Upcycle & DIY Chic

When there’s a small bit of idle time (usually while my son is sleeping), I’ll go on the web looking for something, which leads to one thing then another. That’s how I found the following upcycle clothing site.

I saw an ad for Do-Over Clothes on Facebook and clicked on the link. The back story of Rique, the creator of these one of a kind pieces, is that she hated to see good cashmere discarded by second-hand stores just because of a slight imperfection. She buys those pieces and creates new and beautiful things, which is the very definition of upcycling. This piece here is called “Whisper + Cashmere“. It’s a feather-light tee with a cashmere vest. I really like the juxtaposition of the tee against the cashmere, especially with the asymmetrical lines. I also love the fact that they are two separate pieces.

At the Threads show I went to last year, I really got to know upcycling (see post here) and I’m starting to really embrace the movement. Now that my friend Sara is taking sewing classes, she’s going to help me rework some older pieces that I have in my closet, including a vintage purse that I purchased on eBay awhile ago (which is not the clutch purse that I started last November, which I also need to complete).

Speaking of projects and upcycling, check out a fantastic purse that Sara made (see the picture below). When we met for lunch last Thursday, I recognized the shape of the purse she was carrying because we bought the exact same one a few years ago during one of our many shopping excursions. We each bought these cute leather purses by Dutchy, she had one in white and mine was in my obligatory black. They have these cute reflective circles that are sewn into the leather, which is what drew us to the purses (see picture on the right). The problem is that due to how the large sequins pieces are afixed to the leather, they started to fall off. I don’t think you can see it in the picture, but two have already fallen off, and Sara said most of the one’s on her purse are gone.

Like Sara, I haven’t had the heart to discard this cute little number. I love the shape and drawstring sides, but it pains me that the sequins will all eventually fall off. She and I kept these purses in our closets for at least five years. When we sat down to lunch, I said to her that recognized the shape of the purse and asked her if that was the purse that we bought together in LA. She said yes, and explained to me how she transformed from the purse you see above, to the fantastic creation in the picture to the left. She loved the pom-pom purses of Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney, and found a DIY site called PS I Made This that inspired her to do it herself. The creator, Erica Domesek, is a DIY diva and shows how to do it this awesome project in an easy step by step seen here. Sara actually used a different adhesive, and I will do a demo of this project as soon as I get the pom poms I ordered from amazon.com.

If this project is as easy as it seems, hopefully it will motivate me to finish my elusive clutch purse that I just can’t seem to complete (see the original post of my unfinished project here)!