Archive for May 2012

DIY: Floral High Waisted Shorts.

Friday, May 25, 2012 § 0

Materials:
  • Floral fabric
  • High Waisted shorts
  • Needles
  • matching thread. 
Steps:
  1. Cut your fabric into the shape you would like to sew onto your shorts.
  2. Get the fabric and place it onto the shorts.
  3. Begin to sew the border onto the shorts, as shown below.
  4. You should follow step 3 if you would like the process to go by quicker.
  5. to make the following border, you must start by sewing from the inside.
  6. begin sewing a pattern you want for your border.
  7. And there you have it! Your own pair of floral shorts!

You Can Do it!

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Of course you can make your own, yes your own, high wasted cheetah shorts! Here is a tutorial of how you can do it!
What you need:
Jeans
Black paint
Bleach
Paint brushes
Small cardboard
Scissors
Razor
Creativity

Steps:
1. With a pair of fitted jeans make a line so that you are able to cut both legs of the pants
2. With scissors cut the line you made, try to be as accurate as possible when cutting it
3. After you have your pair of shorts, carefully pour bleach in a bowl and use a medium size paint brush to make "C" marks with the bleach on one side of the leg

4. After making "C" marks, wait for the bleach to dry
5. After it is dry, get a small paint brush and dab black paint on the brush
6. Out line the bleach marks with the black paint
7. Wait for it to dry
8. On the other side of the leg, use a razor and use cardboard so that the razor doesn't go through
9. Make as many lines as you want and have fun!

Yellow Polka Dot Minnie Mouse Sweater Tutorial

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Yellow Sweater with orange polka dots(BEFORE)

Yellow Minnie Mouse Sweater W/ Red Pockets
Okay, i bought a yellow polka dot sweater for $2.80 at the EcoThrift store in Hayward. It was pretty ugly, it looked like an old ladies sweater. Well, through out the week, i wanted to do something to it, it was just plain yellow with orange polka dots. So, i looked through all the stacks of clothing to see what i could find to put on the sweater to make it look, less ugly! I found a pajama kind of thing that had a Minnie Mouse on it. Minnie wears a polka dot dress and it kind of matched with the sweater. I decided to cut the Minnie Mouse & sew it to the sweater. It took me for EVER to sow it all around but I finished :) I used yellow thread that matched the sweater. When I finished sowing the Minnie Mouse in, i wanted to do something else to the sweater. It still looked very plain just with polka dots all around it. So Ms.Chatti & her friend, Elissa, gave me the idea of putting something red on the pockets. I found a red shirt and cut like about half inch of it. I sowed it on the top of the pockets so there would only be a little red so it could match Minnie Mouse. Alejandra Gonzalez helped me sow one pocket :) Well, that's pretty much it :D

DIY: Ombre Shorts

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Materials:
-Bleach
- Pants (can cut into shorts) or just shorts
- scissors (to cut pants)
- Lace (Optional) to add design
- Pocket Knife (optional to make cuts in jeans)
- Thread and Needle

How To:
1.) With jeans, you want to measure how short you them to be. (Leave an inch just in case you mess up)
2.) Pour bleach into a bowl (You want it to be a big/deep bowl that way when you put the jeans in, the bleach does not spill all over the place)
3.) Put the bottom half of the pants/shorts into the bleach
4.) Live it in there until it starts changing color. (It should turn out to become a bit faded and white)
5.) After that, slowly take it out little by little to have that Ombre (example link) effect.
6.) After you get it how you want it, leave it in the sun to dry

Optional:
Now that you have your ombre shorts/jeans, this part will be optional if you want some cute designs on it.
- Turn to the back of your jeans so that you're looking at the pockets.
- Grab the lace fabric and measure the back pockets so you can just sew it on top
- Cut out the lace (Make sure to leave half an inch on all sides to where you sew just in case it's too small)
- Grab the thread (Whatever color your lace will be) and start sewing the outline of the pockets
- When finished with that, cut all excess off and make sure your stitches are really tight because you don't want the lace fabric to fall off when you wash them.

