DIY INSPIRATION - DIP DYED KNIT

Even though many of us are looking towards spring and summer, in reality most of us are still wrapping up in order to leave the house (except southern hemisphere readers - but your turn will come!). And by now your knits are probably looking a bit tired after constant wear - so how about breathing a bit of life into them with some dip dying? I love this look.

Copy the one below by dip dying a coloured knit, but dipping upside down so the gradation of colour comes from the top. You could also do reverse dying - by taking a dark blue knit and bleaching the colour out of the bottom - although it's  more difficult to know what you'll get what you do this. One last tip - always use natural fabrics like cotton, denim or wool, as polyester doesn't take one dye very well. Yup, been there, done that.

Image: h&m knit (I think) via Studded Hearts

DIY BEC & BRIDGE INSPIRED OMBRE TEE

I recently got carried away ombre dying practically everything in my wardrobe. In addition to the ombre mini I did for Harper's BAZAAR last week, this tee (on the left) is one of my other projects, inspired by none other than the stunning High Summer Bec & Bridge collection. 

I'm not going to lie, the process I used was identical to that of the ombre mini I made and posted about over at Harper's BAZAAR, but I really wanted to show you this little piece. For those of you who didn't catch my tutorial, check out my instructions below.

You Need:
- A white tee (mine is from H&M)
- Purple dye
- Salt
- Bucket
- Water

How to:

1. Dampen your fabric - you want it to be wet but not dripping. This helps it take on the dye evenly.
2. Open your packet of dye and separate it evenly into a few different containers. 

3. To start, only put one of the measures of dye into the water, mixing according to the instructions on the packet. This will be the least concentrated in which to do the first immersion. Most dyes recommend using warm water and salt to set the dye.

4. Put your tee on a hanger so it hangs evenly and dip it into the dye. The first time you dip it will be the deepest, and you should aim to stop about 15cm from the neckline.

5. Take the tee out and add another container of dye to the bucket and mix up. Dip the tee again, this time only about 2 thirds of the depth of the first time.

6. Add the final container of dye. Dip only the bottom few inches of the tee into the dye at its most concentrated. You can even let it sit in the dye for a little while to take on more colour.

7. Once you think the bottom of the tee is dark enough, wash it out in a sink.

8. Leave the tee to dry. Done!

On a side note, can we talk for a second about that lilac akubra? Nothing has ever been so firmly on my Christmas wishlist before. Perhaps a present to myself when I get back to Australia this weekend...

DIY DIP DYE [OMBRE] MINI SKIRT

I'm on a dip dying frenzy at the moment and nothing is safe. For me, the trick is to create the perfect gradation between the original colour and the dyed colour. The kids are calling it ombre (say it with me: ohm-bray). Want to know how you can do it yourself?

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S HARPER'S BAZAAR TUTORIAL - THE OMBRE MINI

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S HARPER'S BAZAAR TUTORIAL - THE OMBRE MINI

This week will be the last post for Harper's Bazaar for this year, but I've got so many projects planned with them for next year so look forward to a very creative 2012!

Wearing: Self designed silk singlet, DIY Dip Dyed Mini Skirt, locally designed metal belt, Zara suede boots.

DIP DYED

DIY dip dye inspiration never got any better than this did it? This image is from the new Bec and Bridge High Summer collection and I must say I am dying for the lilac fedora. I want it BAD! 

That said, this gorgeous shirt looks like something I could definitely do at home - using a process like this. Dip a plain white tee in watered down purple dye and allow the dye to slowly work it's way up the shirt, allowing for the subtle ombre transition between the dyed part and the white of the shirt.

Image: Shine By Three

DIY NATURAL DYES with FREE PEOPLE

I've been a fan of Free People for ages, mainly because of their perfectly bohemian aesthetic and super cool warehouse headquarters (thanks instagram for reminding me daily of where I DON'T work). I always tune in for their WednesDIY on the Free People blog, so when they asked me recently if I wanted to guest post for today's DIY I couldn't say no - check out the DIY Fishtail Skirt I made for them.

We also thought it would be lovely to feature one of their DIYs here.  Free People blogger Julia (um, best job ever?) did this amazing natural dyes project which I knew you would love. 

I have always wanted to experiment with natural dyes and on a gloomy day in September I decided that it was time. This is such a fun, environmentally friendly project that takes a little bit of time, but very little cash.

There are a number of plants that can be used to make natural dyes, but for my first go-round I chose to use fruits and vegetables that I picked up at a local market.

What I got: red cabbage, lemons, oranges, beets, yellow onions, blackberries, blueberries, spinach.

