Buy it, cut it, stick it, stud it, sew it, change it, rip - upgrade it

Sorry Daft Punk for defaming your lyrics...

I've been customising some jeans!

In my last post I mentioned my accumulation of thrifted jeans that I have long intended to turn into cut off shorts.

Well last week I had some spare time and, clearly nothing else to do, so I put my crafty hat on (can you imagine how that would look? I bet it would be covered in buttons and pom poms) and got to it!

Here are the results:

Sorry for the over-feature of my bedspread on the blog, it really is the best background!

These are my faves and sadly, too small for me. My good friend Clare is taking them off my hands though so they're going to a good home.

I buy all my studs from Chinese sellers on eBay. They typically take a couple of weeks to arrive but for £1 for a bagful you can't go wrong.

The leather inverted cross was made from the off-cuts off some leather trousers (also made into shorts!)

These beauties just about fit me; the dilemma being that I can't move. I'm hoping that if I get a holiday booked soon I'll have some incentive to get into them!

They were originally vintage Wrangler jeans picked up in a charity shop for £1.50.

My hoarding ways proved useful with these. I knew hanging on to the scrap of material that I once called a fancy dress costume would eventually come good...

With my uni ladies. On true form as well- being too late to get hold of one of the 'official' bar crawl t shirts!

These Levi jeans were another charity shop purchase at £2.49. The studs and fabric were left over from the American Flag jacket I made earlier...

Wish I could keep these but they're a bit too big so eBay they go!

I won't bang on about these ones as I already mentioned them in a previous post. The jeans really were the bargain of the century (okay, perhaps car boot) at just 50p!

and finally...

Okay so these aren't denim but needed sorting out nevertheless.

I bought the leather trousers from eBay ages ago; they were too small then and there's no bloody chance they'd fit now! I chopped the legs off (I have loads of leather left for other DIYs) and added a single stud to the back pockets. These are currently going on eBay too.

Well, I'm DIY'd out, how about you? Have you customised anything recently?

Love,

Foxy x

Hair today gone tomorrow...

Hello!

I'm trying to be less sporadic with my blogging; can you tell? Less than a week since my last past- got to be some kind of record there!

Anyway, I thought I'd do a post today as I've just had my hair did (hence the very cheesy title!) and it looks pretty cool. Reason enough for an outfit post I would say.

Cross earring: ASOS; Collar tips: eBay; Denim shirt, £10, Urban Village Vintage; Vintage St. Michael jumper: £1, charity shop; Shorts (barely seen, if at all!): 50p customised Levi's, car boot sale; Vintage Chiltern bag: £3.50, eBay; Shoes: £24.99, New Look

Had my hair done at Toni & Guy- I never go anywhere else!

I bought this oversized red jumper from a charity shop yesterday. It's an old Marks and Spencer St. Michael one and was on the £1 rail- would be rude not to take it home.

*Do you like the fact I've taken today's photos outside? I think they look much better though I have to endure a bit of embarrassment as I live in a block of flats and get worried that people will see!

My shorts, which admittedly, you can't really see- hence the last photo, were born of the jeans i mentioned in my last post.

Here's a closer look:

The corner of my living room looks like a mini sweatshop at the moment; whenever I come across vintage jeans I have to buy them, vowing to turn them into shorts at my earliest opportunity. Well, this never happens and I have now built up quite a collection of the little buggers. With a few days off work, I've decided to have a big customising session and sell the pairs that I don't want on eBay ready for the summer's festivals. My kitchen table is awash with studs, stars, pins, American flag and leopard print material and patches of scrap leather.

Back to the present and on a completely unrelated note, I also bought these leggings today:

I got them from a great little cheap shop in the Arndale centre in Manchester that sells a lot of the same clothes as the big highstreet fashion websites. These were just £5 each.

I've long been lusting after the ones from Black Milk, but with a price tag of 75 Australian Dollars a pair, these will do just fine!

Have you stumbled across any great bargains recently?

