Bleach and Bling

Everyone loves a shirt sprayed with bleach at the moment, right?

Well I saw and idea on Manzanita to put some lace over the shirt and spray bleach over that so you get the pattern of the lace.

Well, I tried it but by spray bottle got a bit drippy so the lace pattern was ruined by bleach blobs.

Fail!

You can still see a bit of the pattern on the edges.

So I decided to spray more bleach on the shirt to add to the blobs.

And then for something extra I sewed copper coloured sequins on some of the bleach dots for a subtle bit of bling.

1 photo 3 ways

I took this photo when I was on holiday in France in 2007,

and lately I've been using the image to be creative.

I did a small watercolour painting with pencil over the top.

I covered the original photo with sequins, which was inspired by Color Me Katie.

And then here's the failed screen print where I used the image in my Print and New Media taster during my first year at uni. In my defence it was my first time screenprinting and we had to use four different technique in the one image.

My tutor and I decided I didn't get on with screen printing because working with block colours just ain't my thing.

(Is anyone else having trouble commenting on other blogs? Not cool Blogger, not cool.)

New hairband: Sequins

I was still in a sequin mood after making my jumper's shoulders sparkly so I made a hairband out of sequins.

I used the big circle sequins that don't really get used for much and sewed them to a circle of felt.

It kind of reminds me of one of those shiny pinwheels you get at the seaside.

It turns out I was in a sequin mood about this time last year too. Take a look. 

School jumper to sequin shoulders

Sequined shoulders seem to be the current thing so here's the run down of how I produced the look myself.

The jumper I used was my old P.E. sweatshirt from school. It has an ugly neck and the school logo on it. They had to go. 

I cut off the elasticated neck for a more flattering look and unpicked the logo, which made a few holes but they're barely noticeable.

Then I made a pattern (from my essay notes...) for the area I wanted to fill with sequins. I made mine straight along the seams at the top of the arm and then curved around the shoulder.

First I sewed on little black sequins around the edge of the paper pattern and then filled in the space with large silver sequins. This pack came from Poundland and is great as you get many different shapes and sizes, not just a whole bunch of similar circles. 

I then sewed on smaller sequins to fill in the gaps. This takes a while. I suggest putting on some good tv and getting comfy. I went through several episodes of CSI, House and Firefly.

For an added extra I sewed on some chain on the front side of the sequins.

This jumper is now definitely too cool for school. Agreed?

Sequins

At the moment I'm really into sequins. Who can't resist something shiny?

No one it seems.

Siwy Skinny Sequin Jeans from ASOS

Pewter Sequin Jacket from Dorothy Perkins

Paprika Sequin Tube Dress from New Look

So following the craze I've been sewing sequins onto felt to produce these sparkly hairbands.

Pretty, right?