DIY

Make This Handmade Holiday Gift!

December 14, 2019 By Chie

How to Make a Jewelry Holder (to prevent the necklace from tangling)

With the Holiday season approaching, I’m decided to share an easy DIY using fabric scraps! I always have a lot of left over fabric from making kimono dresses. Even though the scraps are small, I have hard time parting with them because I know they are one-of-a-kind as well as high quality silk. What to do? After some thinking I came up with a great idea…a portable jewelry holder. I am going back home for a few days at the end of the year, and am planning on carrying this with me. I wear a lot of jewelry (at least 6! See the proof here) and I don’t want them to get lost during my trip. This jewelry holder is also great as a gift or stocking stuffer.

The snap buttons keep the necklaces from getting tangled. In this picture it is holding my recent addition from AU-RATE gold necklace.

I’m wearing a Mini Charm Pyramid Necklace in 14k with H&M velvet dress I thrifted and added lace trim to it.

What you need:
– Fabric
– Thread
– Snap buttons
– Quilt battings

Cut fabrics according to the following measurements:
– 15cm x 32cm x 2 (face fabric and lining for the jewelry holder)
– 15cm x 13cm x 1 (zipper pocket)
– 15cm x 6cm x 3 (ring and necklace holders)

Cut quilt batting according to the following measurements:
– 15cm x 32cm x 1 (sandwich it between the face fabric and lining fabric)
– 15cm x 5.5cm x 3 (this goes inside the three ring and necklace holders)

Sew the 15cm x 6cm ring and necklace holders, inside out using 1cm seam allowances. Then turn them inside out using bodkin.

3. Put 15cm x 5.5cm quilt batting for the ring and necklace holder to add some padding. It is easier if you do this using a bodkin.

4. Sew one end of the ring and necklace holder (the raw edges will be covered by a strip of fabric later). For the other side, enter the rough edges inside and then sew. On this side, we will attach snap buttons for closure.

5. Make three of the ring and necklace holders.

6. Sew pocket. Fold the edge of the pocket fabric with 1cm seam allowance and press. Place it on top of a flat knit zipper, and sew.

7. Attach the other side of the zipper tape directly on the lining fabric as shown below. If the zipper is too long, cut it.

8. Sandwich the quilt batting with face fabric and the lining with zipper pocket. Baste it around with long (3mm) stitches.

9. Attach the ring and necklace holders on one side. The other side with finished edges will be left loose, as you will be attaching snap buttons. I placed two holders on top, and another one closer to the zipper pocket.

9. Cut fabrics according to the following measurements:
– 3.5cm x 32cm x 2 ( used to finish the side edges of the jewelry holder)
– 3.5cm x 17cm x 2 (used to finish the top and bottom edges of the jewelry holder)
– 3.5cm x 20cm x 2 ( used to make tie straps)

10. Using those fabric strips, finish the edges all around. Attach the tie straps so you can fold the folder twice and secure it with the straps.

11. Attach snap buttons on the loose ends of the ring and necklace holders.

jewelry holder for AU-RATE gold necklace

*This blog post is in collaboration with Nakturnal.

Embroidered Jeans

May 6, 2017 By Chie

After finishing up my last knitting project, I needed another portable project for when I watch TV or travel. Because the season is heading toward Summer, I took a break from knitting and decided to transform my boyfriend denim. It was already refashioned once from thrifted mom jeans to tapered boyfriend fit but I wanted to incorporate the embroidery trend (You can see my mood board on Pinterest). I had a lot of embroidery threads left over from my previous projects (here and here) so I had everything I needed to tackle this project right away. I used this Japanese book, titled “可愛いハンガリー刺しゅう：はじめてでも楽しめる伝統ある手仕事” and followed the patterns. I used an erasable pen to draw patterns on the jeans. Ｍost things are done using satin stitches and lines are done by stem stitches (useful article on 10 hand embroidery stitches). The trick is to first do the running stitches around the border and then fill the canvas with satin stitches. This way the embroider has more 3D effect. Here are some progress photos – from left, 3/23/2017, 3/9/2017 and 4/19/2017. It took a couple of months to finish. I’m glad that they are done before the embroidery trend is over. After I finish all the embroidery, I had to take in 12cm total of waist. I followed this youtube tutorial. 12cm was a lot to take in, so you can see the side seams are not in true side anymore. Sorry for the many butt photos! But I needed to show off the months of handy work:)

昔サンキューマートで買った古着のジーンズをリメイクしました。
右後ろポッケとサイド、前股あたりにハンガリー風刺繍を。
海外ドラマを見ながらと、旅行中の飛行機の中でちくちく刺していきました。
刺繍トレンドが終わる前に出来上がって良かった！

ウエストが大きかったので、１２㎝つめました。

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What to Do When Your Wedding Dress Color is Not Right

July 20, 2016 By Chie

A few months ago, I received a text message from a make up artist that I worked with in the past (for this shoot), asking for help. She bought a wedding dress online but the color was not the color she was expecting. The dress was made in pure white polyester satin and organza, and it did not fit well with her skin color. This strapless sweet heart neckline dress came with an organza long sleeve top which she did not like either. She wanted the color to be more of an off-white and ivory shade. So she attempted to dye the dress with coffee; however, the color did not becaus the dress fabric was synthetic.

Here is the before and after picture. I am not sure if I was able to capture the color correctly in pictures, but the one on the left is white and the one on the right is the same dress after the modification, which is off-white.
My plan was to take apart the top layers of the dress, and make new layers in off white satin, lace and chiffon using the patterns of the old wedding dress.Here is the picture of the dress after the dissection. The dress bodice with off white satin and lace layers added.
Here is the completed dress!

If your wedding dress color is not what you like, you can make the top layer based on the original dress. It is much easier and quicker than making a dress from scratch.