23 Apr MAKE THE LOOK – DIY POLKA DOTS, FLOWERS AND FRINGING

If you’d like to style yourself, or a little friend, like the adorable Bottaioli sisters below, read on…

I thought I’d share the instructions for how to make a few of the bits and pieces after our ‘boyfriend denim’ shoot the other day,  because it’s really annoying when you read ‘model’s own’ at the end of an image credit.

GIULIA’S SPOTTY DUNGEREES

Some old dungarees or jeans, or even a shirt

A pencil with a rubber on the end

White fabric paint

A small piece of paper

A ruler

This is really super easy and doesn’t need too much explanation. Basically, you use the rubber as a stamp to print the polka dots on the fabric. The trick to getting the perfect polka dots though, is creating the perfect grid. To do this you need to cut out a template.

Cut out a small, perfect square from a piece of paper. Mine was 4cm squared. My technique is to use the corner of a piece of paper and measure 4cm from the corner on both edges. Then fold the corner over from the 4cm marks. This will create a template for you to cut the other two sides and the square should be perfect. Easy!

Now place your square on the fabric in a diamond orientation (the points of the square at the top and bottom of the design). You will paint each dot in the corner of the paper template to form a diamond shape.

 

Squeeze some paint onto a plastic surface. I used a take-away container lid. Then stamp the paint onto your rubber, and print it onto the fabric just off the edge of the paper.

Now print three more dots on the other corners. As you gather more paint, you may need to wipe it off the edge of the rubber as it tends to gather on the sides and make the dots less defined.

Once you have four dots, you can move the template over and print some more, using the corners of the square as a guide.

Keep going until the whole thing is covered. Don’t worry too much about the odd dot being wonky. Have a look at them all together at the end and tidy up the ones that need some love. Sometimes a few imperfections give it character.

Follow the instructions from your fabric paint on how to fix your paint so it doesn’t wash off. Some brands require you to iron the garment with a really hot iron to fix the paint.

Congratulations, you have just up-cycled some denim.

 

GIULIA’S FLOWERY HEADPIECE

A headband (I got mine from Peacocks: a three pack  for £2.99)

Some felt

Varying fake flowers – I got mine from Pound Stretcher in Peckham. Classy! Sometimes you need to buy the ones on a branch and pull them off the branch. They are usually pretty cheap and come in fabulous garish colours. Make sure you have a couple of big show stoppers, a few medium sized ones and a handful of tiny ones.

A glue-gun and scissors – we don’t usually include ‘glue-gun craft’ in our DIYs because it’s not something that everyone has at home, but for this it is really essential. Normal glue just won’t cut it.

I orginally made these headbands for my daughter Frida’s first birthday party (which had a Frida Kahlo theme.. obvs) and they continue to be a staple in our dress-up box, and occasionally get worn to special events like weddings, festivals or going to Morrisons on a Tuesday afternoon.

First, cut out two long pieces of felt with rounded ends. Make sure they are the same size as you will need to match them up.  Then glue them to either side ouf your headband. This will give you a flat area to glue your flowers onto and glue-gun glue loves felt. This is to ensure the flowers won’t come off.

Now start gluing the flowers on. Start with the biggest flowers in the middle, then add the medium flowers and finally fill in all the gaps and imperfections with the smallest flowers. And don’t be shy with the glue. Really go to town with it so they all get welded on.

 

SOFIA’S FRINGED NECKLACE

Some jersey fabric – I used some old leggings. You could also use a T-shirt.

Scissors

That’s it!

If you’ve seen any pictures from Coachella this year, you will know that fringing is officially trending. So this necklace it a quick way to add a bit of fringe to an outfit.

Cut your leggings into long strips, about an inch wide. Cut one piece much longer than the rest. This will be the piece that all the other bits hang from and ties around the neck.

Pull each piece at either end so that it curls up on the sides and becomes a sort of noodle shape, instead of a ribbon. Jersey fabric is great because it will curl whichever way you cut it.

Once you have a whole bunch of strips all curled up, you can start threading them onto the long piece.

To make a strand, fold your strip in half then double it back through itself around the long piece.

Pull it tight to form a tight knot around the long piece and let it hang down.

 

Continue doing this along the long strand until you have a lovely shaggy clump.

Now you can add a little bit of Coachella to your outfit for zero pounds, just like little Sofia.

Fashion photography: Dee Ramadan
Fashion styling: Lotte Goodwin
Models: Sofia and Giulia
Sofia’s outfit by COS and all shoes from Zara

DIY photography: Emma Scott-Child
DIY styling : Emma Scott-Child
Thanks to Sarah and Emiliano