CUFFLINKS IN A BLINK.

Whether you are in need of an inexpensive cufflinks, broke a pair or plainly broke and doesn’t know what to get your father for a special occasion, here’s a simple and express DIY for you! Keep your eyes open, this one is going to be quick! Let’s get started!

You’ll need:

1. Styled shank buttons (4 pieces for a pair)

2. Slim elastic hair ties

3. Scissors

Procedure: 

Step 1: Select 4 shank buttons that you’ll use to make your cufflinks. Make sure that your elastic band is slim enough to fit through the holes of the buttons. Cut the elastic band so you’ll have both ends and insert it through the two holes of the buttons.

Step 2: Tie a knot so the elastic band will keep the buttons closely. It depends on your taste if you want the top and the bottom buttons to have decorations but I chose to keep only one of them decorated and the other one plainly colored. 

Step 3: You’re almost finished! Make sure you’ve tied the elastic band properly so your cufflinks won’t fall apart. Cut the excess elastic band so it won’t be hanging around between the cufflinks and you’re done!

An original couple of cufflinks in less than 5 minutes and under a hundred pesos! In case you’re hesitant, shank buttons are the ones with holes at the back, they’re different from the ones you see with holes in the middle. You can get them in your local fabric stores or lace stores. Boys and girls, I hope this DIY be of assistance to you for your own use, your boyfriends’ or your fathers’. Good luck and learn by heart, “Why buy when you can DIY?”

Newspaper layout. Look this up on Inquirer.net here.

ROCKIN' STUD.

From studded shoes to studded bags, come studded belts that are made to studded caps. Let us turn your boring caps to an interesting rocker inspired headwear and allow it to bring the rugged rebel in you. Let’s get those hands working! 

Things you’ll need:

1. Studs / Old Studded Belt 

2. Tape measure / ruler 

3. Cap 

4. Peeler / butter knife 

5. Pencil

If don’t own an old pyramid studded belt like mine, you can buy different types of studs from leading lace shops in malls. The prices vary according to the sizes and the designs of the studs. They are sold at around Php 30.00 to Php 90.00 per pack and you can just sew them or glue them directly to the cap as you style it.

PROCEDURE: 

1. This is how the back of the studded belt looks like. You need a peeler or a butter knife so it would be easier for you to remove the clamped studs from the leather. Use the tip of the peeler to straighten and loosen the studs’ clamps.

2. Flip the belt after removing the clasps of the studs and use the tip of the peeler to disentangle it from the leather. Be careful because the peeler is very pointy and so are the studs.

3. Now, with the style in mind, prepare the cap. What I did was, I measured the flap of the cap so I would be sure that the arrangements of the studs are visibly balanced. Use your pencil as a marker so it would be easier for you to see if the spacing is steady.

4. If you’re using the same studs that I’m using, you can directly pierce it to the cap’s fabric. Make sure the studs are hitting the pencil marks so the studs are aligned and spaced well to avoid redoing each stud. *This is very advisable to those of you who will be gluing your studs on your caps.

5. This is how the pierced stud looks like inside the cap. Make sure the studs are well placed and their pointed tips are clamped well before flattening them down with the peeler. Repeat on each stud until you’ve finished your design then you’re done!

Your new studded cap!

Be attentive with your eyes and imagination so you could see what you can possibly do to refresh tedious things around you. I see these studded caps sold at about Php 1000.00 pesos up online but you can get yours at low-price plus it’s personalized too so thumbs up for another great deal. Polish this hip look with the right rocker attitude and you’re good to go. Remember, why buy when you can DIY?

This is the newspaper layout. To see the article on Inquirer.net, click here.

IN THE POCKET. (DIY Pocket Tees)

I’ve been seeing these pattern pocket tees around the internet, and lately, I’ve been spotting these beauties hanging on mall racks too, so I decided to put up with the challenge and do DIY pattern pocket tees with you. Let’s get started! 

                               

 Things you’ll need:

1.       Plain Shirt

2.       Printed Fabric

3.       Paper & Marker/Pencil

4.       Scissors

5.       Iron

6.       Fabric Glue 

7.       Ruler

8.       Thread, Needle and Pins

Any plain shirt would do, but I suggest you use a white shirt for it goes with almost any color of printed fabric you’ll use. When it comes to the fabric, I would propose something that is easy to sew, especially when you’re not going to use a sewing machine.

PROCEDURE: 

1.       Using your pencil and ruler, make a pattern on a paper that measures 6” lengthwise, 5.5” crosswise and the vertical line on the middle measures 7’’ while the two diagonal lines that meet on the tip of the vertical line measures 3.5” each. Cut the pattern off the paper so you can use it as a template of your patch pocket, then trace your template on the printed fabric then cut through the lines you draw.

Note: Make sure your measurements are accurate, you don’t want your pockets to have irregular sides.

2.       Using your marker, you can mark one inch on every side so it would be easier for you to identify where to fold. Next, start on the top folding it inwards. Plug your iron and press it on the crease so it is folded properly.

3.       After ironing a fold, flip it open and put fabric glue in between, close the fold and iron it again so it is well placed. Repeat on every side starting from the right and the left side, then end on the two diagonal folds one at a time. 

4.       Rest your shirt on a flat surface and cautiously pin your pocket patch to the shirt. The placement of your pocket depends on where you want it to be, but be sure to try it out first before sewing so you’re sure it’s on your preferred position. Just to give you an idea, on my round neck shirt, it approximately measures 3” from the collar and 2” from the armpit seam.

5.       Final step, attach your pocket through carefully sewing by hand using your thread and needle or by a sewing machine. Sew the three sides of the patch leaving the top side to act as a pocket. Remove the pins and you’re done! You’ve just made a pattern pocket tee! 

