I love capes 😀 When I saw this one in the shape of a gigantic bow from JD I was struck with lust. I’ve seen quite a few in that shape over the years but this one was just beautiful… and also $500+ ;_;
I had a heap of white faux fur left over from a commission several years ago so I decided to try out a diy version. This is my end result:
What you need:
Faux fur
Fabric for the lining
Sewing machine/overlocker
Pins
Needle and thread
Cut out the main shape out of the cape from the faux fur:
Cut out the same shape from the lining and also cut out a rectangle for the middle part of the bow in both the fur and lining fabric.
Pin the main part on the cape together with the lining, good sides sandwiched together. Around the edges poke as many of the tufts of fur into the inside as possible so they don’t get caught on the outsides when you sew it all together.
Over lock the top and bottom edges so you have something like this:
Do the same thing with the little rectangular piece: pin, overlock together the top and bottom seam.
Turn both of the pieces inside out.
This is roughly what you should have…
If you want you can overlock all the raw edges at this point but because they will be encased in fabric and this isn’t going to get much wear and tear I didn’t bother.
So now we need to pleat the edges to form the bow shape. I pleated into 3 folds:
Use the needle and thread to hold them together and repeat on the other side too:
It’s a bit hard to see what I’m doing in the photos here but basically the small rectangular piece is going to join the two pleated ends together. Poke the pleated part into the middle of the rectangular piece and sandwich it between the fur and lining. Fold the edges of the rectangular piece under so nothing is exposed and then hand stitch it all in place.
Repeat on the otherside and it’s a nice big bow 😀
You can see the pleats and stitches better on the inside:
And the finished outside…
And me wearing it!
So tenchincally this was free because I already had the materials but to buy faux fur like this is only around $15p/m at Lincraft so I imagine you could very easily get everything you need for under $20 and probably more around the $12 mark as you don’t need a whole metre for this!
This isn’t really a full tutorial, mostly because when I started it I was planning something completely different for this fabric which didn’t work out. I wanted to make a comfy romper/playsuit type thing to wear on snuggly couch days but as it turns out non-fitted rompers look terrible on me! So not wanting to waste the fabric I improvised a comfy frilly jumper/dress thing out of the remains ^_^
This was my end result:
The fabric I used was stretchy polar fleece and the light pink was left over muslin from other projects.
The pieces I started with are below. The middle section is a basic tube which is wider at the bottom. It has the top corners cut off to form arm holes and the neckline is basically a cut out semi-circle. The arm pieces are 4 long rectangles with the corners cut off at one end so they match at the arm holes.
First thing to do is sew/overlock down the sides of the middle tube from the bottom of the arm holes to the waist. Next overlock the arm pieces in pairs starting at where it will meet the arm and continuing to the wrist.
Open the arm piece and the top of the middle tube so you can pin the arm hole all the way across…
Over lock it on each side and you should have this…
Now overlock around the edges of the sleeves and the neckline. Overlock the tops of the sleeves together and you’ve got a simple jumper!
Add a ruffle to the bottom seam out of muslin and that’s about it. I wanted to keep it a bit raw and homemade/comfy looking so I didn’t both turning the overlocked edges under.
I could totally picture it all dressed up on an adorable fairy kei girl but for me it’s the perfect thing to wear for hanging around the house 😀
After the fun I had with the last lot of products from Fashion Addict, they were lovely enough to send me some of their make up items to look over and review. I have always loved bright fun make up and so after chatting to David about it for a while we came up with the idea for a peacock themed look. Challenge accepted!!
And here are some pictures of the finished look as well as the test run I did to try it out. I don’t normally wear my make up this bright but I’ve been making myself try new things and I’m loving it!
Close ups:Here’s the video tutorial I ended up coming with:
It’s got a lot going on so if case you couldn’t see from the video or the photos, here is a terrible sketch of the placement of the colours. Of course you should blend them more if you actually try it out 😉
I also did a test run which ended up having more clear photos and while the finished product isn’t exactly the same and I used different lashes you can get the idea!
Now let’s talk reviews!
