Cheap JAP » DIY

DIY Goes Pro With ALIOMI

cheapjap — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:15:52 +0000

My inbox is regularly clogged with press releases announcing new collections. Said press releases usually go straight to the trash folder upon receipt. It’s not that I’m against new clothing lines or whatevs. It’s that “new” alone isn’t enough to pique my interest anymore.

To thrift a Goodwill Outlet Center is to realize the overwhelming amount of unused textile excess produced by our material world. Is a lot of that excess uber fugly? You bet, and therein lies the challenge for burgeoning designers.

Sketching out a collection, outsourcing the labor, and producing the wares en masse with zero regard for the environmental impact of the endeavor amounts to business as usual. Making something from nothing is the norm. There’s nothing groundbreaking about what’s already been done.

Making something from something – breaking down or restyling fabric that’s already out there – is a refreshing, forward-thinking approach to fashion that improves on its checkered past.

De-materialization makes green more than a buzzword: ALIOMI suggests it’s the new black.

The concept for ALIOMI started years ago, with a few Sarah Lawrence undergrads too broke to shop retail. They became seasoned thrifters, then they took it to the next level, re-tweaking and embellishing their secondhand finds to suit their badass style and unique taste. Necessity truly is the mother of inventive fashion lines.

ALIOMI is a mishmash of vintage fabulosity and DIY gems. I mean, I can stud and scissor, but these girls can STUD and SCISSOR. I’ve seen the line up close: The embellishment might be done by hand, but there’s nothing DIY about it. It’s professional, artful, responsibly made and one-of-a-kind.

The goods pictured above range from $28 – $145 – in all honesty, I’m usually not on board with $76.00 embellished cutoffs. Had I not seen this line in person, I might have rationalized against a splurge of this ilk on the grounds that I could DIY something equally amazing for less.

Regardless of whether or not that’s the case, finding, distressing, and studding the shorts myself would take four hours, minimum. Six if I held myself to the perfectionism characteristic of ALIOMI’s DIY stuffs. The shorts in question, at $76.00, amount to $12.66 an hour for six hours of work.

My point? The thought, time and energy that go into crafting a kickass reconstructed item are extensive, hence the reason most reworked vintage lines have an average per-item cost of over $250. ALIOMI’s price points are uber reasonable in comparison.

Wanna help this stellar new line get off the ground? Donate a buck or two to their Kickstarter campaign.

Cheers to socially and environmentally conscious sartorial endeavors of this ilk. IMHO, up-and-coming designers would be wise to take a cue from ALIOMI, and use de-materialization to inform their future lines.

It’d certainly make for some inspiring press releases.

Clothes Pin Embellished Denim Cut Offs

cheapjap — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:36:29 +0000

DIY Destroyed Denim is a fairly straightforward exercise. Take sharp tool to pair of jeans and/or cutoffs; slice to heart’s content. My shredding tool of choice is the serrated blade of a wine key (no wash cycle required to achieve fully distressed look, etc.).

I recently used said tool on a pair of thrifted Levi’s shorts. The cuts looked fab as per usual, but the garment felt a bit unfinished.

A few months ago, I bought a package of 200 gold and silver clothes pins in varying sizes for absolutely no reason. I was at Staples…I wanted something shiny…whatever.

I rediscovered the pins whilst looking for something to adorn my DIY destroyed cut offs, et voila!

See?! I KNEW they had a purpose!

How To Transform a Keyhole Neckline

cheapjap — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:56:38 +0000

The below Tresics top has the following pros: burnt orange/red color (always a plus for olive-skinned brunettes); thin, cozy material (great for layering); butt-covering length (plays well with leggings); a crazy-low price ($3.99 at Salvation Army, Chelsea. Word.)

There is, of course, one glaring con. The keyhole neckline.

The keyhole neckline is the least flattering of all necklines in existence – it ruins the fit of a top entirely, making one’s boobage lumpy and asymmetrical in the process (unless your chest is flat to the point of pre-pubescence, in which case, you should probably start eating). Who came up with this asinine styling detail? We have v-necks, crew-necks, turtlenecks, scoop-necks, boat-necks and cowl-necks. There’s already too much to choose from, so if you’re going to throw something else into the mix, it better be good. The keyhole neckline isn’t just bad – it’s an insult to breasts everywhere. It’s even more offensive than the mock-turtle (another piss-poor attempt at neckline diversification).