Cuts:
You can have that ripped up jeans/shorts effect if you would like.
- Grab a big piece of card board and put it underneath the jean so that when you start making your cuts, you won't make cuts on the other side of the jeans.
- Get your knife and start making your cuts. (This is where you get creative and put it anywhere you'd like)
- Make you're scrapping the knife horizontally to have that ripped effect.

Have fun and be creative! Be safe with the knife, please!

DiY: Denim Vest with Lace

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Hey guys/girls! If you think you have to waste more than $20 on a denim vest then you are totally wrong! You also don't have to be the best at making clothes.  Earlier this week my WWW went out to Eco Thrift and I found this nice Jean Jacket from St. John's Bay only for 6.98 with 25% off!  Along with that I got a lace tank top for just a $1.

What to do to get a Denim Vest with lace.
This project is not complicated, you just need scissors, thread, a needle and the right amount of lace and most importantly the denim jacket which you can find at thrift stores.

The first thing you do is lay out the jacket on a table and line up the sleeves flat. Then you just pick up the scissors and chop the sleeves out! I know it might sound a bit messy and scary, but if you cut right on the line if the stitching, it will come out okay.\

Once the sleeves are chopped off, you measure the area in which you want to add the lace. As you can see on the picture below, I added lace above the pockets so I measured that area with the piece of lace over it and I just went on and cut the part that I need. You can use a ruler if you want, the reason why I didn't was because I didn't have one and because I was just going to cut off the extra. However the thing about cutting lace is that you need to make sure that your scissors really work, because if you use crappy scissors then it won't cut nice. BTW, Lace is a bit difficult to cute because if you pull one string of lace, then another comes with it. I learned that the hard way.

So once you measured the lace and you cut it, then you grab your needle, and your thread (color of your choice) I used pink for contrast, and sew! I actually used two different pieces of lace for a more emphasis on that area.
Sewing is actually pretty easy but make sure you start from the inside out. After you sew,  you are done!

How to cut a neck shirt into a no sholder:)

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What helps to start is to grab a  pen cap and put it from the neck to the shoulder.Then you mark it all around to the chest and to the other neck.After that you cut the front where you marked it and when you finish cutting it cut the back accordingly to the front.Since you do not want it to look uneven then you are going to have to sow where you cut so it looks new and amazing.

Read more »

DIY: High-Low Skirt

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Want to know how you can make a high low skirt like the one above? 

1) First you take a skirt you would like to turn into a high low skirt. The Skirt should be preferably long and flowy.

2)  Once you have your skirt you need to measure how short you would like it in the front and how long you want it in the back.you should use safety pins the areas were you want to cut the skirt.

3) The Best Part is cutting up the skirt. You basically just want to follow were you marked the areas in which you would want to cute it. 

4) It should because in kind of a circular shape.

5) You want to make sure that the front is even as well as the back. 

6)If not then you would need to hem it. 

Goodluck! and Hope your skirt turns out Great

<3Frances
 

DIY: High-Low Skirt.

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Materials:
- Skirt/Dress
- Scissors
- Black Thread & Needle
- Elastic band (optional)

So this is how you do a high low skirt.
1.) You can go to thrift store and see if you can find a flowy dress/skirt If you already have one, great!)
- For me, I went thirfting and bought this dress at EchoThrift for only $4.98
- I cut the top and bottom so I could only have the skirt.
- After cutting it out, the skirt was too big for my waist so i had to cut it, sew it and add some elastic bands.
2.) Once you have your dress/skirt you fold it up from the side and get some marker and draw an upside down-half you on the side of the skirt to have that high-low effect.
3.) Once your done, you might want to cut it a little bit more to see if you're comfortable with it.

TADA! You have your high-low skirt. not that hard, right? This is actually really cute to wear during summer. ENJOY!

