I picked up these 9West sandals online, and as with any online shopping experience, I accepted that they would look slightly different in person. I had hoped they would be either slightly more elegant, or slightly funkier than they seemed, of course neither proved to be accurate assumptions. They were a bit blah. They weren’t expensive, and they fit well, so a DIY was in order. I couldn’t think of anything I could do to make them more elegant, but making things bolder is always an option so…

The original shoe:

Plus neon orange nail polish:

Hooray!

I added the first set of chains but haven’t decided what to do next. The chain for the back isn’t going to work the way I planned, but I’m not sure what to do there instead. Also, I haven’t added the edging in the front but I’m not sure if I will as if might be too costumey.

It doesn’t work well worn unlinked, but what’s cool is that the chains can link up in a bunch of configurations.

I wore this out to the grocery store. The weight of the coat is more early spring/late fall than winter, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to get some decent wear out of it this season. Side note: I love these shoes! I bought them maybe a decade ago from a long gone shop in the underground walkway between the Toronto bus station and Eaton’s Centre. If I remember correctly, they cost $8.

Thursday would normally be an outfit post, but since I’ve managed not to leave the house all week, I haven’t actually worn any outfits! So instead, another pretty easy project.

I have a torn pair of leather pants, and a pair of suede pants that never fit right, so I’ve been using them as material for alterations and projects. I used part of a suede leg for my purse, but really, zip top pouch clutches are incredibly easy to fashion. It’s just a doubled shape with a zipper on top.

I used metal eyelets for the holes to tie my brass knuckle to, but sewing them directly to the fabric is cool too. I wanted to be able to carry the clutch in a couple different ways, so I placed my knuckle about 1/3 of the way from the top.

This way I can hold the purse from the top, with my thumb over the zipper, turn it upside down and have my fingers curled under the zipper, or fold it in half or at the knuckle if it isn’t very full.

Slightly time consuming, but so long as you can use a crayon, this one is incredibly easy.

You’ll need:

• A pair of jeans you like but are willing to change
• Fabric crayons (I used Crayola, which was probably a mistake.)
• An iron (maybe)
• Paper
• Strong fingers
• A hard surface to draw on
• Good background music or TV (I used Frasier and Golden Girls reruns)

You can draw on paper and then transfer to the fabric via ironing, but the colours will be most vibrant if you draw directly on the fabric itself. So, put your jeans on a hard surface and have at it.

I used a variety of colours and just alternated between horizontal and vertical striping.

When you’re done drawing, you’ll have to set the colour. With my Crayolas, this means placing a piece of paper over the pattern and ironing. Each fabric crayon brand could have different requirements, so follow your directions. This is where I went wrong. My Crayola instructions state that the higher the polyester content of the fabric, the more colourfast the crayons will be. 78% cotton, and 20% polyester was just not a high enough poly count. When I put the iron on the colour, the pattern melted into the cotton! When I first lifted the iron I was baffled – what was this iron shaped dark spot? I recoloured the missing pattern and put the iron away. I’m going to try waxing over the pattern with Otter Wax, hopefully that will protect the print. Also, I’ll be sure the jeans undergo minimal washing.

So, ta da – patterned jeans!

When I started the pattern, I got halfway up the first leg front and considered stopping since it looked pretty cool just like that. But I figured it was my first project I may as well do the full front. I opted against doing the full back, and instead just went all the way around the ankle.

There must be a fabric crayon for cotton – I’ll find it for the next one.

From start to finish – instead of getting rid of these booties I planned a project around them to make them more wearable for my style. I planned to paint the pleats red for some added interest.

This is the photoshopped version of the idea.

Once I went through the colours I had available and put aside the ones that would be complimentary to the tan bootie, I decided to go balls out. I painted the platform a dark rose – which actually helps them look less ‘platform like’ and thus a better fit for my big feet/skinny calves. Then I went with dark brown pleats with a red highlight and red heels.

I love it! I’m not a platform shoe person, but I think I’ll definitely wear these.