ay-yayy-ya

wow. okay, so fringe? is it weird that my mom told me that it was imperative i own a fringe shirt?



here i am again, DIY-ing with my famous hanes shirts. this is one i had originally cut into a cropped angle shirt (check out an earlier DIY) and then took some scissors and cut many, many vertical strips into it about 3 inches long. if you pull the strips after you cut them, they roll up a bit and turn out like this.. simple elegance :)

(always)alanna

kimberly ovitz

these shots are from a kimberly ovitz collection, and being totally obsessed with this sweater, i decided to try my own version. though i must admit, its a bit far fetched from resembling this gorgeous sweater.









how to:
(read all the steps first because i did the sewing last although i would recommend doing it first.. i was having a few difficulties with the sewing machine. but its totally up to you- whatever's convienient)
1) cut a large rectangle in the back of an XL or XXL hanes white men pocket tee (the size will depend on the length you'd like your dress to be)
2) on the vertical sides of the rectangle, cut an equal amount of slits on both sides (approximately .25 to .5 inches in height)
3) cut this many strips in the rectangle that you cut out of the shirt (they don't have to be perfect, the messier, the better)
4) stretch the strips (but only a little bit, as they will rip), so they "roll-up" and resemble something similar to a tunnel
5) tie these strips to the fringe on the shirt (the two knots will be visible)
6) try the shirt on and hem the sides according to the desired tightness of your dress (i sewed mine approximately 2.5 inches on both sides so i could sew and cut off the excess inside of where the sleeve began - like a tank dress (but you can take in the sleeves as well if you like this look better)
7) option- cut out the collar and cut the bottom hem off (about 1 inch off bottom of dress) for a more "disheveled look"

VIOLA! cheap perfection baby.
and as always- e-mail me your results @ always.alanna@yahoo.com and ill post your DIY as well!

and don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY here!

images via googleimages, kimberlyovitz
(always)alanna

DIY shredded leggings

adoring the homeless look as of this moment. a little last season, way too trendy, but SO cheap.. and considering im broke right now, that sounds pretty damn good.




cut up these tights this morning before getting dressed. i pretty much just took a pair of scissors to the tights and went crazy..


im just waiting for summer to roll around so i can get my job back- those finsk wooden platforms? TOTALLY calling my name.

(always)alanna

love this bag. agreed?


made my own as a result of my desire to be just like father karl. yessss :





..i've been some kind of obsessed with this moss since i first saw it. and after stumbling upon the drapey goodness recently, decided it was time to create my own drape. stay posted for another DIY of soon with something resembling spanish moss..




isn't it gorgeous?

(always)alanna

patchwork

spotted these killer jeans on the gap website (is it just me or does that store keep getting better and better.. i mean a stella mccartney collaboration? they know where its AT)


and decided that instead of paying $70; i'd make my own with some denim sitting in my closet..
at first, i ripped the pockets off these seven jeans because i didn't want a logo on them. they ended up turning out really nice as the color change from the pockets "matched" the patches on the front.



heres the first patch i added-



all i did was just cut out the rectangles from other pairs of jeans that i had destroyed a while ago and sewed them on in random places.






and did i mention Alice in Wonderland was absolutely amazing? not to mention the makeup in itself was to DIE for. you HAVE to see it- especially in 3-D. the visual effects definitelyyy made the movie

(always)alanna

feelin' like an indian. owowowo

littledoe created these gorgeous feather pieces in april of last year, but i just recently stumbled upon the photos and have been waiting to craft something similar until the weather begins to warm up. and although it hasnt quite heated up yet, i had some spare time the other day, and decided to make one. besides, i'll probably never get around to it if i dont do it when im thinking about it..







