Customising denim is so much fun. We went to a thrift store and bought a pile of jeans to play around with. This made the whole exercise affordable and we weren’t too worried about the outcome – and we can always use the scraps for sewing bags and making softies.

Tips for Cutting Off Your Jeans
1. Cut them longer than you want them and then cut them inch by inch to the length you want them.
2. Always cut the bottom edge on an angle the same as the jeans are. They don’t go straight, they are longer on the inner seam and shorter on the outer seam. This will mean that your shorts sit well, especially if they are really short, they won’t ride up your butt.
3. Not only for summer time of course. If Kate Moss can wear leggins under her shorts then why not try it in winter too??

Tips for Bleaching Jeans
1. Fill the washing machine with cold water then add a bottle of bleach to it, then add the jeans. If you put the jeans in first the first place the bleach touches will be the lightest.
2. Soak the jeans for a long time if you want them quite pale.
3. When you have washed them, wash them again with washing liquid to get out the bleach.
4. After using the machine, run it again with only whites in it to get rid of the excess bleach.
5. Don’t just use the machine for bleaching. Also use a spray bottle for a splatter effect, eyedropper for blobs that look really great, a sponge, anything you like. Just don’t leave pure bleach on them for more than a few minutes.

Tips for Shredding Denim
1. Bleaching helps to weaken the fibres and makes the jeans easier to shred.
2. Take the jeans and use a cheese grater to shred them. Rub the grater back and forth until the jeans start to shred.
3. Mark out where you want the shreds to be before you do them. Shreds always look better (and non-skanky) on the front not the back of the jeans.
4. You can also try using a very rough sandpaper on the jeans to shred them.

Tips for Adding Studs to Jeans
1. Buy the studs and the tool at a leather shop. I looked everywhere for them and this was the only place I could source them.
2. You will need a hammer and a hard surface. It doesn’t work doing it on the living room carpet – concrete is best.
3. Watch out for your fingers!!!
4. Mark where you want the studs before you add them to the jeans. Make sure they are evenly spaced on the jeans, then start to bang them in.
5. It takes quite a long time to bang in the studs.

Other Stuff to Do To Jeans
1. Die them a wild colour before shredding them.
2. Add fantastic patches made from vintage fabrics to them.
3. Screenprint writing onto your jeans. Scrunch the fabric and screenprint onto it. This makes a really amazing effect.
4. Splatter them with white or any other coloured paint.

Best of all, make a day of it with your girlfriends!
Mia
xxx

I had a spare few hours in front of the tv last night and a new camera to play with. I am in love with my new Canon EOS 500D. It was impossible not to fall in love with! So I whipped up a quick shredded tshirt and tutorial to go with it. Shredding is so easy and reminded me so much of high school, sitting on the bus shredding my new tan stockings – the more shredded your stockings were, the better back then. Well, I still love the shredded effect.

I am obsessed with torturing textiles, i.e doing things with them to make them different. One day soon I will post more textiles treatments (or maybe save them for a lovely little book). I just love taking fabric and playing with it. There is so much you can do to it, paint it, dye it, crush it, fold it, pleat it, shred it. If only I could spend all my time just playing….

All you need to shred is a knit tee. I suppose you could shred a skirt (if you have a slip to wear under it) or a jumper, but I like the look of a tee. Next, I am going to try shredding an oversized white tee. For shredding it’s best to use a new tee so that the stitches aren’t compacted together from washing.

Step 1
Take your stitch ripper and undo the bottom hem of the tee so that it is a raw edge.

Step 2
You will notice some loose threads running parallel along the edge of tee. Pull one of these threads. Keep pulling for as long as you would like the shredded panel to be. Then start separating the stitches of the tee between your thumbs and fingers, pulling the stitches wider. This is a bit fiddly. It is easiest to shred inch-long sections of the tee. Work from the bottom to the top of the tee, separating the stitches. You can make all different sized holes. My fingers got a little bit sore doing this. Work your way one inch at a time, pulling apart the stitches until you have a panel as wide as you want. Oh yeah, before I began I make two marks with tailor’s chalk on the bottom of the shirt to mark the size of the panel I wanted.

