pattern has been traced, cut the fabric leaving a 1cm seam allowance for you to sew the 2 pieces of headband together.

With help of the markings that you have made on the fabric, sew the darts up.

Our pleather was slightly thick and we had to trim off the excess fabrics from the darts so that it won’t look wonky when 2 pieces of the headband piece are joined together.

Rinse and repeat for the other piece.

Now it’s time to stitch the 2 pieces together. Make sure the leather side is facing each other. Sew on the top and bottom of the headband leaving the “side” unsewn. This will ensure that the headband piece can be turned inside out to reveal the leather side.

When you have turned the headband inside out, you might find that it looks “bloated” and refuses to stay flat, it’s time to give a “top-stitch” to the edges. It simply means just running a stitch line along the top and bottom edge of the headband (approx 1-2mm from the edge).

Now we cut off the side of the zippers leaving only the teeth. We also need some allowance on the top and bottom of the zipper so you’ll need to yank off some zipper teeth with a pair of pliers. The length of the zipper is dependent on your head and also how you’d like the zippers to “fall” on your face and over your headband section. Remember you’ll need 13 of these cause Ann Dem says so.

We used a length of about 70cm of bias tape for each side of the headband.

Start sewing on the zippers on the bias tape (approx in the middle of the length of bias tape) I don’t think any neatness to the spacing of zippers should be involved. Just use your estimation and good judgement.

Wrap up the zipper ends with the bias tape so it looks nice and neat and then sew the zippers to the side of the headband piece.

And there we go~!!! The finished master piece~!! Hope you’ve enjoyed this DIY.

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It’s been long since we had a post on DIY Fashion. We apologise on that part, the past month has been pretty crazy with the holiday season and setting up resolutions and priorities as the year drew to an end. We have load of exciting things lined up for Monoxious this year. Do watch out for them.

Today we present something which we have been procrastinating for quite a while (which is not good since fashion waits for no one.) and raved about it back here. We finally got round to doing it after I managed to find some awesome trimmings which I though would be ideal for this little DIY project. We teach you how to make your own Elastic Harness which is inspired by Jean Pierre Braganza’s S/S 2009 (SO LAST YR OMG!!!!)

These are what you will need. We forced Dawn’s cat to be in this photo but umm… she doesn’t like being our model.

• Elastics (approx 5yards)
• Trimmings with hook and eye
• Pins
• Black thread
• Dress form (not pictured)
• Optional: Black Sock cat (for entertainment)

Start pinning your elastics to the dress form. There’s really no rules on how it should go on, we left the fastening in front so it’s easier to wear.

Just keep doing it until you’re satisfied or run out of elastics. Start marking them with white tailor chalk so you know which strap goes where. I find numbering them useful.

I marked the lines a little further as you can see as elastics are stretchable and you would want the harness to be slightly snug when wearing.

Sew all the straps together~!!!! It might be a bit of a trouble cause you might get confused so so many similar straps hanging around. Again, I numbered my pieces so I know which one goes where, but that’s the way I roll, you might find some other methods useful too.

And here’s the completed piece~!!!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this DIY Clothes tutorial and hopefully you find it useful~ We would love to see examples that you have made, just link back to this page on your blog when you are showcasing yours. Thank you~!!

Also, we welcome all comments, questions and suggestions for future DIYs. Please let us know what you would like to see.

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First, we wanna connect one end of the chain to the necklace itself so we made use of the jump ring that holds the clasp to the necklace.

Then we start winding the chain in between the loops until it covers the entire necklace. The reason for the chain is to fill up the empty spaces in between the necklace so it looks less sparse, tone down the bling and also provides loops for the safety pins to go on later.

So this is how it’s gonna look like with all the chains on, the necklace is less glaring and costume-y. As you can see one safety pin is on, that is how I’ve finished off the other end of the chain.

Start piling on the safety pins~!!!! Make it interesting and random, this is the fun part. Even Dawn who’s usually the assigned photographer for the DIY posts wants in on this.

And here is the finished product. We overbought safety pins as you can see but heyyyy we can use them for some other things!! We hope you’ve enjoyed this DIY fashion tutorial~!! Do look out for the next one!

We made matching earrings too~!!

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It’s pretty expensive to purchase these and I’ve seen really expensive ones from Etsy and other online stores so we took the liberty of creating a DIY to teach you how to make yourself a really simple Chain Harness. This DIY is really simplified so everyone can make one. The difficulty level can be increased to your liking by adding chains on the shoulders and back as well and it makes it even more interesting when you mix and match different types of chains.

Right now we’re only using one type of chain just to illustrate this DIY. There is another one which we made and Dawn wore it to the Nuffnang Blog Awards and it can be found in [this post]. It’s much more complicated (and of course prettier).

We start off with the stuff you need:

We’re using a mannequin here (albeit a crappy looking one which I used when I was still in school) cause Dawn is unavailable right now. You could borrow someone to create the Body Chain Harness or create it while wearing it, it’ll probably take just a little longer but it is still possible.

So firstly, make a loop of chain that goes around the back of the neck kinda like a halterneck.

It should look like this from the front.

Add a small length of chain to the front such that it drapes down. It should be around the underarm area so you can wear the whole thing over your body without any fastenings but it is completely to your preference.

We’ll proceed by adding even more chains.

and MORE…~!!! Until you get what you like, or if you run out of chains, whichever comes first.
At this point of time you may wanna consider draping some over the arms or at the back, or even have ideas to criss-cross the chains in front, it is really just up to your own imagination.

The points to note would be to include fastenings to open up for easy wearing if the design gets too complicated to put on or take off.

So there you have it~!! A simple body chain harness.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this DIY Clothes tutorial and we hope you bring more ideas for DIY fashion in the future. If you have any requests or ideas do let us know, we would love to experiment with new ideas as well~!!!

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We start of with a simple men’s shirt.

This one’s from Primark [omg cheapppppp!!!] and dare I say I bought a couple to rip up and deconstruct. A little wrinkly I know, it was fresh off from the packaging so yeahhh… let’s proceed.

Excuse the srs face. It’s about 1am when I took this picture. I’m not naked you pervs~!!

We start off with buttoning the shirt at your waist. Obviously it’s not going to start at the collar, I managed to button mine about 2 buttons down, it should probably be the same for you.

After that, we try and form a drape in the skirt so it doesn’t look that boring. Here we will be buttoning the alternate buttonholes to the buttons.

Follow the diagram drawing above and you should be able to get a the first drape going. We’ll now move on to the second drape.

And this is what you should end up with after the buttonholes are in place. So total, just 3 buttons.
Tip: if you have a longer shirt, the drape will be more obvious and thus more interesting when worn.

After that we tie the sleeves together. It also serves as securing the waist so if the buttons accidentally pop, you won’t be baring your booty to the world.

And there we have it~!!!

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this tutorial~!! do let us know what you think and show us an alternative way to wearing your boyfriend’s shirt~!!

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