Love,

Foxy x

All American Girl

Do you remember me talking about customising a vintage Levi denim jacket to create an American flag version? (see post)

I only bloody well went and did it didn't I!

(I actually finished it a few weeks ago, just haven't got around to posting about it until now)

Here it is:

It was really easy and cheap to make!

I eBayed everything. The fabric was around £1.20 for a large piece; the studs were £1 for a bagful (came from China and didn't take long at all!) and the jacket (a men's size small) was second-hand from a UK seller, picked up for around £8.

My sewing machine has packed in so I had the painstaking task of handstitching the fabric on.

The material was really bright so I ended up using the underside of it as the bit on show.

This was after a rather haphazard attempt at trying to lighten it in the bathroom sink with Domestos. This didn't work- not that I'd recommend it even if it had...

Don't think my outfit goes together so well but just threw the jacket over what I had on for the picture.
Necklace: Vintage Fair; Dress: £19, inlovewithfashion.com; Vintage Belt: 50p, charity shop; Ring: gift

I'm really pleased with it! I've only worn it a handful of times but had loads of compliments.

I'm in a really creative mood at the moment- are you customising anything for Spring?

Love,

Foxy

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Wicked and I'm lazy...

I know, I know, I promised to blog more now that I've finished uni! Truth be told, I've generally been revelling in  having very little responsibility while it lasts. In all honesty, for the most part I've been either drunk, hungover or working (in the bar) since handing all my uni stuff in.

Here's a little update anyway. I'm dying to get into doing some more DIYs now I have more time on my hands, it's just getting around to it...

Here's a really easy thing to do:

Men's Tshirt, £2, Charity Shop

I hacked the sleeves off a men's tee then simply cut thin strips (about 1-2cm wide) into the bottom. Looks really effective and great for summer (if we're going to get one!) of course.

And excuse me having NO makeup on here, think I'd just got out the shower after the gym!

This one isn't really a DIY, but I thought I'd show you my new bargain playsuit.

Belt, 50p, Charity Shop

I don't usually pop into COW vintage (Digbeth one, Bham) because I find it a bit overpriced but on passing I thought I'd have a little browse.

I spotted a rack of playsuits marked half price. This one was originally £8 so I got it for just £4!

It was a little longer, which annoyed me in the end so I took my scissors to it (more often than not the case with all my clothes!)- and voila!

And yes it DOES look like a dress, but looky here:

Definite playsuit from the back!

So yeah, I definitely want to do some more challenging customisations soon! On my list is...

This T Shirt which I have been dying to make ever since I saw it on the Di$count blog.

And I really really want a body harness!

I thought I could probably have a go at making a chain one like this:

£15, ASOS

But I really want a leather one like these BEAUTIFUL ones by Zana Bayne (thoroughly out of my budget unfortunately!).

I'm thinking I could re-work a cheap bondage version from eBay?!?! 

Haha what do you think?

Foxy

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Denim and turquoise

I wanted to share another pair of shorts I made. I made these a few days ago from some Lee jeans I got from COW vintage on the sale rail for £5. I figured that I'd pay about that in a charity shop so didn't hestitate in buying them.


Here they are!

Hair: bush, depths of hell- you decide! Debbie Harry T-shirt: Ben Sherman Plaited leather belt: Topshop Tights: Primark (originally un-ripped!)

I have lots of denim cut-offs, but love these because they're the only pair that don't cut into my thighs! I'm cursed (some might say blessed- I think it's a pain in the arse!) with a little waist and bigger hips/bum/thighs. Needless to say, it's quite a challenge finding highwaisted clothing that fits well in both departments!

These are quite big on my waist but look okay drawn in with a belt (if you look closely you'll see a bit of a paperbag effect going on). I also love the washed-out colour as all my other cut-offs are darker shades of denim.

I like having a raw, frayed hem but also love turn-ups; these are the best of both worlds.

The 'turquoise' refers to these new rings.

I've been after one for aaaaages after falling in love with the YSL Arty version, but for over £100 (and it's not even gold!), I was hardly going to buy it was I?