Christmas time is imminent and sure you’ll be spending more money than usual for presents. DIYs can make you save more so you can splurge on some other stuff, plus the fact that there’s no one wearing something the same as yours for you made your own piece. I hope you find this guide useful and I hope you had a great time playing with patch pockets like I did. Remember, why buy when you can DIY?

The published article on Philippine Daily Inquirer looks like this.

See the online layout through this link.

DIY: CONTRAST SHORTS

Add a little surprise—a pop of color—when you fold your shorts up. Here’s how you do this. Let’s keep those hands busy!

What you need:

1.       Pair of shorts

2.       Printed fabric (2 pieces of 4 ½” by 25” printed fabrics)

3.       Fabric glue or thread & needle

4.       Ruler

5.       Scissors

The sewing materials are only optional just incase the fabric glue doesn’t work on the printed fabric that you’re using. I decided to go with stitching because I used satin as my contrast fabric. You can ask for your mom or your house help to assist you with the sewing part if you don’t know how to. 

GREEN highlights show where the glue/stitches are placed.

Procedure:

1. Prepare the pair of shorts to be used. Mine is a recycled old jeans that I decided to crop.

2. Turn the shorts inside-out and using the ruler, measure the length of hem to be folded. The folds of my shorts measure 3 inches. That’s one and a half (1 ½) inch per fold. A 3-inch fold should be partnered with a 4 and a half (4 ½) inches of printed fabric. My printed fabric measures 4 ½ inches by 25 inches.

*The choice of procedure to use comes with the choice of printed fabric you’re using. Fabric glue don’t work in all types of fabric.

3. Prepare the fabric glue or the sewing kit, whichever you are using. Place the tip of the printed fabric on the inseam of your shorts as shown on image 3 and start gluing / sewing. You can just simply trace the original stitches of your shorts.

4. When you’re done with the inseam, bring your fabric across to the outseam and start tracing the short’s original stitches again.

5. After you’re done with the outseam, you can bring the fabric around the back of the short’s  to meet the inseam that you stitched earlier. Trim the excess fabric and again, trace the original stitches, capping it off.

*Image 5 shows six small points of stitches on the upper and lower tips on the fabric. I did that so the fabric won’t get loose when the shorts are folded.  Make small stitches on the backside too.

6. After doing the same procedure on the other leg, your shorts is finished. Image 6 shows how it looks like after the gluing/stitching from the inside. Turn it out again, bring the two folds up and there you’re done! your original pair of contrast shorts! 

Finished contrast shorts! 

*(You can also iron each fold so it is well defined and in place.)

I suggest you use baroque, Aztec or plaid printed fabrics to highlight the contrast. I found my fabric among a bunch of printed scarves in my mom’s closet, so this DIY is not really costly.

You don’t need a lot of money to follow trends; just test your wit, imagination and resourcefulness. Why buy when you can DIY?

See the online layout here.

DYE Hard: Bow tie with a Vengeance!

Bow ties is used to hold the openings of a man's shirt. These days, it is mostly used as a tool of function and fashion by guys and fashion forward girls. This article will teach you how to make your own bow tie without shredding too much cash on your wallet. Let’s begin!

You’ll need:

10” x 6” piece of fabric

 4” x 2” piece of fabric

1” safety pin

Fabric glue or glue gun 

*Blue highlights show where glues are supposed to be placed.

1.  These 10” x 6” and  4” x 2” fabrics are from my old white shorts, no need to buy new fabrics. Be resourceful.

2.   Lay the fabric and flip it halfway. Put glue horizontally on both tops. *Since the fabric glue that I used is white which is Sew No More (you can find it in Hardware shops), I used a blue highlighter so you can see clearly where glues are supposed to be placed.

3.  Press both tips together until bonded. *Don’t worry too much about the fabric runs, you can use the glue to stop it.

4.  Horizontally fold the fabric halfway and put glue on both sides.

5.  Press both tips together until bonded. *Number 5 photo shows how the back looks like.

6.  On the front, put glue on the center and press it until closed.

*Blue highlights show where glues are supposed to be placed.

7.  Turn it on the back again and drop glue on top and bottom on the pinched section.

8.   Photo #8 shows where the glue were place and pinched closed.

9.  Place the smaller piece of fabric at the center and put glue. *Do step #2 on the smaller fabric too.

10. Wrap the entire strip on the center of the tie and glue it closed. Since we’re going for the very basic, insert the safety pin and your bow tie is ready!

You can totally stop at step 10 if you may, but since my bow tie is pure white, I felt the need play it up a bit more and let dye get in the way. Let’s proceed to step 11 if you want to dye your bow ties too!

You’ll need:

1.)    Dye    2.) Container    3.) Warm water    4.)  Rubber bands

Put warm water of a container and dissolve the dye in it. *If you’re not familiar with dyeing, instructions can be found in the dye sachet, the internet or last resort, your mom. 

11. Make sure the rubber bands are hugging the fabric as tight as possible. Dip the fabric in the dye for 10 seconds. Immediately release the fabric from the rubber bands and rinse with water until the water is almost colorless. Hang to dry and your tie-dyed bow tie is ready!

12. Dip the bow tie half way for 60 seconds. Rinse with water until the water is almost colorless. Hang to dry and your Ombre bow tie is ready! 

Tie-dyed bow tie                            Ombre bow tie                                  Dyed bow tie

You can just pin the bow tie right above the button hole of your polo and you’re good to go. Now you can 

save up or buy your bow tie-money with something else for you’ve learned to make your own today! I hope you enjoyed making your personalized and original bow ties as much as I did. Always be imaginative and resourceful. Remember, why buy when you can DIY?  

See full article here.