Style Bytes

I finally got around to make my own version of the Marni hat from their 2002 fall collection. Even though this collection is 3 years old, that hat still works because of all the buttons we see right now. I bought a knitted brown slouchy hat from H&M and sewed on some colorful buttons.

The buttons look really small on the picture but they’re much larger in life. When I get sick of the buttons I will take them off and use the hat for a more Burberry Prorsum look from their 2006 spring collection.

I’ve wanted a cape for so long, but as with everything else that becomes trendy, it suddenly costs alot. Not even H&M has a cheap version. So I decided to try making my own out of the fabrics I bought the other day. I would have chosen a thicker black fabric, but at least this one is wool so it will keep me somewhat warm. I must say I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, allthough it’s just fastened with a safety pin at the moment as I didn’t have anything else.

The pattern was easy and I found alot of help in this Halloween outfit tutorial (don’t let the pictures scare you, it works for any sort of cape). I followed the steps and it was suprisingly easy. I am far from an experienced sewer, so I’m guessing all guy guys will be able to make this quite easy. I haven’t lined it, that’s a little too complicated for me, but that will probably be a good idea for those of you who knows how.

I am planning to make a simple knee length pencil skirt to go with it. I got a ton of this fabric!

I don’t know what it is, but every time I make jewelry I end up with someting really romantic and cute. It’s the same thing with the one I made the other day.

I made it the same way I made this necklace, only I used wooden beads and sewed a bunch of little flowes on the ends. The biggest flower is not sewed on, but I use a safety pin to attach it and to close the necklace for it to sit right. I will have to do something about the ribbon ends. Shorten them or tie them up.

Once again reposting (sorry), but the last time I posted this necklace I didn’t make a tutorial, so here it is. The way I have made it it’s best suited for spring, but there’s no harm in getting ready early. It’s kind of like my favorite necklace by Anna Sui. It can also make a nice Christmas gift as it doesn’t cost too much to make, but people seem to like it. You can of course choose darker colors to make it more suitable for winter. Red or purple flowers will then be a good match.

What you’ll need:

A bunch of beads

Fabric flowers (I bought a cheap one in a pot at picked the flowers off.)

Waxed thread in a color that matches the beads (Avaliable in hobby stores. You can also use some other kind of thick thread that doesn’t get tangled up too easily.)

How to do it:

I started at one end tying a bead to hang from the thread. Then I tied on more beads with a little less than an inch space between. To make the knots look good I used a needle to pull them tight into the pearls. Once in a while I put on a fabric flower. How to do this depends on what kind of flower you use, but mine had a hole in the middle, and I’ll try to explain how I did it: First I tied a knot just about where I wanted the flower. Then I put the thread through the flower from the back, put a bead on, and then I pulled the thread back through the hole and tied another knot. This way the bead had it stay put. The necklace has to be quite long. It’s supposed to be wrapped around the neck and both ends are hanging down the front. I chose to not make it even on both sides except for the ends.

I’ve been dying for a nice pair of shorts but I’ve been broke for a while now, and I haven’t found the perfect pair anyway. So I decided to turn an old pair of pants that I wasn’t wearing into shorts. This was so easy that I had to pass on the wisdom. It took a few seconds to do, and turned out great!

I started by measuring how long I wanted them to be. Added an inch and cut off the extra. First I sewed with zig zag stiches around the edges. I folded the fabric up to the length I wanted it and then I sewed with regular stitches as straight as I could. It doesn’t even show that I did it myself. I decided to make them a little long at first, and then I can just make them shorter if I feel like that after a while.

I have gathered together some affordable wristlets for you to spend your money on:

The cute ones: Owl and wing wristlets at Wingfish. $18 for the owl and $10 for the wing.

The secondhand ones: They’re of course on Ebay as well. Hot red starts at $6 and leather starts at $10.

So over to the fun ones: The first is avaliable at Fred Flare for $9. It’s actually a wallet, but might be possible to carry as a wristlet. Another wallet that may work as a wristlet is the apple from Naughty Secretary Club at $12.

More of the classy and expencive kind: The good news is that they’re on sale. Pink is $34 and lime is $37. Both on Zappos.

And at last the ones you can make yourself: The denim & lace is found here with tutorial, and you will find a tutorial for something like the second one here.

A girl needs her beer, even when saving up for a new dress. To save some money I decided to make my own beer after reading a post on it over at Sponbustion Magazine.

If you’d like to try this yourself there are explainations and videos over at Sponbustion. It’s actually very simple and demands very little work. It’s even pretty good!

I came across this cute little website with very original knitting projects: The AntiCraft with the words ‘You’re going to die anyway, so you might as well knit’. I have a thing for skulls. And I love outfits concisting of contrasts. So what’s better than adding some skulls to you cute pink dress? Now that it’s getting colder some nice armwarmers might come in handy. I think these snowflake-to-skull armwarmers are adorable:

You’ll find pattern for these and several other projects on the website. They probably require some knitting skills, but if you’re out of practise, christmas is coming up: I bet most moms are able to knit these!

After the previous post on this topic I kept thinking of more ways to decorate your home in a fashion theme. I remembered something I had seen on a trip to Berlin a couple of years ago, and I came up with this:

It’s a picture cut in three to pump some style up in those old binders. They are usually so depressing and ugly, but now I think they look quite nice. I chose an old pin-up picture, and you can find tons of them on The Pin-up Page. But anything will of course work. Resize the picture in Photoshop so that it fits your binders, print it, cut it in pieces and glue them on.

Upon request I have put together a tutorial for the previously posted bead bracelet. (Sorry for the delay!) It must be said that I’m not too experienced with making jewelry, so you might find much better ways to do this than I have.

You’ll need:

A lock

Beads (I’ve used 32 champagne colored pearls and 4 glass beads in a matching color)

A small fabric flower

A few inches of very narrow ribbon

Waxed thread (preferably in as similar colors to the pearls as possible)

How to:

I used waxed thread instead of metal strings cause I find it easier to work with, and metal has a tendancy to brake. I started off by cutting two pieces of thread and tying them to one of the lock hoops. Then I put on beads on both threads until I had reached the middle. Now I put a needle on the threads and sewed them through the fabric flower. Sew them in so that the left thread now becomes the right thread and the other way around. Continue putting beads on the threads until you have the length you want. End by tying the ends to the other lock hoop. The ribbon I just tied to the flower.