The Pineneedle Collective: DIY

Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

Saturday 10 October 2015

How To: Lace Bralettes!

I FINALLY DID IT!! ٩( ᐛ )و

I made a bralette pattern, which (I really REALLY hope) is fairly universal!
[Update: A couple of people of all different sizes have been sending in photos of their finished bralettes, saying that it fits really well and it's totally comfy, so yay!]
I have been searching and searching the internet for a decent bralette tutorial or pattern, but every single tutorial that I found just came with pre-made patterns.

One of the reasons that I don't like pre-made patterns is because every human body doesn't actually fit into 3 or 4 neat sizes. I know I could spend a lot of time altering the patterns so that they fit me, but I wanted something that would fit me *perfectly*, and also a pattern that's simple to alter when my measurements change - as my weight fluctuates extremely easily right now (thnx prednisone).

Anyway, the basic bralette that I made worked out so well that I even did some fancy extra things like adding lining, and adding extra elastic to turn it into a caged bralette.

I also forced Katie to let me make her a bralette (...she didn't exactly complain), so that I could test my pattern out on a different sized body, and increase my sample size for the pattern to 2. The only thing I did wrong here, as you can see, was that the caged elastic straps are too tight - so don't do that, if you're making your own!

Anyway, I really hope that this helps all of YOU, lovely internet people, to make your very own bralettes. Please let me know if you have some success with this pattern (or even failures!)

I've made 5 of these now and once you have a pattern drawn up (which takes around an hour), they only take about 1.5 hours to make, so it becomes a really quick and easy project. They're absolutely perfect for lounging around the house in, but supportive enough (if you've got a fairly small-sized chest like me) to wear out as well!

SO without further ado, here's the video tutorial:

I hope you're all doing well!

Monday 28 September 2015

DIY Light Up Shoes | Make Thrift Buy #25

I'm so ludicrously excited about this project. Whenever I see kids wearing light up shoes I want to steal them. But that would be evil and creepy so I don't. But I DO get very jealous and want a pair in my own size! So, that's what I'm trying to do today.

I hope you enjoy the video!

Monday 21 September 2015

Duplicate Your Dress - How To Turn One Dress Into Two!

I really, really like the style of this vintage polka dot dress that I bought from Ebay a couple of weeks ago. So I thought that I'd try to "reverse-engineer" the pattern and make myself the same dress in multiple different fabrics! It worked out pretty well!

Check out the video below, for tips and tricks on duplicating your own dresses (or tops, I guess! That would also probably work.)

p.s. The dress I’m to recreating is quite free-fitting and pretty simply made (and doesn't have separate sleeves which made my life a LOT easier, haha) - this method would be a bit harder if the dress was super fitted or had darts, so if you’re going to try this out, for the first time I suggest you try and copy a fairly loose-fitting item of clothing.

I hope that you're all having a lovely day,

Friday 4 September 2015

DIY Pinafore - With Adjustable Straps!

Remember my pinafore dress from the other day? Well, here's the tutorial for it!

P.s. I was a silly-head and totally forgot to put the last step into the tutorial (must have been too keen to show off the final results!)

SO:

When you reach 5:28 in the video, you're not done just yet - you need to sew the end of the strap back down onto the strap. This will stop the whole thing from coming loose!!

Like this:

Basically, loop the strap back over the slider, and sew it down onto the strap (the one that's at the back), using a straight stitch.

Cool cool cool! I hope you're all having a lovely day,

Thursday 27 August 2015

Head-To-Toe Florals & A Handmade Pinafore

Just popping in today with a really quick outfit post, because I've missed doing these regularly! Hopefully I can do outfit posts a bit more often now that I have a nice backdrop to pose in front of.

SO basically, I am super dooooooper proud of this pinafore that I made. It's probably the most professional-looking thing I've ever created - seriously, I can't stop looking down at my neat top-stitching and seams and feeling super proud of myself. Check it out:

As for the rest of my clothes: my shirt is thrifted, my tights are suuuper old - can't remember where they're from - and my shoes are from Naot. Also, the pinafore is made out of a thrifted bedsheet and thrifted buttons! p.s. It's National Op Shop week in Australia right now, so there's never been a better excuse to go visit your local thrift shop. Even if you don't live in Australia, you're allowed to celebrate it too ;) Not only are you saving clothes from landfill, this is where your money goes when you buy from an op shop.

Have a lovely day,

Friday 21 August 2015

Not Your Average T-shirt Transfer Tutorial! | Get Thready With Me #6

I've used a lot of this essential craft item called "t-shirt transfer paper" in my Make Thrift Buy videos, as well as to make some t-shirts with which I wore in my Style videos - but I realised that I'd never really gone into detail about how to make these things work! So, here's a super in-depth tutorial on how to use t-shirt transfers, from selecting an image, to how well it lasts in the wash - and, you don't need to *only* use them for t-shirts either ;)

Wednesday 5 August 2015

DIY Plush Bear Phone Case | Make, Thrift, Buy #22

...This is quite easily the most ridiculous tutorial that I have ever made for my blog.

Enjoy!

