All that glitters is gold

I'm back and with even more sparkles for you! I am so obsessed with sewing sparkly clothes right now and this post is no exception. As a bit of a break from the rather crazy rainbow I have been showing you lately we we are well and truly back to black for this one; where I am going to share with you not one but two new skirts I have sewn up.

Velvet and stars faux wrap

The thing I really love about sewing is that you can turn your ideas into a reality, whether that be a design that pops into your head or an outfit you have seen else ware and want to recreate. Not only can you create the look you aspired to yourself, but also it is truly made to measure and to suit your own style.

Metallic Rainbow Glitter Shorts!

Hi there, today I am so happy to share with you my latest make because I finally dared to cut into this amazing spangly fabric and I think I found the perfect pattern for it. Those that have been following me either here or on instagram will know that I have been testing skirt patterns over the last month or so in an effort to find the perfect pattern for this fabric. Well, as I was sewing my last piece, I had a crazy lightbulb moment and realised I already had the perfect pattern, tried and tested, and a perfect match; the Chataigne shorts from Deer and Doe.

A Happy Festive Wren

Before we get into this post I want to tell you to keep reading as I have something exciting to tell you at the end!

So lets get into it by saying hi, and a big welcome to 2017! I'm not going to start out the year with a big rundown of everything I made last year (I think I have hashed that stuff out enough on here) nor am I going to do any plans for the year ahead. Instead we are just going to show off a simple sew which I quickly knocked together when I had an urge for a new festive outfit.

For me 2016 trailed off a bit with both with the sewing and the blogging. I have to admit I really lost my mojo there for a while, so its nice to start off the year by celebrating something made. Hopefully I can keep it up as much as possible in 2017.

About the dress then. Its the fitted version of Colette's Wren dress made using a gold studded Ponte Roma fabric which I got online from Fabric Godmother. Sadly I think I bought up the last of this fabric but its really lovely, I love how the gold spots are actually raised on the fabric, it gives it a real festive glitz appeal. Its hard to tell in this picture but I will see if I can get an image of them in later.

Generally speaking this was a really quick sew, I cut it out and stitched it together in 2 short evenings which is pretty good going. The fabric did fight me a little, my machine definitely did not like those little raised bobbles going into the feed dogs under the presser foot. I also had a massive issue with skipped stitches using my twin needle which I could not manage to rectify. In the end I just gave up and used a straightforward zigzag stitch. The fabric is so stable that this hasn't been an issue at all and you really cant see the stitching.

I made the same fitting adjustments on this dress as I did with my last version of Wren (cutting the front pieces on the fold, and doing a FBA). The FBA is definitely needed for me, it could maybe even do with a bit more as it still gapes in the armholes a little bit, something I didn't notice on the last version as it has the sleeves. I cut the bottom half in a straight size 4. I do think its a little on the clingy side so I might want to consider drafting out to a 6 in the hips but the fabric is lovely and stretchy so I think I have got away with it. The dress was also made, and worn, before the Xmas food blow out, so I think it probably fitted me a bit better a fortnight ago!

Sewing this up in such a rush I have misaligned the top and bottom front pieces when sewing them together, which is I think what is causing the pull you can see under the bust. It hasn't stopped me wearing it though, you would only notice if you really inspected it, and I hope no one is inspecing my bust that closely in public anyway!!

Moving on to something completely different, I am sure you haven't failed to notice the shoes. Santa (A.K.A. Mr Fox) was very generous and bought me this beautiful pair of irregular choice shoes for Xmas. I have been eyeing these up for a very long time, I mean whats not to love, they are pink ombre glitter heels! They are so completely impractical and I don't attend near enough special occasions to justify them but they are so pretty! I suppose I best get finding excuses to go out more.

So, finally on to the exciting news, you may have already been able to guess, but I was really trying to suck it in in the earlier pictures. The Fox family will be welcoming a new little fox cub in the summer :). We are very excited, happy and looking forward to meeting the little person. I hope that Master Fox enjoys becoming a big brother and I can't wait to find out what kind it will be in a couple of months. So that means lots more sleepless nights for us, dirty nappies and of course baby sewing!

I hope you all had a lovely festive break and I can't wait to hear from you and share the exciting year ahead x.

Starry Starry Headbands

Its all getting a bit accessories crazy over here at the moment, but I have realised just how easy and fun a few little sparkly hair accessories are to make. Not only do I love to make them but I also love to wear them, so I am very sorry but you are just going to have to bear with me whilst I get it all out of my system. 

