10-Minute DIY Tassel Earrings

Work is a bit calmer these days and I'm able to have some time to be creative.  I've MISSED this!

I was shopping on Amazon and they showed me some gorgeous Rebecca Minkoff tassel earrings as part of their new Fashion offerings.  I loved the way they looked, but felt like the color options and sizing weren't quite right for me.

I decided to see what I could dig up from my giant stash of DIY supplies.  Earring hooks and jump rings were pretty easy to find, but I wound up having to visit Joann's to find embroidery thread in the colors I wanted.  I bought a BUNCH, but ultimately wanted to go with a more neutral, understated look and chose a medium gray color.

See the full tutorial after the jump or on my Instagram!

10 Minute Lariat Necklace DIY Tutorial

Wednesday is mini DIY day!  Ok, not really, but here's a quick and easy necklace to whip up:

Nautical Lariat Necklace DIY

(Eep, apologies for the dusty necklace display)

Difficulty: Very Easy

Time: ~10 minutes

Materials: ~$3 in materials

• Necklace Chain in your preferred lariat length - mine was about 24"
• Pendant Charm - anything you'd like as the centerpiece - I chose an anchor 
• Circular Charm - I found a little ring charm in my jewelry supplies
• Coordinating jump rings
• Jewelry pliers and wire cutters - you can get a kit at your local craft store for under $10 (Joann's and Michaels always have some kind of 40% coupon!)

Steps:

1.)  Measure out the length of your lariat and snip with your cutters.  It's helpful to drape it around your neck to see how long you'd like it to fall.

2.)  Attach a jump ring to the end of the chain and add your ring charm to the same jump ring

3.)  Thread the other side of your chain through your ring charm.  Alternatively, if your pendant charm fits through your ring charm, please feel free to skip this step.

4.)  Similar to Step 2, add a jump ring to the end of threaded chain and attach your pendant charm

Simple and inexpensive!

Interested in more jewelry and accessory DIY tutorials?  Check out my Pinterest board for links to other projects!  :)

Hello and a Mini DIY

Hello!  It's been a long while since I've last posted (some ramblings on why below), but let's start with a quick and easy mini DIY.

I have a number of bib-type necklaces that rest on the collar.  If I wear a collared shirt or turtleneck (it's been in the 50s-60s here lately), I feel choked when wearing a necklace.  So though this may be a DUH to many of you, I wanted to share how to quickly extend a necklace if you're like me.

Necklace Extender - just add a bracelet!  

This gives you the adjustable length you need and a bonus of a cute dangler to hang down your back.  Particularly useful when you were thisclose to leaving for work when realizing your necklace was too short.

And then some rambling - please feel free to skip :)

So where have I been?  It all started with a trip to Hong Kong during Thanksgiving last year.  It was both a very good trip and a very horrible one.

The good:

• FOOD!
• Fabric shopping
• Seeing Jay Chou in concert

The bad:

• 4 out of the 5 of us got sick.  Our 5 year-old had his first febrile seizure and went to the emergency room.  Thank goodness we still have family in HK to help us navigate through the healthcare system.  Poor guy had to spend the night for monitoring, but thankfully was ok to come home to the hotel (and back to the US a couple of days later).
• Broke my toe on Day 3 of our 12 day trip and limped around for the remainder.  And to be a little whiny (a lot whiny?), we walked 5-8 miles per day anyway.  

Once we came home, I spent quite a bit of time being inactive while waiting to heal.  Inactivity plus good food equaled 7 lbs in rapid weight gain. The extra weight on someone of my stature was...ahem...noticeable, to say the least.  Sewing was the last thing on my mind - I didn't want to sew larger items only to alter them later so I threw my focus into getting back to my normal weight.  I first started watching what I ate on weekdays while indulging on the weekends (a compromise I knew I could realistically stick to) and as I healed, I started getting active again.  It took FOUR months to lose the weight I gained in ONE.  But I'm now back to normal and hope to start sewing again!

While I get back in the swing of things, you can always find me on Instagram under the name, "SewEatRepeat."  I'm still toying with the idea of changing the blog name to reflect this as well, but I'm also kind of lazy, so we'll see :)

J. Crew Inspired Crystal Collar Herringbone Sweater DIY

I've long admired the J. Crew Crystal Collar Herringbone sweater, but only just now had some time to try making an inspiration piece.