BYS Shine Stick Eye Shadow $2.95 This is probably one of the standout products in the group that I received. It only costs $2.95but it packs a punch. The colour is a nice bright jade green and it goes on really smoothly. Only problem I had is that if you put this on first and then layer powder shadow over the top it then has a tendency to crease because it’s so smooth. I didn’t notice the creasing when I was wearing it alone though. Super easy to apply because of the pointed tip but after you wear through that, might be better off applying with something like a cotton bud if you want precision. Twist to get more rather than requiring sharpening makes me happy. DO WANT.
Cover Girl Slicks Gel Eye Colour $4.95 Nice thick pencil in metallic ice blue. Goes on reasonably smoothly though not as easily as the BYS one. This one also requires a sharpener which will give more control over the point and how much you use. The outside of the pencil gets dirty really easily, after one use half of the writing had come off on my hands >_< The colour is nice though and it seems really versatile. No major complains about the actual formula. DO WANT.
BYS Kohl Eyeliner pencil in 35 Mint and 34 Electric Blue $3.95 each. While these two come from the same line, they couldn’t be more different. The green is soft, buttery and has a great colour pay off while the blue is hard, pointy and I felt like I had to stab my eyelid to get any colour at all. It sucks because the blue is actually really pretty but not worth the amount of effort spent getting it. Both colours are fairly dark and matte. The green is bright and blends well with other colours, it stretches quite well too. I’d say the staying power is fairly average for both of them. Because of the inconsistencies I would probably want to try them in store before buying, that said at $3.95 it’s not exactly a hefty investment to buy a couple and look for a winner.
Left to right: BYS Kohl Electric blue, Mint, Cover Girl Sticks Gel Eye Colour, BYS Shine Stick
Urban Decay Shimmer Powder in Rockstar $14.95 From the photo on the site I was expecting this to be more of a dark purple shimmer but in real life it’s actually a black powder with a slight purple glitter mixed through. Not what I was expecting but still damn nice. The powder itself lasts ridiculously well and the purple shimmer makes it a lot more interesting than your standard black. Main problem I have with this is the applicator, in short I hated it. Every time I opened the bottle shimmer went everywhere, the brush was very scratchy and stiff on my eyes so I took to applying with a cotton bud. Even though I really liked the powder, I probably wouldn’t repurchase it because of the packaging unless I found a colour that I *really* liked. (swatch is below with the next group.
Exhibit Purple Shimmer $8.95 This little jar is full to the brim with impact and also of actual product, every time I open it I manage to spill it on myself haha XD The colour pay off is really nice and it’s a good medium purple which is versatile enough to be used as the highlight or low light shadow depending on the look you’re going for. It stretches and blends easily and I would definitely look at trying the other colours in this range. DO WANT
I really wanted to love this one! Gel liner is my favorite product and I’ve been using the Bobbi Brown long lasting one which I adore but it’s too expensive to keep going after I hit pan. Consistency-wise I liked it, felt smooth on my brush and left a nice clean line behind but that’s when the goodness ended unfortunately. It takes forever to dry and smudges like crazy. In my routine I put on my lashes then liner then the rest of my make up. With this liner by the time I’m finished everything else it’s still wet and smudging over everything. I tested it on my hand and after 5 minutes it was still wet, I don’t have that kind of time in the morning but if I had longer I probably wouldn’t mind so much. Second problem I had with this is the packaging, not sure if this one was faulty but the lid disintegrated in my hand when I was unscrewing it the second time I tried it. The base is solid but the top is pretty crap so for the moment I’ve covered it in glad wrap before I can decant into something else. For the price you pretty much get what you pay for with this one in my opinion.
Be Yourself Quatro Shimmer Pot $3.95 You guys know I’m a big fan of this stuff, I even wrote a whole post about it here with a video! I had stuck mainly with light bright colours with this in the past so I decided to branch out into a some darker ones and see if they measured up. They did! The performance was as good as the bright ones and the added bonus of having 4 colours in one made me happy. The applicators were useful too, the single ones don’t come with applicators so this was a welcome change as it was much less wasteful. Colours were nice and the shimmer was just as strong. DO WANT.