*It’s important to remember when working with natural dyes that experimentation is key – depending on the amount of ingredients you use and how long you leave a garment in the dye, the color you get can vary.

For pinkish/red dyes:

Beets and blueberries can make a really lovely dusty rose color.

For bluish/purple dyes:

Blackberries and red cabbage can be used to make bluish/purple dyes.  

  

For copper/orange dyes:

I never realized what a beautiful color yellow onions can have! Their skins can make an alluring mustard yellow, coppery color.

For yellow dyes:

Orange and lemon peels can be used to make a soft pale yellow dye. 

For green dyes:

Finally, spinach can be used to make a beautiful shade of green. 

 

Now what?

To make the dye, chop up your ingredients and put them in a pot with twice as much water as ingredients.  Bring the water to a boil and let simmer for an hour.  For deeper colors, you can leave the ingredients in the water (without heat) overnight.

Remove the hard materials from the mixture with a strainer, leaving you with the liquid dye.

The beets were such a beautiful deep red color! I chopped them up and added water and when I started boiling the water turned red almost immediately.

  

For the onions, I peeled off the skins and used only that part – I have seen other examples of this online that yielded really nice results but I was actually doubtful that this would really work.  Turns out I was pleasantly surprised!

I had high hopes for the spinach… if anyone has tried this with spinach and gotten good results let me know what your secret is :)

After bringing each ingredient to a boil, I let them simmer for an hour while I prepared the fabrics to dye.

Before dying, you will also need to create a fixative, which will help your fabric hold the dye.

When working with berries, use a salt fixative – put 1/2 cup of salt in 8 cups of water, put the fabric in and simmer for one hour.

When working with vegetables, use a vinegar fixative – mix one part vinegar and four parts water, add your fabric and simmer for one hour.

When you remove the fabric, rinse in cold water.

The fabric is now ready to dye! 

I put the fabric in the dye and let it sit for a little while – the longer you let it sit, the deeper your shade of color will be. I removed the fabric when I felt like it had reached a nice shade of reddish pink – such a pretty color:

  

I was happiest with the color I got from the onion skins – a beautiful amber that worked so well on the fabric.

  

Wouldn’t it be cool to make friendship bracelets using naturally-dyed string?!

By the next day, the fabric dyed with the beets faded into more of a light pink color, but it was still really pretty! I think next time, though, I would leave the fabric in the dye for longer.  The fabric dyed with onion skins actually held out really well, and I LOVE the color it created. I loved it so much, I tried it out on one of my Free People bras :)

Make sure you have a look around the Free People blog - they have loads of amazing DIYs.

DIY INSPIRATION | SASS & BIDE MAXI SKIRT

One of my friends was wearing this amazing Sass & Bide skirt at a wedding recovery I went to when I was in Aus. From the current AW11 collection, it has the coolest orange and pink spray dye pattern and thigh high splits on both sides. I'm pretty sure the recent SS12 show also had this style of skirt in a navy and white splotched pattern. Thigh high split maxis are simple to make so you can look forward to seeing a tutorial here shortly. Perfect with leggings and a belted knit for winter.

Edit: A wedding recovery is where you meet up with everyone the day after the wedding to carry on partying. Rarely do (Australian) couples leave for their honeymoon the night of the wedding anymore so they usually attend too. Usually there is lots of drinking involved, with perhaps a few outdoor activities like lawn bowls thrown in.

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How good does it look blowing in the breeze?

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DIY Inspired Collection - Milin

Stumbled across this collection from Thai designers Milin over at The Fashion Inbox (very fun fellow HK blogger) and was inspired by its beauty - as usual I picked out a few DIY-able details including wrapped halter tops, cut out singlets, tie dye, fabric wrapped heels, pleated minis and cute shorts. I adore this collection! And how hot are the first pair of high waisted trousers?

DIY Galaxy Print Top

Ok so this one is more like Didnt DIY. You may remember that a while ago I was ooooing and ahhing over the Dion Lee/Josh Goot Galaxy Print, wondering if I could do it myself using a spray dye technique (check out my post here). Before I got a chance however, a couple of days ago I was perusing the tiny little stores in the Galle fort and came across this top.  The little old lady who was selling it told me that she had used a spray dye technique to do it - she was so sweet and talked me through the process so look forward to seeing more galaxy print in the future! She also happily took me through to her workshop that was packed to the ceilings with dyed and printed fabrics she had done herself, and took in the top for me on the spot. Talk about service. Oh, and did I mention it cost less than the price of a coffee? Result!

Spray dye galaxy print top, vintage pleated skirt (£2 from an op shop in north london), river island gladiator flats, zara satchel, antique necklace from Sri lanka, sunglasses £7 from ebay (search for cat eye sunglasses).