DIY: I Came, I Sew, I Conquered

Growing up I always had a penchant for DIY tasks - especially when it came to clothes. I would rearrange, re-tailor, renew old clothes lying around all the time - (take off sleeves, add studs, patches etc) usually all by hand. Eventually I lost that hobby once I began university and then a full-time job, but I'm pleased to announce my old-school hobby is back in full swing and I can't wait to share my first project with you!

As I was doing a closet clean-out, I discovered a shirt that I had (for some reason) held on to for probably 10 years. I hadn't worn it in 3 but I still had it, and then I suddenly had an idea to change it up a bit. Here is a step by step visual diary of the process to help you do your own DIY! I'm sure you have plenty of items of clothing that could use a 'lift'!

STEP 1:  Select a shirt/top that you think could use an update; I selected this top which is a standard $20 top, synthetic, shiny fabric- so I wasn't afraid to cut it up

 

STEP 2: Take off the sleeves, I did this by hand with a pair of eyebrow scissors and a needle (good lighting is a must)

STEP 3: Remove buttons (I bought MUCH cooler replacements) -again the mini scissors came in handy

STEP 4: Get new ribbon and buttons. The ribbon is 1 yard of black velvet , to be used as borders for the sleeves. And the buttons come in a dozen (total cost of materials < $10)
 

STEP 5: This is the hardest part, the velvet border took a while to sew on. ALL BY HAND! If you can work a sewing machine, I'm sure it would take all of 10 minutes.

But here is my final product (Its not perfect by any means, but I love it!)

The entire process took me a few hours in total, and cost about $10 in materials. And now I have a new "custom" shirt in my summer rotation. Keep an eye out for it in future outfit posts :)

I've been bitten by the DIY bug and already have new projects in the works - its quite fun and easy, I'd love to hear about your DIY projects!


             
BEFORE:                                                                   AFTER:

                       

Outfit Post: Maxi Skirt and Stripes

I love me a good Maxi skirt for the summer and this one I just got from French Connection for $50! It was 50% off - SCORE!

Outfit Breakdown:
Skirt - French Connection $50
Shoes - Spring $40ish (last summer)
Top - H&M $10ish


Hope you like it :) And stay tuned for a major post VERY soon on my first DIY project! Hoping to finish it off tonight and post tomorrow morning, tres excite!!

Outfit Post: Harem Comme PJs

I am always partial to clothing that makes me feel like I'm wearing Pjs - Harem pants are one of those items. They really are perfect, styling, swaggy and most of all comfy! And if I am comfortable, chances are I feel more confident. Pairing these harem pants with another loose flowy item like this floral blouse was a bit of a risk, but I think it works. Normally you want to balance a flowy silhouette with a more structured top, but...I just didn't feel like it, I wanted to feel comfy and cool. I think pairing flowy with flowy gets my stamp of approval!

Outfit breakdown:

Harem pants- Zara pants ($50ish)

Blouse - F21 ($27)

Shoes - Bakers ($30 fromr the States)

Shellac'd and Hook'd!

Uh oh this could be trouble...so I tried a Shellac mani for the first time for a wedding and I think I'm hooked....can I ever go back to the regular ol' way of just painting nails? My wallet is not going to appreciate this...

I went to some Asian place in Mississauga (is it just me or is every time you step in an Asian nail salon you feel like Elaine from that Seinfeld episode? I swear the woman doing my pedi was laughing at my feet). I spent about $50 for a shellac Mani and regular pedi- not bad right? I'm guessing just the shellac manicure alone would probably run me about $25ish.

So what are the benefits of this brilliant invention? Well, it looks pristine and stays in tact for about 3 weeks, chip-free so you really do get your money's worth! Usually my regular manicures barely last over a week because they get chipped or I inevitably ruin them right after.

With Shellac they are pretty much immediately dry and ur hands are free to multi-task as we all do.The only caveat would be that it requires a little more effort to remove. You can either buy one of those acetone jars to remove them or get them removed professionally (at this nail salon removal costs $5).

Here is evidence of my first and definitely not my last. I'm hooked!