These little numbers are stars mounted onto a band of elastic which can be worn around the head like a headband. The perfect thing about the elastic is that you can place the star anywhere on your head to mix up the look, or even wear multiples together. I love how glam rock these are. Sparkly, pink, leathery and perfectly matched to my inner child/rocker.

I got the idea when I received issue 44 of Mollie Makes  which included a free kit on the front to make a 'Boho Feather Necklace'. I wasn't a huge fan of the necklace, it just wasn't something my style and so I couldn't see myself wearing it. The kit however contained pink and gold faux leather pieces which I just couldn't put down so I had to think of something else to do with them. This is where the stars were born.

They are made from a variety of real leather, the faux leather from the kit, some of the glitter fabric which I am sure you are sick of the sight of, some felt and some elastic cord.

It was so simple, I drew up two star templates and cut out a variety of small and large stars. I then used the glue gun to attach a smaller star to the centre of the bigger one and then glued it onto a piece of felt with a length of the elastic sandwiched between the leather and the felt. Finally I cut around the felt and tied a little knot in the elastic to make it fit the size of my head.

They are by no means perfection, but I like them a lot.

 

So whats been going on around here? We have had a pretty quiet weekend to be honest. We took the opportunity to start decorating the baby's bedroom. I say we, I mean Mr Fox did it all as I am not allowed to paint and was generally feeling a little bit under the weather. Its starting to come together a bit now though. We still have a way to go but at least it feels like we are moving forwards. Other than that we did a bit of DIY shopping and that was about your lot.

I have been trying to resit the urge to buy baby a cute little Christmas outfit. There are so many cute ones out there but I am conscious of the fact that he might be late, and so late that he doesn't actually arrive until after the event. In that case a cute little Christmas outfit is a complete waste. However friends are awesome and everyone keeps telling me I should just splurge on one little thing as I won't get the chance another time so I gave in and bought this adorable little pudding baby grow. Isn't it adorable! I at least figured it could be worn even a few days after Christmas what with it just being a pudding.

Finally... and no one will read this tiny little tag line, but the next post will be post 100!! I can't believe we are there already. I am planning to do a bit of a 'review of the year' and also a little giveaway themed from the last 100 posts so check back on Friday to see what's in store. I will leave the giveaway open for a little while to give as many people as possible the chance to get involved.

A Flock of Feathery Hens!

Remember me telling you I was going to a hen do? Well do you like my sparkly feather hairpiece? Our Bride to be picked the theme 'Feathers a Corsets' for her evening out, feathers of course being a very appropriate theme for a hen do. Sadly I don't think I even noticed the pun until just now! So being as a can't wear a corset (apparently its frowned upon to squash your growing baby) I thought I should mark the occasion by making every effort to don a feathery hairpiece.

Now these are one of my current favourite things on Etsy at the moment: Feather Ear Cuffs. They are just incredible, the only problem is my favourite are the pink and orange and well they were just going to get lost in my hair.

(Excuse the terrible selfie!) 

To add to that, sadly it turns out I was quiet poor last month, or I spent too much, so I couldn't justify the pennies to buy one for myself and instead I set to trying to make something out of the things I had y'know, just lying about. Armed with a glue gun, two types of black feather, some black felt, and old hair clip and some of my favourite sparkly fabric I managed to knock this little gem up in less than half an hour. 

I started out by cutting a piece of felt and a piece of glitter fabric into a heart shape. Then using the glue gun I glue glue glued the feathers onto the felt piece and then glued the glitter piece to the top making sure the edges were all sealed. The final job was to just spot glue a clip onto the back and voila. 

I am really pleased with how it came out, its a great little fascinator and it made me feel ever so glamorous, which is hard when your pregnant and in a constant feeling of frump. I also love it when a little whimsy project comes together so well. Of course we all know it doesn't always go that way 9/10 those little spur of the moment craft projects normally end up looking like something a 5 year old made, but occasionally you can surprise yourself. 

But that is not the end of it, no. Our lovely Bride to be decided to make everyone a little feathery gift of their own to wear on the night so we could all match. Check out how gorgeous this little feather brooch is. I love the colour and its just so delicate. Simple yet perfect and a great little momento from the evening. She made some with wire and beads, some as hair pins and some as brooches. A very talented young lady she is. 

