Thursday 6 August 2009

Full of Frills


I don't really like to throw things away. Although I'm not one of those desperate hoarders, I always try and look at clothes as potential material for experiments and improvements, and I'm not afraid anymore to tear things apart and see if they work in a different way. If it doesn't, then, oh well.

I've been doing alterations for most of the vintage dresses I sell on my ebay shop for a year or so now, and I've accumulating quite a pile of scraps of fabrics that I couldn't bring myself to throw away. Some of them had great prints on them, even though some were just cheap polyester, and I knew I had to use them in some way.

For a few months I kept thinking about some kind of eccentric accessory that I could put the scraps to good use, and one day I came across this picture in Grazia. A detached ruffled neckpiece! Seemed like the perfect solution!





Problem was, on top of my lack of decent skills, the fabrics I chose to work with were not nearly delicate and flimsy like the chiffon used in the Felder & Felder version above, so my collar came out much "wavier," more like a clown neckpiece. Not at all understated - which is cool, but it'll probably be trickier to wear.







I'm thinking I'll be getting more wear out of it when the winter comes, as a sort of strange scarf.






It's definitely far from ideal, but I think i'll be testing this idea another time - maybe in black, with chains or even studs on it? We'll see.



9 comments:

  1. I really like that!
    I made something similar a couple of years back with vintage ties that I'd been picking up from various boot sales, mine was inspired by a tutorial by Finnish blogger OutsaPop that I found on Flickr.
    This is a great way to recycle old fabric scraps that are too nice to just be binned, well done & I hope it inspires other to have a bash too.x

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  2. thanks a lot jem! i'd love to see your vintage ties neckpiece too! xx

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  3. Cool DIY! Love all your pictures too! Great style inspiration! :)

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  4. The sideways picture looks beyond awesome!
    I actually like your collar better but then again I would wear it. Speaking of which, I do same thing when it comes to storing old clothing for future projects - so I'm gonna give this a try! ^o^ Thanks for the idea!

    http://style-geek.blogspot.com
    Life, Love & the Pursuit of Fashionable People

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  5. Great idea! Love it! Plus, those amazing black red and yellow boots are fabulous!

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  7. The piece you made looks fantastic! I love how bold it is, and with the leather coat, kind of has this 1940s take on the thick coat collar...

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