Left to right: Exhibit Purple, Urban Decay, each of the 4 colours in the Be Yourself Quatro Shimmer Pot
Be Yourself Diamond Shine Lipstick in Mauve Twinkle $2.50 Be Yourself is like the ultimate in inexpensive Australian cosmetics. I can’t remember seeing a lipstick this cheap that didn’t completely suck so this is the awesome exception to this rule. The colour is nice and shimmery and it feels really good on. Doesn’t last overly long but hey $2.50, can’t really complain. I would totally buy more of these, I think they would be especially useful for melting into custom lip glosses or testing which shades look the best with your skin tone without wasting a fortune. DO WANT.
Be Yourself Diamond on the left and Bourjois Sorbet on the right.
Bourjois Eau De Gloss Cosmic in Sorbet Fraise $9.95 Very aptly named because this really reminds me of strawberry sorbet on a hot summer day. While it looks pretty intense in the bottle once it’s on the lips it’s a nice wearable shade, it’s full of gold glitter which will probably limit how nice it looks depending on skin tone though. The bottle is kind of cute and the price is about half of what current bourjois lip glosses are in Priceline if I’m remembering correctly. As with the other glosses I have from this brand it doesn’t have that horrible gravelly glitter feeling that a lot of others do. DO WANT.
Maybeline Expert wear blush in 20 Siamese Pink $9.95 The brush that comes with this is pretty useless but the colours are nice. They arent very pigmented so good as starters for people who are not used to wearing blush. They are caked in very hard so if you want a heavier colour payoff you would really need to dig for it. I prefer the top shimmer to the actual blush because it’s very versatile. I’ve used it under my brows and also on cheek bones as a highligher.
Maybeline Expertwear shimmer powder in 10 Blissful Pink $8.95 Nice and light with very minimal shimmer this works well as a versatile highlighter. Again it’s packed in pretty heavy so if you want a high colour pay off, this isn’t the product for you. The brush again is pretty useless but still worth it as a basic highlighter. DO WANT.
Can’t really see them but left to right: #20 Siamese Pink then #10 Blissful Pink.
BYS Glitter Eye Creme Mix 3 $3.95 I was planning to base most of the look around this palette originally but the first time I did a test run I had a very serious allergic reaction so I couldn’t try it again 🙁 basically they are a metallic base with a very heavy glitter mixed in. It was a bit hard to work with them but once on they weren’t terrible. The glitter is proper thick glitter though so I wouldn’t suggest putting it around the crease because it’s pretty pointy XD For all it’s faults I still really liked the actual colours but I wouldn’t buy again even without the allergy.
Beilizi Eyeshadow Kit 1b $7.95 I adore the colours in this palette. They are bright, a bit metallic and very pigmented. You don’t have to dig for colour either which is good. The applicator that comes with it is less like those cheap sponge ones and feel kind of like a memory foam pillow XD still I don’t really like those sponge applicators so I used a brush for application and they apply really nicely, almost like a cream. There are so many pretty colours here that I could probably use only it for a month and still do a different look every day. If I was to only keep one of all of these products, this would be it hands down! I had never heard of this brand before now but I fully intend to hunt more of it down now 😀 DO WANT.
Peacock accessories
Peacock Feather Earrings $4.95 The earrings are longer and danglier thuan I usually wear but they were so light that I didn’t even notice. I don’t really know why I was expecting them to be heavy but there you go haha! I liked that the hooks came with the little rubber stoppers on the back too because I am forever loosing earrings that don’t have those. The feathers used aren’t exactly the same (one longer than the other) but I imagine it would be almost impossible to find completely matching feathers.
Peacock Feather Pendant $4.95 The necklace is made of a thin dark metal chain with average looking clamps. Again very light material.
Peacock Feather Fascinator Adelaide $24.95 The fascinator was an interesting design, not something that I would usually pick for myself but in the end I really did like the design. I think if I did my hair in a big up do it would suit quite nicely. Quality-wise the feathers are bound well together but the diamantes on the band fell off the first time I wore it, not a very big problem because I could just hot glue it on again but if you were planning to wear one out to a party or anything I would double check everything was secure first.
