Stina Marie Couture *: Alterations

In this section I want to expand on the art of alterations as a way to freshen up styles or tailor an item to your body. I don't pretend to be an expert, but here are some of my alteration projects and a simple description on how I did it in case you're inspired to freshen up your own wardrobe.

Studded Shorts

I love all things that sparkle, so when I saw these glammed up shorts from Victoria's Secret I wanted to make my own for less. I had originally only used one size of rhinestones, but felt that it looked very cheap and childish looking. However, once I bought several different sizes of rhinestones they looked so much better.

To create the look I bought a cheap pair of jean shorts and different sizes of iron-on rhinestones. Then I spread them out from smallest to largest from the inner seam to the pockets, tossing some at random to create a semi-messy look and ironed them on at the highest temperature.

Check it out!

I even used individual rhinestones from an iron-on design to get the smallest rhinestones.

Use the highest temperature for jeans, but do not smear the adhesive ffrom the rhinestones.

Embellished Dress

Since this season's all about embellishment I wanted to add more embellishment to this dress that I'm altering. I took more of the embellishment left over from the shirt and stitched it in circling patterns on the sleeves of the dress.

Updated Spiked Pumps

I decided I needed to update my original spiked pump and give it more embellishment. I recently got a shirt at a thrift store with a lot of embellishment on the collar which I took apart and attached to the bow of the shoe. Since the embellishment included a lot of smaller stones I used it to add to the fullness of the embellishment. I'm no Sam Edelman, but I'm very happy with how the embellishing turned out.

Feather Shirt

Ever since I saw a beautiful ostrich feather skirt in a magazine, I could not stop thinking about what a cute and fun piece that would be to have. I looked for a feather skirt for months with no avail. There were some shops that had feather skirts, but they were extremely expensive. One day I stumbled across another blogger that made a feather skirt out of feather boas (http://www.lovemaegan.com/2009/10/feather-skirt-diy.html). I had looked into buying feathers in bulk and buying ostrich feather trim, which were difficult and expensive, but had not considered using inexpensive turkey feather boas. So I bought two large, black feather boas for $2.00 a piece and a plain black metal zipper skirt and stitched the boas to the skirt in a vertical zigzag pattern from the top to the bottom of the skirt, securing it along the way. Afterwards, the boas were much too puffy for my taste, so I pulled out tons of extra feathers to make the skirt lie flatter, but still have lots of fun texture and volume. Now I love my feather skirt for a funky day out shopping or a fun night out on the town.

Skirt Hemming Project

I've bought several pencil skirts for work, however after buying a shorter one I found that it was much more flattering on my short stature. So I've decided to hem one of my skirts a few inches.

First, I cut the fabric and inch or so longer than I wanted it to be, pinned the hem, and ironed it flat.

Next, I undid the hem and surged the end so it will not unravel.

Then, I repinned the hem back in place...

and blind stitched the hem so that it will not show.

This is what the hem looks like after the blind stitch.

Spiked Pumps

I was recently walking through the mall when I found the most amazing spiked pumps. I loved the mix of the femininity of the high heels with the edgy look of the spikes. The heels I loved most were plain black pumps with spikes of varying sizes and rhinestones of different shapes attached to the heel and along the back of the shoe. However, they were $200 shoes. So instead, I decided to make them myself.

Since I already have the pumps, but do not have the tools to puncture a shoe to make my spiked heeled pumps, I decided to try to make their other version of the spiked pump which had the spikes and rhinestones on the bow of the pump instead. I found a website where I could buy screw-on spikes and sew-on rhinestones, but since the rhinestones were high quality Swarovski brand, it would cost $2 a rhinestone plus the cost of the spikes. Since the goal was to save money I decided to improvise a little and get some jewelry with similar jewels to take off and attach to the bows of my shoes and then just pay for the spikes online. Here's what I came up with:

I took off the rhinestones from this necklace I bought for $8 at a department store.

To attach the spikes, I used my seam ripper to cut a small hole.

I then thread the screw through the hole and attached the spike to the bow.

Then I attached the rhinestones by sewing them onto the bow through the metal base.

Voila!

Pants Hemming Project

My first documented project is a hemming the cuff off of a pair of business pants. To take out the cuff, I first undid the seam. Since I liked the length of the pants I cut the excess fabric about an inch and a half from where the bottom fold of the cuff would have touched the floor. I then surged the inside of the pants so they would not ravel since I would be using a blind stitch. Then I folded the extra inch and a half inside the pants, pinned it, and blind stitched a seam where the pants had originally laid. A blind stitch is often used in business wear or formal attire to create a polished look without a seam line.