Have you ever made any feathered accessories, or would you like to tell me all about your spur of the moment successes (or failures)? Please feel free to share the love. 

Have you ever made any feathered accessories, or would you like to tell me all about your spur of the moment successes (or failures)? Please feel free to share the love.

A girl can NEVER get enough glitter!

More Glitter! Is that enough for you? Of course its not, but its a good start!

After making my glitter shoe clips (my tutorial is here) I just had to purchase some more of the fabric and make myself a version in many different colours. My favourite is definitely the light multicoloured ones in the centre of the picture above. They just go with anything and are so bright and sparkly!

My reason for making this is again for our Christmas Craft charity event. Instead of shoe clips I will make them into hair grips and sell them as individuals which means we can hopefully make lots and lots of money with them. This is a great little thing to make as stocking fillers or as small gifts as they are relatively inexpensive and they don't take a long time to do at all. You could also clip them on your Christmas tree, but adorning yourself is much more fun.

I am also off to a hen do tonight so its perfect timing for a very sparkly and girly post hee hee! I am actually really looking forward to this weekend. This afternoon brings a relaxing antenatal pilates class, which will likely be followed by a soak before I get ready to go out and get all glammed up. The theme is 'Corsets and Feathers' and well whilst I can't exactly wear a corset I can of course wear feathers! Then on Sunday it is my little nephews 3rd birthday party! I can't believe he will be 3 already but any excuse for a bit of jelly and ice cream!!!!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you are up to and try to add a little sparkle if you can x

DIY Glitter Bow Clips Tutorial

Look Look! A tutorial using all of my favourite things: Glitter, Bows and Shoes Clips!!! For me this literally couldn't  get better (well I could have chosen pink, but sometimes its nice to be different). You could make a pair of these bad boys in just a few minutes if you follow my instructions below:

You will need: 

• A sheet of A4 glitter fabric (I got mine from ebay and here)
• Shoe clip blanks (ebay)
• A pair of skissors
• Glue gun

First of all cut out 4 pieces from your glitter fabric. Two pieces measuring 2.5 x 1.5 inches and two pieces measuring 2.5 x 0.5inches (as above)

.1. Fold one of your larger pieces in half along the length with the glitter on the inside.

 

2. Then fold the tops down towards the outside in half again, pinching in the middle (it looks like a bow already... does a little jig). Its a bit like a concertina or fan.

3. Wrap one of the smaller pieces around the bunched up middle, with the ends at the bottom, and secure with a blob from your glue gun.

4. Using the glue gun, glue the shoe clips to the underside of the centre piece as above and your done! I honestly didn't manage this stage once without getting completely stuck to the glue and getting stringy glue gun bits everywhere but the stringy bits come off so its not a problem if this happens to you as well.

You can round of the edges with a pair of skissors at this stage if you would prefer them to be a bit smoother. Personally I don't have a preference as to which is best, they look great either way.  

5. Now repeat with the other two pieces to make a pair and clip em on your favourite pair of shoes... and then make some more because that was so easy and you need a pair of these in every colour and so do all your friends!

 

If you make a pair of these I would love to see them, so leave me a link below. Also, don't forget these would not be limited to shoe clips. You could make brooches, hair clips, all sorts using the same method but different findings so let me know if you come up with any good uses for this template. 

Glittery Goodness - Thank you Blogcademy

I was recently the very fortunate winner of one of the left over fabulous goodie bags from the Blogcademy. The one reason I entered this competition was the sheer about of glitter that I could see on the site. Feast your magpie eyes on this lot!

This fabulous treat included glitter shoe clips (which I have decided are my new favorite accessory), glitter hair accessories (including my now second pair of sparkly cat ears from Crown and Glory), sparkly necklaces, glitter nail polish, pretty purses, a gorgeous hand crocheted scarf, goodies from Iron Fist including a tee, a bag, some nail art as well as some other bits and bobs. This really was a bloody good haul!

Ever since Mr Fox proposed I have been following Kat's blog: Rock and Roll Bride because quiet honestly I have not seen a better blog out there for alternative weddings. There is everything you can imagine on there so lots of inspiration to help you get designing your own wedding. But not only is it packed with all this useful wedding invitation Kat is a completely savvy woman, with great style, who gives away no end of her advice and sassy style. It really is a pleasure to read, and I still follow the blog way after the wedding.