And that’s everything! Thanks again go to Fashion Addict for providing most of the items I used in the tutorial. I can’t wait to show you guys the pictures Celeste and I got when we were given a tour of the Fashion Addict warehouse, it was like heaven *_*
Well there you go! I hope you guys enjoyed, I’m having fun making these videos so expect more soon! Let me know if you have any requests ^_^ Also after the comments last time I tried to make this video louder, let me know if it was enough or if I should make it even louder next time?
A basic tutorial made for my blog. I am by no means an expert so my attempts are from trial and error to find things that work for me. My make up videos are generally so I can practise and chart my progress over time.
For more information or a list of products please see the post over here: http://bit.ly/nY2XDd
Most products used were supplied by http://www.fashionaddict.com.au
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A blog and Youtube channel about a girl and her quest to make everything sparkle. New craft, hair and beauty tutorials every week!
Violet LeBeaux spends most of her time trying to think of ways to make life prettier, posting said ways on her blog and drinking very strong tea. She writes about big hair cute things, girly fashion, beauty finds, sometimes Hime Gyaru fashion (姫ギャル) and crafty tutorials.
She lives with her adorable boyfriend Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
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Music: Garageband unless otherwise credited
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You can’t say no to the girl with the lashes, the girl with the lashes.
Today on Violet Vision: peacock inspired eye make up.
For a full list of products used please view the description.
The finished look.
Clip back your hair.
Apply mascara.
Apply false lashes.
Apply a thick line of liquid liner.
Add highlighter to the brow bone.
Add green pencil liner above the black half way
Add blue liner continuing from the green.
Load a small brush with bright teal.
Apply up the crease above the green liner.
Load a small brush with bright blue.
Blend with the teal and apply to the crease above the blue liner.
Load your brush with bright purple.
Apply to the corner forming a small wing and C shape.
Make sure to blend with the blue.
Add a little crease to blend the dark purple forward to the green.
Add a little to the outer corner of the lower lash line.
Blend it along the black liner and up to the shadows.
Add a tiny bit to the lower lash corner.
Apply green shimmer stick from the inner corner and out above the other shadow.
Blend it out with a brush.
Repeat.
Touch up any of the colours that need it.
Load your brush with gold.
Apply to the bottom inner corner of the eye.
Continue the gold up the top and into the crease.
Stop above where your pupil rests when looking forward.
Blend it all in.
Touch up so the jade green is bright in the inner corner.
Remove any fall out from the rest of your face.
Finished!
Add some matching accessories and you’re good to go.
I hope this was a useful video, please check out the blog post linked in the description for more information and tutorials.
Thanks so much for watching.
Bye!
You might remember when I visited the Melbourne flower show I saw a pretty rose pillow that I wanted to try and replicate? Well it was super easy!
This is the one I saw at the flower show:
What you need:
Base fabric to make the pillow cover, I’m using pink cotton
Soft fabric to make the rose from, I used muslin but you could use silk or something of a similar texture
Sewing machine/overlocker or a lot of patience to hand stitch it all!
Button (optional)
So first thing is to decide how big you want to make the cushion cover. Squares work best for these pillows.
Cut out a square in the size you want plus a couple of cm on either side for seam allowance.
Now cut out the back, you will need 2 rectangles that overlap around 10cm in the middle. This is how we will get the pillow in and out of the case! You can see below the square is on the bottom with two rectangles over the top showing how they overlap in the middle.
Now let’s cut out the pieces of the rose!
Cut strips of muslin around 15cm wide. I needed 4 to cover my case but you will need more/less depending on the size you’re making. Cut one of the strips to a point on one end, this will be the middle of the rose. Muslin works really well for this because even when the edges fray they look really delicate and pretty.
Basically to form the rose we’ll put the strips in a big spiral, this is how it looks roughly laid out…
I personally hate pins while I’m sewing but I know that a lot of people are more comfortable using them so I’ll show where to put them in this tutorial. To start the rose, pin the pointy end of first strip of muslin to the middle of the square .
Following a tight spiral keep pinning until you reach the end. Don’t pin the next strip yet because having that many ruffles in one place makes it too hard to sew. The tighter you make the spiral, the more ruffly the petals will be in the end.