Galaxy Skirt Tutorial

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Materials:
Spray Bottle, Bleach, Purple Acrylic paint, Blue Acrylic paint, White Acrylic paint, sponges or rags, and paintbrushes.

1) Fill a spray bottle with bleach and spray your skirt. This will create an orange-y color.
2) Mix your blue and purple paint and use your sponge to dab on your skirt.
3) Dip your paintbrush in white paint and splatter your paintbrush on the skirt. This will create the star effect.
4) Allow your skirt to dry overnight

My skirt shown below was $2 at the thrift store! It's best to find an old skirt or even do this to a shirt or pants.

DIY: High Waisted Shorts

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Needed:
Jeans at least a half size bigger
Needle
Thread of a color you choose
Scissors
Chalk

Steps:
1. Put on your jeans inside out! (It may be weird, but you'll see!!)
2. Take the chalk and mark a line on both legs for how short you want your shorts to be
3. Take jeans off and cut. If you want to fold it, cut about two inches below the chalk line.
4. If you want folds, after cutting, fold them and make the folds as even as possible!
5. Take your thread and needle now tabs flip your shorts inside out.
6. Sew your folds on the inside so they stay! And now you have some completed high waisted shorts!
* If you want unique shorts feel free to decorate it :) Here's a picture of mine!

How was thrifting for me??

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 § 0

Going to Eco Thrift yesterday was fun. I never been thrifting before. It was hard to find clothes to alter. i was constantly thinking about "what can i do with this"? I got 1 pair of jeans,2 jackets,1 blouse,and 1 shirt. I didn't realize that the clothes were going to be that cheap. It was really fun to check out Eco thrift, i would love to go back to get more clothes.

Oh so Thrifty!

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Day one of WWW was fantastic! I enjoyed it soo much, picked up a million things for just a total of $34! I can't wait until I start to transform these.... 'things' into some better clothes! I'm so excited!! I got a ton of long skirts to make into high-low skirts and high waisted skirts. Then I got myself a pair of LEVI'S for $2.99! What a bargain! I think this was my favorite bargain of the day :)

Drifting...Oh no wait, THRIFTING :D

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 § 0

Drifting...Oh no wait, THRIFTING Yesterday we went to EcoDrift here in Hayward. When we entered the store, there was lots of clothes everywhere! I didn't know where to begin looking. The clothing there was honestly really ugly, but that's why i chose the ugly clothes, so i can make it nicer ! :D i got a pair of shorts, i want to bleach them like i saw on the website iSpyDIY.com.

   Everything was pretty cheep, i got 4 shirts, 1 pair of shorts, & a scarf. I am ready to get all the materials i need to fix these clothes up :D I am going to need sparkles, laces, bows, beads...lots of beads! I want to make these clothes into something comfortable to wear, especially right now in the summer time. I want to make the long sleeve shirts into no sleeves of short sleees :) and add a little style of Michael Jackson<3 (: with sparkles, and many more things. I hope this is not difficult to do, if i mess up i'll be outraged...totally outraged! >:O But it will be fun making all these clothes look actually nice :D
   
   I am really excited to start working on these clothes. And the best part is that we get to keep the clothes after WWW! :D So all of these clothes were cheap but we are going to make them nice looking so that people would think we got it in the mall or something :D I want to make these shirts pretty enough that people ask me where i got them from.

I love different patterns and beads. Like i said before, I am going to try to do a style sort of Michael Jackson, at least one shirt. For that i am going to need sparkle glittery things.

Collared Shirt

Week Without Walls: Day 1.

