Unique Fashion.

Happy Saturday lovelies!! This heatwave is certainly going on for a bit longer than I’d like! Do you like the heat? Or are you more of a autumn/winter person?

Anyway, on to the subject of this weeks post: DIY Unique Fashion! I couldn’t decide what to call this post for ages and I think that title sums it up the best. I toyed with DIY Fashion, Personalised Clothes etc. but unique fashion fits better.

Where did the idea for this post come from? Well.. as you know, I love wearing whatever I want, no matter what other people think; and because I’m a creative I often dream up outfits in my head with pieces I don’t own or that would cost way too much money that I don’t have.

And voila! The decision entered my mind that since I have some sewing skills I could probably create some of these pieces myself.

First up I had to decide what I wanted to make, and for my first project I chose shoes. Floral embroidered ones to be exact. I got the idea for these from seeing some checked vans when out and about shopping, those shoes take me back to my teens, everyone used biros and sharpies to draw the check pattern themselves haha.

So to start, I had to work out what shoes to buy as a base, and I figured some cheap converse would be a good plan since there’s loads of fabric to work with. I got mine from Primark in the end because they’re cheap and cheerful and if my idea went horribly wrong then I wouldn’t have wasted a load of money.

Then I ordered myself an embroidery starter pack from Amazon. If you’re wondering which one, you can find it here. It cost about £16, and it came with everything I needed. One thing I will say with this set is that the needles aren’t massively strong so I bought some extra needles which worked a lot better with the thicker fabrics.

Now, if I was smarter, I would’ve drawn out the design I wanted to create. But I decided to just wing it and see what happens. If you aren’t sure what design you want, I’d suggest drawing it out first to be safe.

Then comes the fun part! Time to start sewing! If you’re struggling for ideas on what you want to sew or how to sew certain stitches, there’s hundreds on embroidery tutorials on Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube.

My trainers took me about 2-3 weeks, and that was by working on them on and off in the evenings. Then I got myself some weatherproofing spray and gave them a good covering.

And after all that, I’m super happy with my results!

I love my trainers, they’re unique and no one else has any like it! Plus I have the satisfaction of knowing I made them, and you know, you gotta celebrate your successes no matter how small!

Onto my next 10 minute project that anyone can do, I had a pair of dungarees and I kept envisioning a pretty sunflower on them, so that’s exactly what I did. And it took no time at all. All you need is a needle, some embroidery thread (or even thick normal thread would work to be honest) and some interfacing if you’re working with stretchy and flimsy fabric.

Interfacing is something you can buy in two forms, iron on or sew on. I use iron on interfacing for clothes and adding small designs onto things, but if you were to make your own handbag for example, you’d probably use sew in as it tends to be a bit thicker.

And here is my super cute dungarees! It’s such a small simple thing to add, but I feel like it’s brought a bit of new life to them.

Tips for starting a creative project:

• Plan what design you want to do/what you want to make.
• Do some research into different techniques.
• Make a list of everything you’ll need.
• Make it in your own time.
• Take progress pictures if you’re making it over a long period of time. (It’s always great to see how much you’ve progressed!)
• Wear whatever you’ve made with confidence.
• Celebrate your creativeness!

And that’s about it for today’s post! I love being able to channel my creativity into my style, and I’ll definitely being making some more changes to my clothes to make them unique. And I can’t wait to wear these shoes out and about to show them off! And as for my dungarees, well I’ve got visions of wearing them with either a bottle green, red wine, mustard or deep purple coloured jumpers in autumn/winter. After all, I am a winter gal at heart.

What do you think to my dungarees and trainers? Let me know in the comments! Has this inspired you to make some of your own personalised clothes/accessories? It’s really rewarding and therapeutic to do. Perfect for days when its pouring down or something to do whilst you lay in the sun.

If you’re out in the sun today make sure you’re keeping cool and hydrated, and wearing sun cream! Have a great weekend everyone, see you next week!

Love,