MMVA's 2012 Fashion Recap

The MMVA's are Canada's version of the MTV Music awards - and as is the case with music award shows, the fashion tends to be slightly more outrageous, which I love to watch! What I especially love about the MMVA's is the Canadian fashion that is represented on the red carpet.

Here are my favs/and not so favs from the night, many of them in Canadian creations!

Carly Rae Jepsen- looked stunning in this double slit black dress but the bold necklace really made the outfit! But I must say, she really needs to go on a long hiatus for a while, over-exposed anyone? OR do something entirely different with her music! Her outfit here does help create a more 'grown up' look which works, now just drop another single already!

Katy Perry - looked understated glam (understated for her) in a gorgeous VAWK dress from Canadian designer Sunny Fong. She normally goes the costumey route but with this look she made a bold statement without using any gimmicks 

 Nelly Furtado - hmm well I'm glad to see Nelly Furtado making a come back amongst this lip-synching ridden pop scene. She is a gorgeous woman and she looked great last night in this white Herve Leger dress. I would've loved to see her in something else though (whatever happened to her relationship with Canadian designer Arthur Mendonca??) I feel Herve Leger is completely stale fashion now, the bandage dress needs to be buried indefinitely. BUT i'll give her a pass for this one...

  

Shenae Grimes - this black dress/double slit thing might be a new trend, Shenae Grimes is wearing New York based, Canadian Designer Amanda Lew Kee. Lew Kee's creations are quite popular with the MMVA's and Shenae Grimes wore a Lew Kee dress two years ago as well. Looks young, fresh, hip, sexy, perfect for the awards!

 

Selena Gomez - not too impressed with Selena Gomez's fashion choice here, there is not much dress to talk about and the little that there is, is kinda...dare I say, tacky? Yes, the colour, the spaghetti straps, the length, the everything....not ok.

Justin Bieber- How could I let this post go by without talking about the Biebs. Here he is holding a baby, hopefully not his own, (I think its his step-brother), looking every bit the cool, swaggy star that he is. 

Some more fashion shout outs:

Canadian musician Anjulie looking pretty in pink, but adding a little bad ass with the black leather hand thingy

Much Music VJ Lauren Toyota looking sexy in this sparkly number!

Much Music VJ Phoebe Dykstra - love the contrast of frills and tatoos

The Battle of the Fros:

Kreesha Turner

VS.

Perez "I'm born again" Hilton

I don't get either....


And thats a wrap on my MMVA's red carpet rundown, who was your fav or not so fav??

What Does One Wear In Front of Royalty? (And Horses)

On Sunday, as part of the SHE magazine team, I attended an amazing day of events starting with the Royal Jaipur vs Toronto Polo Match followed by an evening gala with a JJ Valaya (leading Indian designer) fashion show. The guests of honour were HRH Diya Kumari and family (Princess of Jaipur), you might've seen her on Oprah's Next Chapter, when she hosted Oprah at her frickin palace! The minute I got the invite, I immediately started planning my outfit: what does one wear in front of royalty? What does wear in front of horses? (super elite horses I might add).

After much deliberating I picked an outfit (a maroon 3 quarter sleeve dress and a purple fascinator I bought some time ago and was dying to wear), pretty similar to a Kate Middizzle ensemble, but then as the day grew closer, the temperature kept rising and the dress was far too warm. I had to switch to plan B a couple of days before; very disappointing since I had no plan B! This is where I ended up scouring Queen St for the perfect outfit that was budget-conscious and CUTE. And thanks to the fashion gods, I found it. In a Chinatown shop no less! Chinatown came to the rescue.

Since this was my first Polo match, I had no clue if what I was wearing would work but I found when I got there, it was really quite a range. From ladies dressed in cute Calvin Klein sheaths with giant sun hats, to polo shirts and khakis, I saw the gamut. Of course, I decided to do something a little different, I imagined this as a garden party so I went with that theme for myself :) Frills, flowers and flowy ruled my fashion choice for the Polo match.

Here is my daytime Polo outfit:

 

Dress: $25 (Chinatown whaaaat!)