 One of her other successful ventures is the Blogcademy which she co-runs with some more extraordinary women Gala and Shauna. These guys truly are amazing, not only do they get to do something they love for a living, but they are more than happy to share their tips and advice with the blogging community to help everyone else with their loves as well! How cool is that! This has become something invaluable to me over the last few months while developing this blog, and I continue to gets useful information from this page and likely will for a long time to come!

So, I realise I might be becoming a bit stalker-ish of these sites, but who can blame me really! And here's hoping that one day I might be rich enough to actually attend one of the Blogcademy events in London to help me to develop my blog into something which I, and hopefully you, really really love (not to mention more sparkly goodies...!).

So thank you Blogcademy xx

Post Wedding Round Up: The DIY Glittery Shoes!

I am finally able to start blogging some of the DIY craft done for the wedding, I'm so excited to be able to show you now that I have some decent professional photo's thanks to our fabulous wedding photographer Ed Godden.

You will all remember the DIY Glitter Shoes tutorial that I posted a couple of months ago. Well not only did we glitter my shoes but we also glittered the bridesmaids shoes. The idea was that they could pick the style of shoe they wanted and then they would end up matching as we used the same glitter on them all. They turned out fantastic don't you think? I am so pleased with them and they matched the dresses so perfectly.

The Glitter on my shoes was a very chunky nail art glitter with large heart shapes in. This created a lovely effect, but the finish was not particularly smooth. The blue on the other hand was an extra fine glitter which produced a much smoother sheen with a more professional finish. Which do you prefer? I really can't make my mind up!

Next up I want to show you the DIY Bouquets, they were so much fun to make, and so simple. I know, I know, you want to see the dresses and what we actually looked like. I hear you don't worry but I wanted to show you the elements before I put them all together. It will all come along very soon I promise, so watch this space.

Shoes and Glitter, What more does a girl need?

So in 4 weeks I will be Mrs Fox, Exciting! I have been trying for a number of years to find the best way to publicise my crafting obsession, and have always been stumbled by the fact that I can't EVER stick to just one craft, and so specialising for me is really hard. However, one thing I have learnt about myself on the journey to crafting my wedding is why try! There are so many wonderful ideas out there, craft tutorials, pinterest boards, blog posts, everything. So the DIY Fox is born. My vision is to show you what I have been up to, with tutorials as often as possible, links to tutorials I have found this week, favourite sites, and reviews or 'try it myself' anecdotes from tutorials from all the other talented visionaries already out there. I will try to, from time to time, have a Fox related theme, but for now GLITTER!

I so want glitter shoes for my wedding, but I have been struggling to find the 'perfect' pair in the style and colour I wanted for a reasonable price. So I decided why not D.I.Y. There are so many tutorials and videos out there for how to do this, but I wanted to quickly run through mine with you. Firstly, because most of the tutorials I found were American (Modge Podge to us is just simply PVA, or School glue), and secondly to show you how pretty they are.

So here we go:

1: First you will need a pair of heels: new, old, borrowed (probably best not!) just make sure they are clean, and its probably not going to work so well on anything suede/fabric. Patent or leather are likely going to work best.

2. Gather all your supplies. You will need:

Shoes

PVA Glue (or Modge Podge if you are reading this from over the waters)

Some kind of brush or sponge

Glitter

Newspaper

(optional: tissue paper for stuffing inside the shoe to stop glitter getting inside, masking tape)

3. Using your glue and brush, cover an area of the shoe in the glue. You will likely want to work in smaller sections to make sure the glue doesn't dry out, but you can put the glue over the glitter so there will be no gaps. If there are any areas you specifically don't want to get glitter on you might want to masking tape these areas.

4. Carefully sprinkle your glitter over the area covered in glue, making sure that any spare glitter lands on the newspaper. Repeat the last two stages until you have covered the desired areas in glitter and leave to dry completely. You may find you need to tip some of the glitter from the newspaper back into a tub to re-use. This is easily done by just folding the paper in half and tipping down the crease. 

5. The final stage is to cover all the glittered areas with a clear sealer. This is a picture of the one I used which I was able to buy from the internet. It is a clear Acrylic spray which dries with a gloss finish. Spray this over all the glitter and leave shoes to dry. This will stop your glue from chipping, your glitter from getting everywhere and also helps to waterproof them. 

And finally - TA DA!!! prance around in your super glittery shoes whilst trying to find as many items around the house that you can also cover in glitter! 

I hope you enjoyed the first instalment of The DIY Fox. I hope to see you soon.