DIY Gem Belt Outfit

Hey, look, what's that??

Oh my goodness, it's my face! You haven't really seen that much around here lately huh... So here you go, a full blown outfit post, featuring the belt I made yesterday and a couple other DIYs - can you spot them?? Hint:

Outfit details: {Shirt: H&M} {Maxi skirt, rings, and belt: DIY} {Shoes and earrings: Target}

Aaand this is when I started feeling really silly twirling around taking photos of myself...

Bonus! I rediscovered this dress that I wore to my senior formal night (I adore that lace detailing) and thought it might be super cute with this belt too! What do you think?

DIY Inspiration: Maxi Wrap Skirt

The Sartorialist, like always, totally delivered a few days ago with this gorgeous monochromatic outfit. Her skirt immediately caught my eye. It would be so easy to recreate using a couple yards of jersey knit material, since it looks just like a tied sarong wrap. And I just adore that it's a total reversal of the high(in the front)-low(in the back) skirts we've seen all summer - makes it look so cozy!! Stay tuned...

Third Time's the Charm?

Here's what I've been working on the past... four months or so. Yes, another maxi skirt. I present to you: the life (and death) of a couple pieces of cloth.

Version 1: a very failed attempt at re-creating this amazing skirt over at A Pair and A Spare (my fabric was much too stiff/heavy). So failed that I didn't even bother taking photos. But here's hers!

She gathered most of the fabric at the back so it looks amazing when she's walking!

Version 2: a not quite so violently failed attempt at re-creating this silk maxi skirt. I found this beautiful reddish orange sheer material about a month after the above fiasco and knew I wanted to make a maxi skirt out of it, so decided to use the above material as a liner. Unfortunately, the pattern calls for a waistband, interfacing, and an invisible zipper - none of which I have any experience with. Ended up looking kinda lumpy and uneven - the fabric pulls in weird places. It's also way too long, and not really the color I thought it would be. Though it strangely looks not too bad in this photo.

Color of the fabric turned a weird orange color with the nude lining.

Version 3 and 4: my next-door-neighbor and beautiful soul of a friend saw the cast-aside skirt and immediately suggested I make a fishtail hem skirt out of it. Such a cool idea, except when I tried it, the waistband was still fugly (again, didn't even bother taking a picture). So I undid the whole thing, took out the lining (yes, the original fabric), and put in an elastic waistband. Without the nude lining, the awesome burnt orange color of the fabric shows, which I like a lot better. Not sure what I'm doing with the original fabric but I'm pretty damn happy about how this one turned out!

 Sorry for the picture overload, but the first two don't really show how sheer the material is. It's more like in this last one (of me primping in the mirror and totally missing the picture).

DIY: Jersey Maxi Skirt

Sorry for the back to back skirt DIY's but I went a little sew-crazy this weekend! (Hint: there's still at least two more coming.) I got some wonderful jersey knit material a few weeks ago to make a skirt for a friend and decided I had to get some more to make myself a skirt too. And considering my recent obsession with maxi skirts, I figured I'd give DIY'ing myself one a go! Although jersey knit is SUPER tricky to work with (took me about three hideously wavy hems to figure out the tissue paper trick), I love how it feels and weighs, as you can see in the following smile/grimace of excitement:

To make it, I basically took a huge rectangle of fabric (as tall as from my waist to the floor, and two or three times as wide as my waist/hips), sewed it up the side, and folded over the top to put in elastic. I didn't even hem the bottom since jersey knit doesn't fray.

This is the comfiest skirt I think I've ever worn. It's like a permanent blanket. I can sit in pretty much any position (excluding maybe upside down) and I'm covered! I'm still gathering the courage to cut a slit in it though. I'm thinking maybe along the side seam so I can sew it back up if I hate it?

Also, I'm obviously still figuring out how to wear it. I think something along the lines of this top would work better:

Cropped, minimal, and colorful to balance out the heaviness of the skirt (especially since it's black - a more colorful skirt coming soon, I promise!). The question is then, what kind of shoes do I wear with something like this (I'm barefoot in the pictures, hehe)?? I think sandals would be ideal but not an option considering it's winter...

DIY Inspiration: Thigh-highs

First I came around to the idea of wearing leopard print after years of thinking it was too old, too young, too Limited Too, too cougar for me. Now I'm actually admitting that my next DIY project is to make a maxi dress/skirt with a thigh-high slit (or two), after I professed my undying hatred of thigh-high cuts while prom dress shopping in high school. What next - will I finally start wearing Uggs?? (the answer is a strong: HELL no)

Above via Five Inches and Up

This looks like it would be super easy to make out of a jersey material, even just as a skirt.

Maybe just even a black maxi skirt with a slit? Via Zara lookbook

My bank account is about to be SO not happy with me.