I bought this top for the explicit purpose of exorcising my rage re: the keyhole neckline. The battle involved scissors, hem tape, and a scalding hot iron. Here’s how I emerged victorious:

Step 1: Plug in iron; turn heat to STEAM function. While it warms up, scissor the front of the top into a wide V or U shape. Chalk a line from the shoulder to the center, or eyeball it if you’re a badass like me. (In order to remove the keyhole entirely, you must cut into the hem of the top’s neckline. Don’t worry about it. It deserves it.)

Step 2: Trim the neckline hem off the shoulder and back portions of the top, staying as close to the original line as possible. Bust out the hem tape (I prefer Heat ‘n’ Bond. (Note: Any no-sew hem tape that claims it works sans heat application is lying.) Cut two strips (length should roughly mirror the back-neck portion. Cut those in half down the middle. You now have four thin pieces of hem tape and a hot iron. You are READY.

Step 3: Turn the keyhole-free top inside-out. Hem tape is a bitch and a half, btdubs, but if you work on the inside of the garment, errors are virtually invisible. Anything’s better than sewing. Peel the paper off one of the pieces of tape and apply sticky-side down, about a centimeter from the edge of the neckline. Fold the part of the neckline you’re working with over onto the hem tape. Ready the iron in one hand; use a finger of the other to keep the fold in place. Remove it just before you get the iron down on the material, and try not to burn yourself. I can’t have that on my conscience. Hold the iron down for a few seconds before moving it back and forth. I highly recommend hitting the STEAM button periodically, in addition to ironing on high heat.

Note: My iron reads that synthetic materials should not be subjected to the STEAM function. It is lying to cover its ass in case I damage something and get mad at it. Cotton poly-blends are not synthetics in my book – if it’s got cotton in it, it can handle the cotton heat setting, and that means it gets the STEAM. Your hem tape might not set properly otherwise. (All of this is off the record – I don’t want you effing up your clothes on my account. Use your head. That’s that lump that’s three feet above your ass!)

Repeat Step 3 until you’ve worked your way around the re-vamped neckline of the top. Flip top right-side out; iron out front to smooth. Un-plug iron, let top rest for approximately twenty minutes, and go do something else.

Once heat-tape is fully set, put top on… BACKWARDS! You cut the tag out when you trimmed the neckline hem anyway – why not? (You can wear it with the wide V/U in front too obvs – I just dig the high-neck/low-back thang).

When you’re done, you’ll have successfully obliterated that unsightly keyhole into something like this: May it rest in peace.

Fanny Pack Fun

cheapjap — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:54:24 +0000

Fanny Packs have experienced something of a renaissance as of late. I’m a fan now, but that’s not why I purchased one last fall. The purchase was on account of a last-minute Halloween costume involving me as an American Apparel “model” (aka slut) and my boyfriend as Dov Charney. That’s right. Me – champion of the closet feminist anti-slutty-costume movement – crossed over to the dark side. Shameful, I know. Anyway.

I bought an American Apparel fanny for the occasion, and defaced it shortly thereafter by penning something like ‘AA slut oops I mean model’ in paint marker. The overall effect won over my fellow party-goers that evening – I suspect my bf’s fake mustache and creepy clear aviators had more to do with their amusement than my fanny pack.

The fanny was relegated to the back corners of my closet after that night, as it obvs couldn’t be worn in public in its gimmicky state. A makeover was in order, so I busted out some sequins, duct tape, silver paint markers, and my trusty Housing Works $5 Bag of Kitsch and got to work.

I was delighted by its new look. I was also pleased to discover that fannies can be worn across the shoulder as opposed to at the waist.

It’s still fairly gimmicky, but whatevs. I DIG.

The Non-Straight Leg Jean Boot Tuck

cheapjap — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:38:55 +0000

Dear Cheap JAP,

I am a legging whore but when I’m not wearing leggings, I go for the skinny jeans tucked into boots. The problem is, my jeans bunch up and are all uncomfortable tucked into the boots. A friend of mine told me a while back, that she heard about a new invention that kept the jeans in place–no bunching or anything. Of course, now I can’t find it because I don’t know what it’s called. Do you know? Or do you have any other recommendations? Maybe use the clasps that hold my sheets onto my mattress?

HELP!

Thanks!

This is a common problem, fo sho. The solution requires the magic of an old pair of tights. Bust out the scissors, grab some old and/or damaged hosiery you’d otherwise trash, and cut off the legs a few inches above the knee. Observe:

Don the rebellious denim, smooth it as best you can over your calf, and tuck it into the legs of the tights-turned-spandex socks like so:

Pull on boots. Doneskies. (If you find your old tights’ elasticity has expired, a pair of stockings or knee-highs from any drug store is an excellent alternative. That is all.)