how to:
1) get a thick ribbon band of your choice. you can either tie it in the back or attach elastic to the back so you can stretch it to place over your head (this is what i did)
2) elastic method: you can hotglue, but i recommend a sturdy sewing job to attach the elastic to the ribbon. the length of the ribbon depends upon the size of your head. i used somewhere between 13 to 15 inches of ribbon and 1.5 inches of elastic.
tying method: do step 3 first leaving enough space on the ends without feathers in order to tie it.
3) hotglue the feathers of your choice (these can alternate or be uniform in size) to the inside of the ribbon stopping at your bow or where the elastic begins.
4) then, hotglue a ribbon along the inside of the band so the feathers are sandwiched between. this ensures the hotglue wont pull your hair and the feathers won't come off.






send me your results for a feature on the blog! enjoy!

images via littledoe, googleimages
(always)alanna

DIY battle armor

spotted this harness-idea on rumi in june of last year, and went searching for something similar on the 21 site as thats where she got hers (although she did edit it a bit to make it look like it is now), and never found one. i totally had forgotten about it until just recently when i got an email from refinery29 and the featured trend was these silver chain-link harnesses.




and ahh.. the cheap way out: DO IT YOURSELF!

heres my version:









like with anything, you can pretty much do anything as the possibilities and variations of this project are endless. big links, small links, silver, gold.. its irrelevant either way.

the simplest way to even explain this is just to say that i just connected a bunch of chains from a roll of chain link that i bought at the craft store..
1) i first put a large circle of chain around my neck and back to measure the "circle" (like the actualy harness part- not the hanging chains). i then attached the clasps: if you were to lay the chain out on the floor to form a circle, pick a point on the circle and place a clasp here and on the opposite side of the circle, place another clasp. these clasps will fall at the back of your neck and at the small of your back so you can take the harness on and off easily.
2) then, i attached the first and last chain while wearing it just to get an idea of how many chains i would need in between and such.
3) i then cut each chain one to two links longer than the first, but made sure they stayed shorter than the last.
4) i connected each of these chains to the outside "circle" in descending order using needle-nose pliers to make it look like the one rumi is wearing.
**sorry, the directions are a bit confusing, it's just kind of complicated to explain this without using the word "chain" 50 times.. e-mail me or leave a comment if you're having trouble and need me to clear anything up!


email me your results and i'll feature you here!
happy crafting!

images via fashiontoast
(always)alanna

so, i'm absolutely in love with cut off hanes shirts because i love plain, neutral, layering, and anything cropped.. and this, my friends, combines it all. GENIUS. and of course i have them in every color.. buttt i was wearing too many of the white and wanted to switch it up a little but still have a light color (and sadly hanes doesn't make cream, beige, or off-white colored shirts) so i decided to put a little design on them, but was having trouble thinking of what. sooo.. i was blogging a few days ago and found this picture on another blog (which the name of is totally slipping my mind, so if this is you, e-mail me ASAP!) and decided to make my own variation and after browsing through the yves saint laurent collection, decided to make this one too.





all i did was cut out the collar and hem of the sleeves and cut the bottom about 6 or 7 inches (based on a size small mens shirt) in a curved shape so it hangs down on the sides and is a bit cropped in the front. send me your own designs- i'd love to see what you guys do with these!

heres one of the plain white shirts :


its obvious how much i love them.. this picture is from thanksgiving

and just want to say a huge thank you to walk the sand for the "best blog" award. i usually pass these awards on, but im getting a bit lazy. i promise to award the next one to all your amazing blogs!

(always)alanna

yahh, im aspiring to be an electrician..

i'm not really sure how i got tape out of this picture, but for some reason, those black patches just scream "electrical tape" at me..



so, i decided to pick some up and try this out. while i'm not sure if they're actually even washable.. but i tried it out. i like the look and as i never wear these jeans because i've totally demolished them (put my foot and stretched the holes while getting dressed too many times..), i figured i didn't really have anything to lose. give me about a month, and ill let you know if they're taped and thrown in a corner in my closet, if i actually wear them, or if i've peeled the tape off. chances are, i forgot about them and the first situation is the most probable. haha






oh yeah, and i just put them on and wrapped some tape in rectangles. yeah, so third-grade, i know.

(always)alanna