Espadrilles: $22 (Nine West on sale)

Fascinator: $40ish (Sussmans bridal on Queen St.) 

As for the Polo event, it was a fun way to spend the day! It was a tied game until the end when Team Jaipur scored the winning goal! (surprisingly by the Maharaj of Jaipur himself...ahem...).

Here are some more pics from the day!

Me with SHE Magazine's Editor; Priya Kumar

The SHE intern team working hard!

My fascinator

Polo Warm up

Serious hat action

Stomping some divets! At the end of the match, the audience is asked to come on field and turn over the grass kicked up by the horses

 After the HOT but fun day, we rushed home to quickly do an outfit change for the evening gala dinner at the Liberty Grand and House of Valaya fashion show. Valaya is one of the top Indian designers and his collection was gorgeous, (see below) I wanted it all! And the absolute highlight of my night was my conversation with the Princess herself! She was so incredibly sweet and friendly, she even complimented by outfit a few times ;) Ofcourse, I couldn't resist asking her about her experience hosting Oprah at her palace, and she proceeded to tell me how gracious and kind Oprah really was to every person she met, and that she really is as sweet as she seems on TV. And surprisingly, the Princess has not seen her own appearance because they don't get OWN in India! I encouraged her to YouTube it...lol 

All in all, a fabulous day and night! Although the next day my feet and I were SO tired....still recovering, I think a spa day might help....hmmm

Here are some pics from the night, including my outfit pic!

SHE Magazine represents! Our booklet provided interesting reading for the night

 

Outfit: My Mama got it made! From Pakistan (contact me if you want an outfit made too :)

Earrings: $29 (some Jewellery store in Markville Mall, Markham)

Here are some of my favourite picks from the House of Valaya collection, absolutely stunning:

I wanted to tell you all about my exciting day, and there you have it :) Hope you enjoyed it, its my longest post yet!

Outfit post: easy breezy :)

Dress- $49 Nordstrom Rack
Necklace: from Pakistan (representin my roots!)
Steel Bangles: $10 from some store on Gerrard Street (little India)

She Keeps Giving: Princess Kate

She keeps giving and we keep taking...here she is in another McQueen nude, lace dress with a perfectly matching fascinator

 

Outfit Post: From My Sister's Closet

Ok I needed a break from posting pics of myself - but now I'm back. Here is an outfit I wore to dinner with my girlfriend last night. I must give credit to my sis cus most of this outfit belongs to her, good thing we can share clothes! (well, its a good thing now, only after some counselling...)

 Outfit Breakdown:
Striped blazer - F21 $27
Jeans - My trusted Gap skinnies for $78
Clutch - H&M ($20ish? I can't find the price for this, can anyone help me out?)
Wedges - Nine West ($45 on sale at an American outlet)


The blazer, clutch and shoes were all my sisters. SO there you have it, you can and will share clothes peacefully with your sister one day, but it might require a few sessions with a professional first.

CFDA Awards 2012 - Fashion WHATTT!

I decided half way through the MTV Movie Awards Sunday night that there was NO point in doing a fashion rundown for the event because there was nothing worth reporting, rest assured you didn't miss a damn thaang.

But that was the exact opposite of how I felt about the CFDA awards 2012! So much fashion worth watching, leering at, coveting, crying tears of sadness/happiness...ok you get it... For those who don't know the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) holds an annual award show honouring fashion designers and the fashion/Hollywood stars come out in full fashion force for this glamorous event.

Here are my favourite picks from this fabulous night:

Bow down to the Na'vi queen in a Prabal Gurung dress which only an alien could wear

Rachel channels 70's disco heaven with this gorgeous dress from her own collection

Random sighting but Dakota Fanning looked chic in this Proenza Schouler

Love this Kaufman Franco gown on Ryan Seacrest's girlfriend

Whoever this is, looks amazing in Rebecca Minkoff

This is what a Victoria Secret model looks like....

Another one of those rare Victoria Secret creatures

But the Best Dressed award goes toooo: MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen! (Who also happened to win the most prestigious Women Designer of the Year award). Here they are in their own designs from The Row resort collection (my dream closet would be exclusively The Row)