Old Dress + Scissors + Sequins = New Top

cheapjap — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:08:50 +0000

A month or so ago, I decided this Old Navy dress (via Goodwill, OBVS) just wasn’t short enough. What? My birthday’s in a few weeks, i.e. I’ve got a few more years to toe the line between sexy and slutty sans crossing it completely. (Note: subjective statement.)

In lieu of scissoring, I ‘hemmed’ the aforementioned dress with hot glue. This proved a massive error in judgment.

The material was way too thin to handle the intensity of the sticky stuff (eew…sorry); the glue spots were fully visible from all sides of the dress; a hot mess of a mini was the result.

Blast! The dress was doneskies. Or so I thought.

I’d picked up a pack of oversized sequins on my last trip to M&J trimmings; using them as a mask/embellishment seemed an excellent alternative to trashing the dress. I adhered them to the material with (surprise) more hot glue. Witness the result:

The final product is, admittedly, shorter than I intended.

Whatever.

I’m wearing spandex shorts underneath, layered over two pairs of opaque tights. This, of course, significantly decreases the odds of a celebrity-esque hoo-ha flash.

I suppose it could double as a top, but who am I kidding? I effing love minis.

Oh, and the belt was three bucks at a rando New Jersey thrift store. Secondhand shopping in suburbia is the SHIZNAT.

Transform Last Year’s Coat with This Year’s Ribbons

cheapjap — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:32:41 +0000

Sometimes when I’m in busywork mode, I put the The Today Show on for background noise purposes – yes, I like my “news” happy and fluffy. I tend to hit the Off button at the start of The Fourth Hour (Kathie Lee’s a character, but the voice… OY).

A few weeks ago, fate intervened and I caught the Fashion Segment o’ the day. AND I LIKED IT! Shocking, I know.

The Fashion segment that day showcased inexpensive, practical ways to Transform Last Year’s Coat into an updated version of itself. I never thought I’d hear the words “thrift store” and “craft shop” and “cheap” from the mouth of a fashion editrix. I obvs underestimated Anne Slowey of ELLE.

Nina Garcia might have more notoriety, but adhering to the interests of fashion savvy consumers and hawking shit for Target don’t really go hand in hand. (Don’t believe me? See YouTube’s Frugalista Promos; gag accordingly.)

When an industry insider tells me what to buy, maybe I listen, maybe I don’t. When she tells me what I don’t have to buy? I’m ALL EARS. Hence the reason I’m on board with Slowey’s refreshing deviation from the norm.

During the trench coat portion of the video, Slowey suggests swapping out the original belt for a ribbon. To honor her thriftiness, we’re talking about ribbons today, specifically those of the fabric ilk that work as belts and more.

The goodies below are from Etsy; the How-To-Wear tips are from yours truly. Bonus alert: All of them are under eight bucks a yard.

Buy ‘em to adorn your gifts – use the leftovers to adorn yourself. Loves it!

How To Make an Infinity Scarf for Under Ten Bucks

cheapjap — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:06:28 +0000

I wandered into American Apparel the other day, and was immediately enchanted by the following:

Said enchantment dissolved upon learning that the Unisex Circle Scarf and the Super Sheer Circle Scarf retail for $28.00 and $37.00, respectively.

Beotch please – for a piece of fabric cut into a circular strip, anything over twenty is pushing it. I made a subtle gagging noise, and exited the store in search of alternatives.

I then headed uptown to Paron Fabrics for some t-shirt-esque material sold by the yard. Paron is known and hailed for their 50% off selection and it did not disappoint: A yard of on-sale jersey knit cost me all of six bucks.

After you’ve scissored, glued and fray-checked your way to a circular piece of fabric, loop it around your neck about nine times – the more times you loop, the cooler it looks. I highly recommend toeing the line between choking and not choking here. Fashion not function, people, fashion not function.

The DIY Infinity Scarf Project took an hour in its entirety, saved me at least $30.00, and quelled my urge to stick it to American Apparel for trying unsuccessfully to rip me off.

Tres satisfying.

Playtime With a Five Dollar Bag of Kitsch

cheapjap — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:32:25 +0000

How To Stud a Bedsheet into an Evening Shawl

cheapjap — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:10:14 +0000

Fifteen or so years ago, my mom paid $500 for a Donna Karan Collection Studded Evening Shawl. The thing is TO DIE. Were she to purchase it today, its retail value would probs be on par with the sequined scarf below.

Is this something I can afford? Eff no. Is this something I can make? Survey says YES.

Watch this easy-peasy tutorial to see how.

Addendum: This is an excellent excuse to watch a lot of TV and still feel productive.

Just make sure you’ve got options beyond The Hills and/or The City.

I don’t want anyone getting dumber on my watch.