Take it to your sewing machine and starting at the centre sew directly down the center of the muslin strip following the spiral. If you want, while you sew you can pleat the muslin a little bit to make the petals more ruffly or stretch the muslin to make them stand straight up. I made mine point up in the middle then ruffly on the outside 😀
This is what mine looked like after the first strip was sewn on. The dotted line below is where you should be stitching, see how it folds in half and forms the petals?
Over lap the next strip a bit with the first and then keep sewing following the spiral.
After the second one’s finished…
When I added the next one I started pleating the muslin as I sewed to make the petals more ruffly.
When you reach the end of the last strip stitch it as close to the last row as you can so the end looks clean.
This is the finished rose:
On the back you should be able to see a clear spiral of stitches…
Yay! Now we just need to turn it into a pillow case!
Overlock one of the long edges on each of the rectangle pieces. The overlocked edges (in the middle below) will form the hole to get the pillow in and out of so they need to be finished well.
Fold them over and pin in place…
So lay the rose square out face up.
Fold all of the petals of the rose in so they don’t accidentally get sewn into the sides. Pin in place.
Put the first rectangle over the top of the rose with the folded edge facing up. Pin in place like this:
Add the other rectangle to the other side and make sure the two rectangles overlap a decent amount in the middle. Pin!
Overlock around the outside of the square! Remove the pins and that’s pretty much it ^_^ Trim loose threads and turn it inside out.
On the back you can see that the ends are all folded under and out of the way. If you feel the need, you can add a button there on the back or velcro to give it an extra closure.
And the front 😀
Then all you need to do is stick a pillow inside! The whole project took me maybe 30min to do. So you could realistically make a whole bunch of matching ones in an afternoon.
I think mine is pretty close to the original so I’m happy! What do you guys think?
Cute little yarn covered headphones have been floating around the internet EVERYWHERE lately. I’ve seen a bajillion people selling them or similar ones that are crocheted but a similar idea. So I decided to give it a try but rather than using a hook to chain over them I decided to bust out my popular-in-the-90’s-kids-craft: friendship bracelets.
Sooo many people at my primary school had these! There were the flat ones and also the big round technique which is what I’m using here.
What you need:
Tape
Flat Surface
Headphones
Yarn/cotton/embroidery thread
Scissors
Tape the top of the headphone to a hard surface. I’m just using the floor here but you could use a table or a book or anything as long as you can tape to it securely without damaging it. Make sure it’s not going anywhere.
Tape the end of the thread next to the top of the headphone.
Now this is how to do the basic technique which is repeated over and again.
Hold the yarn with your finger and cross it over the top of the headphone cord to form kind of a backwards number 4.
Now bring the ball of yarn back the way it came but this time go underneath the headphone cord.
Pulling the yarn through upward put it over the top of the beginning of the yarn. Essentially what you did was loop the yarn around the headphone cord but instead of making a spiral you made a knot.
Pull it tight and up to the top of the cord and it should look like this:
Do it again!
After repeating a few times you should have something similar to this. Basically because you’re knotting around the cord you will have a row of knots on the right side and loops on the left.
That’s really it! Keep going and going and going until you reach the “Y” point where the headphones join together.
If you want you can twist the knots around the cord as you go so it forms a pretty spiral.
Once you get the hang of it this is a good mindless craft to do when you’re watching a movie or something because you don’t need to may too much attention to it ^_^
Cut off the extra yarn leaving a tail of around 3cm. Now you’re 1/3rd done 😀
Repeat on the other headphone cord as well. This time when you get to the join don’t cut off the yarn.
Now continue down the cord but instead of tying the knots around just one of the cords, do both for a couple of knots then continue over the joiner part until you’re back down to the cord.
Now all you need to do is continue to the end of the cord!
Lastly to tie off all the loose ends use a needle to poke them back up through the knotting and you’re all finished!
Finished! You can add deco to the hard plastic bits to finish of if you like too.
If you use variegated yarn I imagine this would look even cooler! I totally want to make a different pair to match all of my outfits now XD I bet you could add in some little beads or hanging drop jewels or something. The possibilities are endless. Hmm now to decide what to add next. Maybe a little piece of attached velcro to keep them tidy in my bag!
Illustrator. Strong tea, knitting, watercolours, and making a video game called Moonlight in Garland. Living with her adorable husband Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