I actually went about this making 2 pieces - the top and a corresponding necklace.  I didn't have the patience to hand-sew all of the crystals onto the collar and then worry about how it'd do in the washing machine, so took the easy way out.

I made the top using a heavy weight cream-colored knit and a silk-blend herringbone fabric.  I modified Butterick's B5520 pattern to become a tee-like top (with slimmed sleeves and chest), rather than a dress bodice.  If you are sleeves-phobic, this is a VERY good pattern because all of the seaming is straight and you don't have to fiddle with easing a sleeve into an armscye (something I am TERRIBLE at).  The peter pan collar was hand drafted.

The necklace is made from crystals woven into a collar pattern (trial & error) using Beadalon as the stringing material.

I've also been using my serger for narrow hemming some scarves, so be on the lookout for a scarf giveaway soon!

Buttons to Bejeweled Necklace Easy DIY Tutorial

I found these buttons at Britex (the same place as the buttons from Tutorial Part 1) and thought they were oh so pretty.  I'm still crushing on the color green and I loved how vibrant the stones were without that murky look that some rhinestones have.

What I Used:

• Buttons
• Chain (I used one from an old necklace)
• Jump rings
• Eye pins
• Glue (E6000)

Materials

1.) Slip your eye pin through the button shank

2.) Trim your eye pin to size and loop the straight end.  Allow both loops to just peek out from the button's sides

3.) Add 2 dabs of glue to secure your eye pin

4.) Allow glue to dry and connect your eye pins together with a jump ring

5.) Voila!  Easy peasy.

On a side note, I'm so pleased that my Blogiversary post got published at the Lucky Mag community site!  Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Buttons to Jewelry DIY Tutorial, Part 1

After meeting Ping the other week, I got to explore a 4-story fabric store in the city and found these gorgeous buttons.  I was originally planning on turning it into a pin, but decided on making a necklace instead.  I should also note that though these buttons were expensive, I'm guessing they are just very cute replica buttons.  The store didn't specify one way or the other and none of the buttons there are labeled with the designer.

What I Used:

• Button
• Pearls
• Stringing material
• Ribbon
• Jump rings large enough to fit the ribbon
• Crimp beads 

Materials

1.  Plan out your design by laying it out

I love this little design board - so handy!  I think mine was only $1.50 and you should be able to find it at any jewelry supply or craft store.

After playing around with it, I decided to forgo the all-around double pearl strand for an asymmetrical look.  Does this look off (below)?

2.  String it as planned above and loop your stringing material onto a jump ring.  Secure with a crimp bead.  Do this for each side.

3.  Knot a ribbon to each jump ring.  Add a small dollop of glue to ensure your knot doesn't unravel.

4.  I trimmed my ribbon ends at an angle and then sealed the ends with Fray Check.  Clear nail polish will also work.

5.  You're finished!  I love ribbons closures because they allow you to customize the length as you please.

Long option for wearing

Shorter option

Stay tuned for part 2 next week and a Black Friday recap later this week :)

Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful holiday weekend!  I ate SO much.  What did you eat - traditional turkey or something else?

We went out for pho & banh mi for lunch and then stayed home for hot pot.  Yum!

Asymmetrical Chain Clutch and DIY Countdown

I have 1 week left of maternity leave and I plan to crank out the DIYs because I know time will become much more limited (and will be spent doting upon the children) when I return to work.

For this project, inspiration struck me whilst trying to get Baby E back to sleep at 4am.  How about a clutch with a decorative chain + button closure?  I drafted it up in my imagination and thought about it extra hard (*click* goes the camera for the mental picture - sorry, I sometimes just have to go for the cheese factor) so that it would stick in my mind when I got some DIY time.

My original vision was to use heavy, striped or chevron fabric in a white / blue combination, but I was scared of ruining expensive fabric, so decided to do a trial run with some old, leftover material.

DIY Asymmetrical Chain Clutch

Looking at this now, I should probably iron the flap to make the angles more crisp.

I was floundering when making this because I wasn't sure how to give this bag structure.  I wound up stuffing 2 pieces of felt between the lining and exterior.  This worked fine, but upon researching how real DIY bags are made, I found there is a special kind of interfacing that can be used instead.  Good thing this is a practice run!