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Yesterday was such an adventure. My WWW group went THRIFTING. It actually felt nice going thrifting for the second time in my life. My partner and I actually found some really cute stuff. As I walked around to find something, I would always think to myself, "Why did they give this away? It's so cute!" 4 items only costed me $17.23. Although, I did go over my budget just by a little. I can say that my shopping experience at a thrift store with my group was pretty fun. On our way back to school after thrifting and having lunch at McDonalds, we waited at the bus stop waving to random passing cards. Most ignored, most waved and most honked. After acting like complete weirdos, the bus finally arrived and we were on our way back to school. Day 1 of my WWW was awesome if i do say so myself. :) 

Rhi -Inspired

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If Rhianna's not making the latest hits on the radio or appearing in box hit movies she is known for her bold sense of fashion. The way she puts together clothes is exciting and shows her personality. This is why my fashion sense reflects my personality. At a younger age, I was shy to convey how I was through my clothing and as Rhianna's peek of stardom set off so did her change in fashion. Her style varies and changes which depicts how she might feel. The way she combines her personal attributes and fashion amazes me and she still continues to inspire me to do the same!

First experiance with second hand shopping

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First experiance in a thrift store, I had never gone to a thrift store or bought clothes for me to use from their, it was shoking to find nice stuff. We had a budget of $17 and find 4 things to fix, I found 4 items and brought some of my own to change and make them look better. I got alot of chetta print shirts that i like but i have to fix because they are not really how i want them. I am excited for the rest of the week, I have great ideas for the things i got!

Day One of Week Without Walls

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May 21, 2011
Yesterday was Day One of our Week Without Walls. We came to school and pretty much just looked at the clothes that were in the trash bags. I found this floral skirt that I'm going to turn into a high-low skirt Then i found this black cardigan that I'm thinking of making it into a cropped cardigan. After looking through the bags we headed over to the bus stop. We took the bus to this store called Ecothrift.Ecothrift is a big thrift store in Hayward. When I first started thrifting this was actually the first store that I had went to We spent about 2 hours at that store. All of us girls found so much clothes that had been within our limit. I was pretty happy with the items that I had got and I can't wait until I am able to alter them. Mostly all of the clothes that we got yesterday was for alteration to make it into our own type of style. I was really surprised on how much clothes you are able to get for such a small amount. Because usually at Foever21 or H&M one blouse is usually the pricing of the limit that our teacher had given us. After shopping we walked to go get some lunch. Then after lunch we took the bus back to school. When we got back we just wrote prices on the paper. That was the end of our day.

Day 1 of WWW

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 May 21, 2012

    As soon as I walked in the Eco Thrift store, a jean jacket caught my eye; that was one of items I was dying to buy. There were so many things that caught my attention, and some of the prices were irresistible, like the lace tank top I got for only .99 cents! A lot of items had discounts, some had 25%(blue tag) off, others 50%(orange tag), the best tag to choose was the yellow tag which was 75% off! Sadly I didn't find any items that I liked with 75% off, but I got four items for less than 17 bucks!
    I chose a jean jacket, a lace tank top, a red wine button up, and a black skirt to alter. While shopping I came across a gorgeous pink-ish dress, it looked very sophisticated and I really like the way the top was, so I was think of cutting the top off, but I did not buy it because it was too cute to cut; I regret not taking a picture of it. 
  Yesterday was my first time thrifting for my own clothes, it was overall a nice experience. Eco Thrift not only has clothes to offer, but a wide range of everyday items. 

What I plan to do.

I am going to cut up the jean jacket and transform it into a vest because its sleeves fit me too loose. I plan on adding a patch of lace from the tank top I got and adding it to the pocket folds. I am still debating on whether or not to add rhinestones. The skirt I got has bit of layers of lace, and originally I was looking for a high waist skirt but did not find one that I really liked, so I am try to see if  there is a way in which I could take of the layers of lace from the skirt that way it is straight black and the way I envisioned it which is hard to explain. Anyways, I plan to match the skirt with the red wine button up after I cut off the sleeves from the shirt to make it a bit more in style according to what's "in" today.

Eco Thrift

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Yesterday going to Eco Thrift i thought it was going to be bigger but it was wasn't as big as i thought. They had some nice clothes but most were not so good. The clothes were really cheap and on discount. There were clothes that i found that i could alternate and make better..like this white shirt i could make into a skirt!

