Lace « a pair & a spare

DIY BRIGHTLY LINED LACE MINI SKIRT

2nd February 2012

Recently I refashioned a white lace mini skirt by lining it with a tube of bright red/orange jersey fabric – inspired by similar skirts I saw from Sass & Bide and Taylor Tomasi Hill for Lane Crawford. I made a tube of jersey to add but alternatively you could add a ready made colored tube skirt and just alter it to fit the zip in your skirt if it has one.

You need:
- A white lace mini skirt (here or here). A pencil skirt would also look good!
- Some bright coloured jersey fabric – use any colour you like!
- A needle and thread
- Scissors
- A Sewing Machine (optional)

How to:
1. Lay the skirt over the top of the jersey fabric to work out how long you need the tube skirt.
2. Cut out the fabric in the shape of the skirt, cutting a piece that is double the hip width of the skirt (so you can fold it in half and sew one seam to create a tube).
3. Fold the fabric in half.
4. Sew the edges together to create a tube – you can hand or machine sew.There will probably be a zip somewhere in your lace skirt – back or side, so leave an opening in the seam of your tube for the zip.
5. Put the skirt on and slip the tube over the top of the lining but under the lace - orientating the seam of the jersey tube to the seam of the zip
6. Push the tube carefully between the fabric all the way to the edges of the waistband and zip and pin in place. You want none of the original lining to be showing through.
7. Take the skirt off and carefully hand stitch the coloured jersey lining in place along the waistband and down the sides of the zip.

Voila! You should have completely covered the original lining with the coloured tube skirt. I didn’t have much problem with riding up of the jersey lining – make your tube skirt quite tight to stop this happening.

And you’re done! You can wear this skirt a few times like this, and then remove the coloured lining or replace with another colour afterwards. Talk about making your clothes work for you rather than the other way around.

Inspiration images via Sass & Bide and How I Met Your Style

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In My DIY, Outfits Inspiration Fabric, Lace, Sewing, Skirts, Zips

DIY INSPIRATION – LOVER LACE DRESS

25th January 2012

This gorgeous lace dress by Australian brand Lover has to be one of my favourite pieces from last year. It’s been on my mind for ages and has inspired in me a love for this ‘dippy at the front’ hemline. Not something I would usually go for at all, but it’s seriously grown on me recently. You could make something similar yourself by altering a thrifted dress and cutting and hemming to look like this – much in the same way I made the fishtail skirt. So what are you waiting for?

Images via: Hanneli and Not Quite Carrie

In Inspiration Inspiration Lace

DIY ON THE RUNWAY – CARVEN SS12

20th October 2011

Best collection of the whole of Fashion Month? For me it has to be Carven. Ok, so I know that’s a big call, but I challenge you to find another show with such perfectly measured ingredients. Dainty collars, digitised tribal and aztec prints, cut outs, lace inserts, embellished ikat shoes, technicolour backpacks, leather harnesses and a palette of reds, pinks, yellows and mustards. How Carven did all that without over-doing it is a mystery to me, but it works.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a favourite if it didn’t inspire a million different DIY ideas – so look forward to seeing a heap of cut outs, bright collars, embellished shoes and lace inserts here in the months to come. Why wait for these pieces to hit the stores in Feb/March next year when you can DIY them yourself? The whole seasonal thing has become so blurry to me that I have no problem mixing summer and winter colours.