Looking fashionable and gorgeous is not always easy, especially when you are on limited funds. So here are six killer tips you can do yourself that deliver full-fashionista force at low cost.
Unique Wearable Art
Do you have a camera on your mobile phone? Why not take a picture of your favourite landscape, pop group, person, flower, anything – and have it digitally printed onto clothing? You can design your own t shirt, hoodies, sweatshirts etc. with your own unique art work. Nobody else will be wearing anything similar to you when you design your own t shirt, which means you’ve got yourself a one-off,bespoke, totally personal designer garment. Of course, if everybody else decides they’ve just got to have one, you can print off as many as you need. Who knows, it could be the start of a new business venture…
Vintage Value
Vintage styles are all the rage right now, so if your granny is cool about your raiding her wardrobe, then go for it. Inside granny’s closet you could find all sorts of interesting styles that are much better made and offer a unique freshness in contrast to the High Street fare on offer. Pretty floral print tea dresses, fake fur coats, pillbox hats and stockings with seams all help create the fashionable forties look that’s everywhere at the moment.
Other great hunting grounds for older styles are jumble sales and charity stores. Keep an open mind about garments and look at them with a critical eye – think about how they can be adapted, modified and tailored to your own requirements. In the world of fashion, everything can be altered, so don’t be afraid to mix things up and change things around.
Crafty Clothing
On many traditional UK markets there will be a stall that supplies buttons, beads, ribbons and trimmings for dressmaking fans. Make friends with the person who runs your local market stall and watch as your wardrobe blossoms into a a twinkling, glittery, embroidered and lacy collection of sublime beauty. The plainest jumper can be transformed with cleverly attached beading or ribbon. Shoes, straw hats, scarves, jeans and t shirts can all be given the crafty decorative treatment. Invest in a few crafty tools of the trade such as a glue gun, craft knife, pots of glitter (looks fantastic on tired old stiletto heels), a sewing machine and some sharp dressmaking scissors.
To Dye For
Have you seen the perfect dress for you, but they don’t have it in your colour? Often, the least popular hues hang around on the rails and you can pick up some real bargains. Keep an eye out for fabrics and colours that will absorb dye pigment easily. Creams, yellows and pastel shades are good places to start. Yellow is a difficult shade to wear successfully, but an easy shade to dye to a darker colour. It isn’t just fabrics that can have their colour altered, look at shoes, boots, handbags and belts in a new light – leather and suede dye can breathe fresh life into a tired pair of old pumps or boots.
Sharpen up your Scissors
You can make great changes to soft fabrics such as cotton jersey with just a few clever cuts with your scissors. Slicing horizontal vents into a t shirt changes it from conventional top to daring, feature fashion piece. Old jeans with ripped knees can be recycled into pretty denim shorts, perfect with opaque tights in winter or bare legs in summer. Removing the arms from an old jacket turns it into a gilet, consider adding new buttons and a belt, and you have a totally unique new outfit to impress your friends with.
Work the Work-wear Look
Top celebs and fashion-fans are all rocking the work-wear look at the moment. However, the price tags on some of those designer dungarees and boiler suits can be eye watering. Avoid paying through the nose for designer garments by thinking outside the box. Painting and decorating suppliers will stock overalls and work-wear that can be customised and made to look ravishing. A pretty, studded belt to pull the silhouette into shape and some flashy new buttons and trimmings are all you need to turn a DIY work wear staple into a catwalk conquering corker!
So, there you have six ideas to get you started on some low cost DIY fashion projects. For a little effort but not a lot of cash, you can be sitting pretty. All you need to do now is sit back and wait for the compliments to start rolling in…