Other projects I just finished (so many inspirations lately!):

Bejeweled Collar

Knotted Rope Bracelet

DIY Tribal Necklace (worn here)

Made from dissecting an old necklace, eyepinning the beads and arranging the geometric shape

DIY Crocheted Crescent Necklace in Yellow (video tutorial here)

I also have a structured sleeve dress, Kate Spade Jillian-esque dress, and chevron skirt in the works for future posts.  Busy sewing bee over here.  :)

How would you feel if I offered up practice DIY items for giveaway?  I sometimes wind up swimming in finished projects with too many to actually use.  But I don't want you to think I'm trying to foist things upon you.

Jeweled Collar Necklace DIY Tutorial

I've been looking for an emerald green statement necklace for a few months now and haven't found the right one for the right price.  I spotted these pretty green crystal beads at the local bead shop and decided to see how I could DIY my own necklace.  To kill 2 birds with 1 stone (statement necklace + trying a trend), I decided to form a collar shape.

Please see tutorial after the jump.

"Nautical Stepford" Dress DIY

Because Aubrey never ceases to amaze me, this post is dedicated to her :)  I've been shopping in the home decor section of the fabric store lately and have found some gorgeous prints there.  My theory is that people want more of a classic / modern print for their house than their garments (well, at least here) so those types of prints are more readily available.  I've run across chevrons, stripes, sailboat, and map prints that can't be found in apparel.  The caveat?  Most have a very open weave, are coarse to the touch, and cannot be machine washed.  Despite that, I found a few suitable fabrics and then some not-so-suitable ones I couldn't resist.

DIY Sail Away Dress

DIY Yellow Beaded Necklace

Talbots Sandals

Closer view of the print

I feel like this dress may be missing something and asked the gals of the "Anchor Brigade" (Aubrey, Cee, Elle & Ying) for suggestions.  I still need to figure out what to implement :)

What do you think?  Is there something missing?

Going Overboard w/ Nautical DIYs

Quickie post today on some recent DIYs.

Nautical, nautical, nautical.  I feel like that's the only theme that runs through my head nowadays.  There's even a small Twitter group (Aubrey, Cee, Elle, Ying and me), wittily dubbed the Anchor Brigade by Elle, devoted to nautically inspired shopping finds :)

Sailor's Knot Anchor Bracelet

Triple Wrap Bracelet w/ Anchor Closure

Striped Pearl Ribbon Bracelet (buy here)

Bronze Anchor Earrings

Gold Anchor Earrings

Sailboat Earrings

Red, White & Blue (and Gray) Leatherette Bracelet

Past nautical DIYs, click on pictures for full post:

Nautical bracelets and Looped rope necklace

Nautical skirt and Lighthouse peplum top

Have you gone overboard with nautical?  (Yes, I'm cheesy like that)

Kate Spade Ellis Sweater Inspired DIY Tutorial

I first fell in love with this sweater on New Girl last week.  When I saw Emma from Glee wear it last night, I knew I had to try my hand at DIYing a version.  I usually can't DIY something quite so quickly but this one is a fast and easy project using supplies I already had on hand.

See tutorial after the jump.

DIY Nautical Rope Bracelet Tutorial

UPDATE:  These are now available in my Etsy store if you'd prefer to buy than DIY :)

I know you're thinking, "duh, I know how to braid, why are you doing this tutorial?"  This actually uses a similar method to creating a Turk's head knot which results in a cleaner looking braid that does not require 3 strands.  In fact, you can use a single strand if you wish.

What I used:

~24 inches of blue and green ropes (purchased in trim section of fabric store)

Glue

Jewelry pliers

2 jump rings

2 cord ends

1 lobster clasp

Scissors 

Leaving a few inches at one end, make a loop

Bring the long end up through the loop

Create a figure 8 with the loop.

For a longer braid, make a larger loop and more figure 8s.

Thread long end through the 1st portion of the figure 8

Thread long end through the 2nd portion of the figure 8

What it should look like after all threading

Lightly pull at both ends to tighten the braid.  Arrange strands by tightening / loosening to get desired look.

Snip rope ends to desired length.  Add clear glue to ends so rope doesn't unravel.

Dab glue in cord end and insert rope ends.  Let dry.  Do this for each side.

Use pliers to fold the cord ends together enclosing the ropes.  Add jump ring.

Do the same thing with the other end but also add your lobster clasp.  

That's it!

For different variations, add more colors / ropes or change the closures as you'd like.

DIY Nautical Rope Bracelet (buy here from Etsy)

Timex + J. Crew Strap

DIY Nautical Wrap Bracelet