Ta Da! Here is the finished product. It took me about two hours in front of the TV to shred this. As you are doing it, it is easy to make holes. It just seems to add to the whole torn effect that I love!
I hope you have fun shredding!
Let me know…
Mia
xxx

Em and I were on the phone talking when I was on holiday last week. We were chatting about Valentines Day craft tutorials to put on this site. We both decided, after not very long, that we would not recommend anyone make a mushy card for their boyfriend. A loveheart cake may have him bolting out the door. A romantic framed photo and you may just never see him again (Though marrieds may very well indulge in this sort of present-giving). We realised a while back that men are funny creatures (especially in the first few years – and before they have put a ring on your finger) who like to chase. Who are we to get in the way?
So, we decided to steer away from the how-to-turn-your-guy-off-in-two-seconds presents and present him with something that is much more likely to please him on this special day. Ta-da. This tutorial was born. These panties took such a small amount of time to make and were great fun. So, leave it to the men to present YOU with chocolates, mushy cards, stupid teddy bears holding hearts that say “I wuv you” and hit them where it hurts……You Will Need

The Pattern (Step 1)

Fabric – your choice – tshirt material, leather, vinyl, lace fabric, bright pink fur, whatever you like. If you are a die-hard recycler like we are, cut up your love’s old tshirt and use it for the material. He won’t be angry, we promise.
Underwear elastic – we bought it in bright pink

Ribbon for the ties

Thread for the sewing machine

Scisssors, pins

Sewing machine, overlocker

Step 1

Download the pattern below. Enlarge it to A3 size on a photocopier. This is a size ten Australian pattern. Size ten in Australia is a small. If you are larger, just take a pair of panties you already have and work out the size you need from that.
Click here to download Sexy Panties Pattern

Step 2

When you have printed out the pattern and enlarged it to the correct size, pin the whole pattern piece to the fabric you have chosen. There is no need to leave a seam allowance with this pattern.

Step 3

Cut out the main piece, then cut piece 2 of the pattern from the same fabric.
Step 4

Pin the crotch lining (unless you are making these crotchless of course ) to the inside of the panties fabric. Sew this with an overlocking stitch onto the panties piece. We sewed two straight lines across (as in photo above).

Step 5

Change your machine to the stitch which is a zig-zag with a broken line. This stitch will allow some stretch.

Place the underwear elastic on the edge of the panties and sew it on using the broken zig-zag stitch. Hold the end of the fabric which is furthest away from you and this will help you guide the fabric through. We didn’t bother to pin it all, deciding instead to live on the edge! When you are sewing the elastic you can stretch it a little with the hand which is closest to you, giving the pants more elasticity and a little more power to grip to your cheeks.

HOT TIP: If it is too difficult to grip the fabric with your hand while sewing you can grip the thread ends with your left hand and gently pull the fabric through – a great little sewing trick.

When you come to the corner of the fabric, fold the elastic around the corners and continue to sew until you have edged the whole piece with elastic.

Step 6

Cut the ribbon into four lengths about 30cm (12 inches long).

With the panties right side facing down, sew the ribbon onto each of the four corners. We just used the same stitch for this and went slowly over them a few times, forward then reversing. It is pretty important that these stay, especially if wearing a skirt (unless of course Britney is more your style. In which case, why are you reading this tutorial? huh?)

Step 6

Add a litte something to the panties by cutting out a pink love heart and sewing it to the front of the panties. We just used a straight stitch for this. We were about to sew the heart on, when one husband (who shall remain nameless) returned home and repositioned it a little lower for us!

You like? Trust me these are a WHOLE LOT skimpier on than the photo here. Unfortunately neither Em nor me wanted to model them and display our bottoms to the world, so you will have to make some and see!

Enjoy! Why not get together with a bunch of girlfriends and have a panty making afternoon? We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. These took us about ten minutes to make at the most. Hmm maybe there will be more underwear making around here….
Mia and Em

xxx

Hello Happy Crafters!

Welcome to our new site. We are big kids with our very own domain now! Check back soon, all our tutorials will be here!

We have so many new treats and features coming your way in 2007! So keep coming back and tell your friends to visit as well.

Yay!

Mia