The beautiful YSL Arty ring in turquoise

I'd seen lots of stuff on the Topshop semi-precious stone rings, and at an average of £10 they seemed a steal! The YSL one looks pretty, granted, but the stone isn't even what it seems- it's glass!

So I hit the high street and left with these beauties!

The one on the left is from Forever 21. Now, I'm not a big fan of the shop; I completely bought into the hype in the run-up to its opening in Birmingham, then was left disappointed when it finally arrived. The best way I can describe it is simply, 'an American New Look'- similar styles and prices.

I've been and looked at clothes in Forever 21 a handful of times and find that what they sell is very hit and miss. Yes they do pretty cheap clothing, but a good proportion of clothes aren't great quality- worse than Primark in many cases.

However, I'm so chuffed with this ring! For around £5, I can't tell you what great quality it feels, it's really heavy!

I was after a gold ring really, but couldn't resist this. I love the detail on the sides and the cracked effect of the 'stone', which is in fact plastic! Though someone thought it was an expensive one last night!

The second ring is Topshop. It's one of the semi-precious stone ones but was only £8.50 (even less with my student discount).

Afterwards, I realised I'd seen it on Ashleigh's 'This Stylish Life' blog- doh! We do seem to have very similar tastes though... (for some reason I can't link to the post, but it's a fairly recent one on her blog)

I'd definitely recommend that anyone going shopping in Birmingham soon checks out Forever 21 (never thought I'd hear myself say that!) but honestly, their jewellery selection is brilliant! These are my faves:

£4.80

£3.80

£4.80

£5.80

Foxy

x

A bit of leather (nearly)

First off, sorry for neglecting this little space for a while, I've been super busy with uni (final year- sure you understand!) and in particular, my project, which I'll tell you a little about at the end of this post.

I wanted to share a recent (easy) make with you.

I've wanted a pair of leather shorts for a good few months and, after having a little look around, I concluded that they're pretty expensive things- I'm talking to you Topshop!

So I decided to grab myself a cheap pair of unwanted leather trousers and make some myself. I got a pair from eBay which were great leather, but unfortunately more like a size 8 than a 10.

I nabbed another pair in a size 12; however when I checked the label, I found that they weren't real leather! Pretty good imitation though (Marks and Spencer PU no less), plus the seller gave me some money back so they only cost me around £2!

First I chopped a big chunk of the legs off.

Then I tried them on, turned them up (I planned to have them as turn-ups), and estimated how much more I needed to snip.

I then hand-sewed the raw edge up- only making a very thin hem as I got a little scissor-happy!

Then I turned them up once more, and here they are! I'm hoping they don't look too plasticy!

I didn't sew up the final turn-ups so that I can alter how short they are easily.

Earrings: gift (boyf/camera man), All Saints Necklace: gift (boyf) Blouse: £2.29, charity shop Belt: 50p, charity shop Ring: Primark Shoes: Office

Also thought I'd do a few close-ups.

Probably my favourite shoes ever- and the most I've paid for flat shoes!

Necklace

Earrings

A few of you wanted to see a close-up of the shaved section of my hair. It's grown quite a lot now so when I re-do it, I might post a little tutorial.

My Project

Okay so now let me tell you about my 'baby' which I'll be nurturing for the rest of the year!

I'm producing a creative fashion magazine as my third year uni project. The magazine celebrates money saving, recycling, creativity and individuality in fashion and is concerned with all things crafty, vintage, thrifty, customised, handmade, quirky and cool.

I thought I'd let you guys know all about the magazine as I think it'll interest most of you!

My blog is also going to take a bit of a backseat due to the workload so I thought I'd share the magazine's official blog (also run by me). Just click the screengrab below to go to the site. It'd be great if you could give it a read and if you like it, add it to your reader or subscribe.

It'd be great if you could follow the magzine's twitter too: @TrashionMagazine or join the Facebook page here.

Thanks in advance for any support and any feedback would be appreciated :)

Foxy
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