I’ve been wanting to do my own cut-out shirts for awhile now, so I did this one as practice and learned a lot about how I should be cutting the shapes, what drapes and how, etc. I sketched out the skull and crossbones on some scrap paper, then drew the design on with a wash away fabric marker (the pastelly kind). I cut away the design with fabric scissors, then applied no fray liquid to all the edges. Once it had dried, I cut more precise lines into the now stiffer fabric at the edges. After, I sewed a layer of thin mesh beneath the holes (use a sewing machine, otherwise it’ll take too long if you’re doing it by hand, because you have to think about where the holes of the mesh are). As you can see, (or hopefully can’t), I cut the bones of the crossbones too wide, and they gaped downwards even after I’d sewed in the mesh layer. I ended up just safety pinning so that they were more of a bone shape and hoping that people would just think I was going for the punk look. I’m planning on doing a couple more of these (one with a spine on back/ribs in front, some other ideas I’m keeping under wraps for now), but if anyone would like a more detailed tutorial with pics, just let me know so that I can document the process whenever I attempt a project like this again..!

I’ve been wanting to stud up a small black leather purse for awhile and got my chance after finally finding a suitable one at Wasteland in Haight Ashbery last weekend!

It took about two movies worth (The Truth about Cats and Dogs, Temple of Doom- don’t ask, I know they’re about as different from each other as 2 movies can be) to stud the whole thing. You need to cut slits for the two spikes on each stud; I used a smaller specialty Xacto blade. My studding skills are still a bit shaky, so the studding job is a bit uneven. I’m hoping it gives off a “quirky bohemian rock” vibe rather than an “amateurishly studded” vibe. I still need to sew or fabric glue a lining on the inside to protect the contents of whatever I may be carrying from the spikes I had trouble pushing down entirely, but I’m looking forward to using this whenever it’s ready to hit the streets!