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Yesterday we went to Eco Thrift to buy some clothes so we can design it :) . It was a nice experience. At first I thought that they were going to have super ugly clothes, but when I got there I saw they had some good clothes. There was some ugly clothes but it could be altered and made into something beautiful!


Thrifty Time!

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Where can you find fun flirty clothes? Well of course thrifting is the answer! One particular place is Eco thrift in Hayward. I found colorful shirts, tank tops, and dresses that are all summer approved. The best part about thrifting, besides looking for the latest fashions is that everything is affordable! The large variety of clothes at Eco Thrift seem to be deceiving but once you start to search for what you need, it's as if the clothes come to you. I had a great time finding cute clothes of all sorts, even in the men section! I would recommend Eco Thrift and other thrift stores around your neighborhood! Whether you are gearing up for summer or preparing for the winter, the thrift store can accommodate to your liking!

Thrift Store Adventures

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Skimming through racks of clothing and trying on different outfits was much of an adventure at Eco-thrift. Being in search for multiple collared shirts to stud wasn't much of a challenge, however trying to find the perfect black skirt in order to turn into a galaxy skirt was. Alas! My friend Allysa found one for $2 and kindly gave it to me. Also, while looking through the racks of shoes, I found these cute coach boots that could easily go with any outfit. But sadly, I had to let to go. However, I am so ready for my upcoming DIY project.

Challenge Accepted

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Went Thrifting Yesterday.We Got Sone Clothes That Once Were Done With Them They Will Look Like From A Magazine.Exited That Today We Are Going To Oakland To Get Some Suplies For Our Clothes So We Can Make Them Look Gourgeous:).Readdy For The Challenge

Yesterday while thrifting. 5/21/2012

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-Yesterday i went thrifting and it was really fun, I enjoyed going through all the different types of clothing. From blouses,jeans to shorts to all sorts of clothes. There were many to choose from for a great price which was amazing.
-I need thread,needles,studs and hmm,something shiny. I'd like to get all kinds of studs. Like the diamond,pyramid ,pearls and all of that. :D.

advice from the experts: kathleen

Monday, May 21, 2012 § 0

Kathleen 
@ 

1) How did you first start thrifting?
I was actually introduced to thrifting and vintage shopping by my Mom.  She has a collection of beautiful thrifted pieces, in particular my favorite are her wool coats/blazers.  Long time ago, she brought me along to first thrift store ever, Goodwill.  It was so fun searching for unique and fun treasured pieces for an amazing price.

2) What items do you advise to always thrift (as opposed to buy new)?

I always love finding cool blouses because they're kind of like a basic for my wardrobe and something I don't want to buy new necessarily.  Also, cool items I love thrifting are structured bags.

3) What is your favorite "DIY" project you've tried?  
I loveloove my recent leather jacket I studded on the collar.  It makes the jacket look more fun and oddly enough, more expensive with silver studs from my perspective.  DIY projects are such great ways to add your own flare to items and make them into something you'd feel more comfortable wearing out.

4) What is something a first-time thrifter should avoid?  
First time thrifters usually are overwhelmed by the amount of clothing available at hand.  I'd say take it in with small steps and go to a particular area you are more interested in finding a nice piece to add to your wardrobe.  Also, avoid just picking out items with your regular size -- thrifted items can either be belted or if they're too long for jeans can be cut off to shorts.

5) Favorite place in the Bay to thrift?
I am obsessed with Wasteland -- every time I go there I always score a great pair of Levi's shorts.  One time I got these cool slashed Levi's denim shorts that were tie-dyed red previously.

6) Current trend you're really digging?
Gotta love the ombre colored tops or dresses, they add this cool effect and make a boring clothing item more interesting to the eye.


7) Do you have any advice for fashion bloggers who are just starting?
Blog about what you love -- whether it's fashion design, trends, personal style, or all of the above.  Passion and genuineness are great factors to a blog.  Most importantly, have fun with your blog journey!