C.T. Thomas @ GurgleSlurp.com



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Knuckle Clutch
February 23, 2012

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.

Brass knuckle black suede clutch purse, diy

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.

Brass knuckle black suede clutch purse, diy

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.

Brass knuckle black suede clutch purse, diy

Brass knuckle black suede clutch purse, diy

Brass knuckle black suede clutch purse, diy

Brass knuckle black suede clutch purse, diy

 




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Project: Easy Patterned Denim!
February 21, 2012

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.

 

 




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Tan Platform Booties!
February 7, 2012

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.

Dark, red, and rose stripes added to pleated tan platform booties

This is the photoshopped version of the idea.

Dark, red, and rose stripes added to pleated tan platform booties

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.

Dark, red, and rose stripes added to pleated tan platform booties

Dark, red, and rose stripes added to pleated tan platform booties

Dark, red, and rose stripes added to pleated tan platform booties

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




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Long necklace thoughts
January 28, 2012

I’ve been wearing my necklaces kind of wonky for the last little while. I have a couple extra long silver chains that I’ve been looping around my arms or wearing crossbody – like a purse without the purse. I’ve also been wanting to experiment with some sort of harness thing, so I’m thinking of easing in via the necklace route.

Put the long necklace (or a normal necklace) around my waist, twist it (or loop a second necklace through) and put the other half over my head. Then for something more dramatic, add a second one of a slightly different length.

 

Long necklace around the waist, twist, and loop the rest over the head

The nice thing about my silver chains is that they can be pretty subtle against light colours, so it won’t be too in your face if I don’t want it to be. Oooh – that would be sexy under a blazer worn runway style i.e. with nothing underneath.




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Fit and Flare Coat project
January 26, 2012

For a few years now I’ve been wanting to add some chain toggle closures across the chest of a black coat. I have a black winter coat but it doesn’t have the detailing that I had been envisioning – also, I didn’t want to ruin the damn thing. I stumbled upon a black coat with these sort of shoulder/chest flap things, which give it a bit of a military vibe, but the fit and flare silhouette is pretty girly. A nice combo, so I grabbed it. The coat is from ASOS and is the ASOS brand, which can be pretty cheap. This actually works for me: it’s almost felt-weight, so I’ll be able to wear it in the spring, and it’s cheap enough that if the additions look bad or damage the coat, I won’t beat myself up over it.

 

Sketch of plans to add chain details to the chest and ribcage of a basic fit and flare black coat.

The left is the coat now: black, brown buttons. The right is what I’m going to add: 3 thin silver chains with toggle closures across the front flap thingies, 1 more in the back where there’s currently a pair of buttons, a long chain loop from the front to the back (where there’s currently another button), and bracelet type chains from the sleeves. Oh, and replacing the round brown buttons with long metal ones. And, depending on how it looks at this point, possibly adding a chain edging across the shoulder flaps.

This should be pretty easy to do. I have the chains, the toggles are in transit, I need to find some buttons, and then I’m good to go.

 

** This is the ASOS image of the coat, photoshopped with the photocopy sketch filter (filter, sketch, photocopy!) and then coloured in and doodled on. **




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