Love,

Friday 31 July 2015

DIY Drawstring Backpack | Make Thrift Buy episode 22

Hello! I just filmed my first video in my new sewing room (even though it's not totally set up yet) and OH MY GOSH it is so nice to film everything in the one room, film at whatever time of day I like, and not have to pause every second for planes going overhead. IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER :O

Anyway, I figured out how to make drawstring bags today! In this video you will actually be watching my first ever attempt at making one ;) And I'm definitely going to be making more! This bag is *super* useful for running errands, which is how I used it today.

Enjoy!

Sunday 12 July 2015

Thrifted Transformations | Get Sewing With Me #5

Sometimes you buy a couple of things from the thrift shop and they just sit around unworn forever because they're just not really very interesting (much like in my shirt video!)

That was the case with the navy dress pictured below.

Then, I found a shirt with daisies on it on a subsequent thrift-shopping trip, and immediately knew that the two were destined to be together!

I love before-and-after shots, so here's mine:

People often say to me "My thrift shops suck! You're so lucky to have good thrift shops where you live!" But half the skill of thrifting is being able to see the potential to transform clothes from something that's otherwise fairly bland and boring. Inspired by Coolirpa's Thrifted Transformations series, I'm going to attempt to upcycle these two thrifted items into something that I would much prefer to wear!

Enjoy :)

Monday 6 July 2015

5 Ways To Upcycle A Blouse | Get Sewing With Me #4

I keep buying blouses and then not wearing them, because they're too... eh. Just not interesting enough. So, I came up with 5 different ways of upcycling blouses to make them a little more exciting. Enjoy!

Sunday 28 June 2015

I made a skirt - with pockets!

Hello blog! I have seriously missed you! University is finally over for the semester and I can now spend some more time sewing, making videos and taking photos *big huge sigh of relief*.

Well, as you all know, I've well-and-truly mastered the circle skirt. SO, I'm finally(!) branching out into other skirt types. My favourite types of skirts right now are below-the-knee gathered flare-y skirts with pockets, so I wanted to challenge myself to learn how to make one. And I totally succeeded.

I'm just a *little* bit excited about learning how to make pockets. Can you tell??

Another technique I've learned - belt loops! So that I can pair these pretty vintage-style skirts with some pretty vintage belts!

And yes, I will aim to make a tutorial about making pockets within the month! Bear with me - I've literally just learned how to make them and want to perfect them before trying to teach others.

Now please excuse me while I go and make a version of this skirt in EVERY SINGLE COLOUR.

Seriously though, I'm so excited to have a whole month ahead of me just to make videos and improve my sewing skills. I think that I'm going to tackle a Make Thrift Buy challenge either today or tomorrow! Are there any particular ones that you're itching for me to do?? Let me know! My "to-do" list is here.

Outfit details:

Top is thrifted

Cardigan from Dangerfield

Belt is thrifted

Skirt is handmade by me!

Necklace is from HK:ID (Hong Kong)

Shoes are Naot Kedmas

Petticoat from Ebay

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend ♥

Saturday 20 June 2015

DIY Cat Socks! Make Thrift Buy #20

Sometimes really simple DIY projects nonetheless end up being really effective. These socks probably only took about 30 minutes to make, but they have made every single one of my outfits look super cute (granted, I've only been wearing them with jeans because it's FREEZING right now, but - well, they make jeans more interesting, so that's a win!)

I shall be back to regular blogging very soon - my Uni exams are over in a week! Hooray!

Much love,

Monday 8 June 2015

My Shirt Is Flirting With You ;) | Make, Thrift, Buy #19

Hey cuties!

I made a new make thrift buy video featuring this very flirty shirt. Yay embroidery! Embroidery is pretty much the best thing to do to relax your mind and give your hands something to fidget with (if you're a fidgety person like me), and in this video I go through two embroidery techniques which are among the most basic and necessary techniques used to embroider!

Make all your collars pretty, and enjoy! ;)

(p.s. if you're wondering where the original ep. 19 went, have a look in the video description on youtube!)

Thursday 14 May 2015

DIY Toast Pockets Skirt | MTB #17

Hooray! I finally got around to doing this Make Thrift Buy challenge that I've wanted to do since way back in October last year. It took me so long to get around to it that the original skirt (by Lazzari) is not longer in stores... haha *oops* - BUT on the other hand, that's even better for all the people who missed out on it (or couldn't afford it - it was $200), because now you'll be able to make one for yourself!

As mentioned in the video, I made some toast designs available for download.

Download full-size toasts here

(that was a weird sentence to write)

I hope that you've all been having a wonderful week,

Wednesday 15 April 2015

DIY Strawberry Two-Piece Dress (tutorial)

LOOOOOK. I made the BEST dress! ^_^ This whole project took me a good couple of days to sew, film and edit, but it has been so worth it - because not only do I now own the best dress in the world (true statement), but I can also teach you all how to make your very own!

Grab yourself 1.5 - 2 metres of cream one-way stretch jersey (or rayon) fabric, some strawberry patches (here, here or here) and your sewing machine - and you're ready to go!

The dress that I attempted to recreate is this gorgeous thing from Candy Stripper, one of my favourite ever brands (their new collection is food-themed and it's AMAZING). However, I don't think that they sell this dress anymore - and if they did, it wouldn't be for cheap.