Check out my travel blog: Latitude Adjustment

21 April 2012

DIY: From shirt to skirt!

Today I made a skirt using a t-shirt. After trying to look for an easy tutorial through Pinterest and being unsuccessful, I decided to tackle it on my own- because really- it can't be THAT hard... and it wasn't! It was really simple. All the tutorials I found made it way more complicated than I thought it should be. So this one is for those people who are beginners at sewing/crafting and are NOT a perfectionist (like ME!).



Here's how I did it:

  • First, I needed my supplies. I used a t-shirt (duh!), my sewing kit (needle & thread-- or a sewing machine, which I don't have...), scissors and a 500mm ruler (that I picked up from the store here for a buck!)

  • Next, I turned the shirt inside-out and placed my ruler across from armpit to armpit and cut. I now had two pieces. I saved the top piece (neckline/arms) for future projects.

  • I left the bottom hem alone. Then I pinned down the top hem, adjusting to the amount that I wanted. I didn't want it too short as I wanted to still be able to wear this skirt to work.

  • Then I sewed away! Sewing by hand is very time-consuming, so if you also plan on doing it by hand, plan on it taking a LONG time.


 I had to take-in the sides a bit. When you cut off the top part of the shirt, you're left with just a straight-cut piece of fabric- and my body is far from straight-cut!

The shirt I used was 95% Cotton and 5% Spandex, so it clings to the body quite a bit. But if you want more security and a better fit, I would suggest putting some elastic into the waistband. I can't find elastic, otherwise I would have put some-- I'm bummed that I can't find a craft store here! =(  I also chose this t-shirt because I would never wear it as a t-shirt, not my style. But for some reason when I saw it, the first thing I thought was "I would totally wear that as a skirt!" And in my opinion, it looks better that way.

Here's how it started- from t-shirt:

And the end result- a skirt:






I'm still in the learning stages of sewing and making things from other things-- crafting, upcycling, etc. etc. It's a fun process, but I can't wait until I am the crafting master! =) 

14 April 2012

DIY: Infinity Scarf from a t-shirt

Here is another- my 2nd!- Pinterest DIY project I've completed. The other day I was at this department store and they had a sale on shirts in which you pay by the kilo. I got 5 shirts for 15,000 won (which is about $15) because there are a few projects which involve shirts that I want to do.




I let my hubby chose which shirt to use for the scarf. He chose this one:


It was very simple and easy to do. You can find the easy-to-follow tutorial here:  // Between the lines //

Mine didn't come out as neat as her's, but I was working with crappy scissors and just thread and needle. . . plus, I like the rugged look anyways. =)
 
I like infinity scarves because you can also wear them as a hood for those chilly nights!

Follow me on Pinterest here.

07 April 2012

Nail Swag: Spring Inspiration

Here's my new nail swag for the week. I wanted something a little funky and this was inspired by the bright colors spring brings:

Colors: Santee "Beach Blue", Love & Beauty "Yellow", Wet N' Wild "Club Havana" & Nail Art in white

01 April 2012

Pinterest Project- DIY: Holder for charging cell phone

My name is Leia, and I'm an addict.... a Pinterest addict!!

When I first heard about Pinterest, I didn't even want to go and see what it was all about because I didn't want to be addicted to another networking-type website.... until one day I gave in- and I've been hooked ever since! I literally spend hours on that dang thing!

This weekend, I completed my first Pinterest Project ! You see, I have a lot of projects I want to do that I've seen on Pinterest. I'm starting small- but hey, at least I finished something!

I made a holder for a charging cell phone- super easy to do!

I found this project and a step-by-step guide here. All you need is a lotion bottle (that's flat on the bottom & is big enough to hold your cell phone) and some gangster scissors (or box-cutter). In the original project, she uses fabric & modge podge to cover it, but I didn't have either of those supplies. I just used acrylic paint that I found in my apartment (that the person who lived here before us left) and it came out ok.

Here are some pictures (and again- click here for the original project & instructions!):




Start with an empty & dry plastic bottle

Carefully cut it to shape.
Decorate as desired.

And badaboom badabing! You got a little charging station that's cute AND saves some space!

24 March 2012

Nail Swag: layered dots

Since being in Korea, I haven't had much time to blog about the different nail designs I've been doing on my nails. I take a crappy iPhone picture and that's about it (and the picture never does it justice).

But today, I had some time. I did some layered dots:


Sorry for the dry cuticles- I didn't put my cuticle cream =(


What I used: Sally Hansen's "Dazzle" as base coat. For the dots: Santee in "Beach Blue", Love & Beauty in black, Love & Beauty in fuchsia, and LA Colors in white. And of course- my trusty dotting tool (and a piece of paper for my paint palette).






My nails were just the Sally Hansen's "Dazzle" for a couple of days, but it was a bit too boring for me, so I decided to spruce it up a bit with multicolored dots.


And here are a couple of other nail designs I did, but my iPhone takes crappy pictures (I only have the 3G)- so sorry for the low quality (I promise they looked better in person!):


16 March 2012

Blog award

First off, I didn't even know blog awards existed- and I've been blogging for 4 years (and 5 more years prior to that if you count Xanga).

But I got my first one from Roxy over at Married Life of a Young Filipina in England - thanks for the love!

- Show thanks to the blogger who awarded you by linking back to their blog
- Pick 5 blogs with under 200 followers and let them know about your nomination
- Post the award to your blog.
I'm passing this to 5 Liebster (Dearest) blogs: