Upcycling: DIY Mongolian Fur Stool For Under £100

I'M OFFICIALLY A HOMEOWNER!! Like how? Since when? When did I become an adult? I fell in love with my dream home on October 15th and 5 months later it's officially mine. With my stress levels peaking at least 100 times throughout the process, it was a loooong journey, but worth waiting for the end destination. (More home posts coming v v soon).
Despite virtually moving in 5 months ago, it's only been in the last few weeks I've been scouring the net and frantically going back over my 1,000 + pins on Pinterest. I'd already decided I wanted a little furry stool, (I blame Kate La Vie's beautiful home interior for this!) But it was a game changer when I stumbled upon the mongolian fur stool on West Elm, swooon. Coming in at £400 I almost had a little heart attack, why so expensive? But cannot afford to not have this in my life. How hard could it be to do it myself and for a fraction of the cost? Not very. Real Mongolian fur stools are expensive anyway, it's the fur that pushes the cost up, but as I realised when I was searching around for mongolian faux and real fur, the difference between the two was incredible. Faux fur is perfect if you're on the fence for buying real fur or have an ethical stance, but if you want the proper designer and luxe look you do need to buy real fur. It's so much warmer, thicker, won't matt and it looks amazing. 
So, if like me you're a magpie when it comes to fur and fluff, and you've lusted after a designer dupe for so long, then you might want to have a crack at making your own without the designer price tag. Plus I LOATHE DIY, and this one really was simple and the results are A***.
What You Will Need

• A Stool - £15
• Sandpaper
• Spray Paint (if required)
• Ferrules x 4 (If 4 legged stool)  - £2.75
• Cotton or other fabric (size dependent on stool)
• Staple Gun
• Mongolian or other fur rug - £74.90 (I purchased this one)

How To

1) Firstly you need to find a really good stool to work with. Finding the right one probably is the hardest part of the process, and knowing where to look. To get the desired effect you need to source an old, cheap one. New stools don't have the same character. I stumbled upon one when I least expected it, nearly everywhere has some kind of furniture store that sells loads of wooden chairs, tables and stools that are in need of some love. 
You'll know when you find the right one - this one was only £15! It needed a lot of love and affection, but I knew how I wanted it to look and this stool dates back to the 1920's and the craftsmanship of it really is amazing.
2) Once home, I took off the screws to the bottom of the legs, one had already come off and they were quite rusty, I also removed the initial polka dot cover, totally not Cath Kidston esque. Luckily the foam was in quite good condition, was comfy and didn't smell so I left this part of it.
3) The first step was sanding down the legs to get rid of the glossy finish, for paint to stick to it it needs to be completely bare. I covered up the foam and sanded down the legs to a smooth finish. I then cleaned the legs off with some water and sugar spray, you don't need to use this, but it does help to to get any last bits of roughness off.
4) I purchased a small spray paint can in gold from Hobby Craft which are relatively cheap, and again you can pick any colour you want or leave the legs bare. I went for gold as this most represented the West Elm stool and it adds that slightly luxe factor to it.
5) This bit is of course optional (dependent on stool and the condition of it), but once dried I purchased 3/4 of a metre of plain white cotton fabric, but only really needed half a metre to create the cover. You aren't going to see this part of the stool it's just there to obviously protect the foam so it doesn't matter what it looks like!
6) Once I had cut the correct amount of material for the stool, I pulled it in taut over the stool then laid the stool upside down with the fabric underneath. It was then a case of pulling it taut over the sides and using a staple gun to hold in place. I made quite a tight finish, but it doesn't need to be that tidy as again, no one will see this part! 
7) I ordered some ferrules (actually first started typing in chair leg stoppers to find the technical name, not a clue!), I measured the round part of the stool legs so I knew what size I needed, the ones I used were 20mm. I then headed to ebay and picked up a pack of 4 for £2.75 and in the colour black. I wasn't sure if they would fit, but they were perfect, and the black looks so perfect against the gold.
8) Next was the best part, finally watching my mongolian fur stool come to life, and if it actually would live up to what I hoped. It took ages to scour the net for mongolian fur but finally went for a UK based seller on Etsy called Ecostep, I opted for the mongolian style Icelandic single sheepskin rug which had that curly haired look and was exactly what I was after. The seller was UK based, it came perfectly packaged and I thought it was an incredibly reasonable price for real fur. I would definitely use the seller again. 
I originally thought I would have to staple the fur onto the underneath of the stool, but the size I ordered literally couldn't have been more perfect. All I had to do was drape the rug over the top and hey presto - it looks amazing!! It really is the fur that takes centre stage in the transformation of this stool!
I literally could not have been more pleased with the outcome, with all of the materials it came in at just under £100, which is amazing for a real mongolian fur stool as these are incredibly costly, as you can see from the West Elm one. It's sooo easy to recreate, it's just finding that perfect stool for the job and the type of fur that you want. It's definitely made me think more about upcycling furniture to get that designer look for less as I loved this little first project of mine and it's now sitting pride of place in my bedroom.
The transformation from an old, dated but classic stool into a luxe, swoon worthy stool of dreams!

Have you done any DIY's recently?

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DIY Co-ord!

If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen that I was making myself a DIY co-ord, as well as a cute matching hairband. Co-ords have been a massive hit this summer with a lot of them ranging around the £30 price range or more for the set. I have even seen individual sellers on instagram who make them to order for £35 at a pop. HUGE mark up!! The entire cost of making this set me back a mere £7 (BARGAIN), apart from the time that goes into it why would you buy one when you can make it yourself with the material of your choice and for a massive fraction of the price! A lot of people were interested to see how I made it and wanted to give it a go themselves so here are my step by step instructions as to how to make a DIY co-ord according to the one above. The shorts are a standard design really but there are soo many different styles out there that you can make for the top which i might feature in some other posts if anyone is interested. If you want to have a go at making a hair scrunchie also (a lot easier) then i posted about that last year which you can read here.

What you will need: 
A sewing machine (i used a Janome machine* from HobbyCraft)

Thread

Material of your choice (i bought 2m)

Elastic

Paper (for a template) or a ready made pattern

Scissors
Pins

How to make the shorts:

1. Either use a ready made shorts pattern in your size, pinterest have loads of free patterns to download (here) or they can be purchased in a sewing shop or you can even make a pattern from your favourite pair of shorts, which is what i did.
2. Lay out your fabric on a large flat surface and arrange your pattern/template going with the grain of the fabric. Then pin your pattern to the fabric and cut out. Tip - To save having to neaten the raw edges on the machine cut the fabric using pinking shears(see picture above).
3. Begin by threading the machine, i found this machine in particular very easy to thread. 
4. With right sides together sew both the side seams first, followed by the crotch seam.You will now see the shorts taking shape.
5. At the waist of the shorts make a casing to fit your chosen size of elastic (i used 2cm wide elastic). Sew the casing in place leaving a small gap for you to thread the elastic in later. At the top edge do a small line of stitching right along the top which will help to hold the elastic in and make it look neater. There is no need to leave a gap.
6. Measure elastic to fit your waist measurements,attach a large safety pin to the end of the elastic and thread through the casing carefully. Sew the ends of the elastic together tightly by hand and neaten the gap you left either by machine or hand.
7. Hem the bottoms of the shorts for a neat finish and press the finished item!

How to make the top:

1. As above find a pattern for your desired taste. I used a pattern that i already had at home but made it a lot shorter, i always find crop tops look the best with co-ord shorts.
2. Lay out your fabric on a large flat surface and arrange your pattern/template going with the grain of the fabric. Then pin your pattern to the fabric and cut out.
3. Begin by threading the machine, i found this machine in particular very easy to thread.
4. This particular pattern had bust darts on either side and this was the first thing that i did.
5. With right sides together sew the front to the back. This pattern had a facing so also sew the side seams of this one in the same way. At this stage i had a top but the shoulders weren't joined together and also had a smaller facing of the same shape.
6. Then with right sides together sew the arm holes together and the neck together all the way around.
7. Turn everything the right way out and press - you should have a top with a neat edge but not joined at the shoulders yet.
8. Top stitch the complete neck and each arm hole.
9. Join the shoulders together as neatly as possible and top stitch to match.
10. Neatly finish the bottom hem by hand or machine and press the finished top!

There you have it your instructions to a DIY co-ord. I understand that it might seem quite complicated, but you will always find more help online or from youtube videos if you don't understand some of the names or techniques, or likewise drop me a tweet or email and i will be happy to help you. If you've never used a machine before i fully recommend the Janome sewing machine* from Hobby Craft as its a such a lightweight model, which came with an instruction book which was so easy to follow, i prefer it so much more to my other more heavy weight machine. This machine is so light that i can see i will be using it a lot more in the future. The machine costs £49 which is a brilliant price for such a detailed and compact machine. You can also view similar items from their vast range here. I am also thinking of doing future blog posts on how to use a sewing machine for a beginner, do let me know below if you would be interested in this! Thanks for reading, below are some more pictures of the finished co-ord!

Sandals - Topshop / Necklace - River Island / Sunglasses* - IceWatch

I took these photos in Santorini,Greece whilst on holiday, it really is a picture postcard place and the white backdrops everywhere are just perfect for outfit pictures.

Congrats if you made it to the end, it was long one! I hope you enjoyed reading my DIY post do let me know if you want to see more posts like this? What do you think of the co-ord? Would you have a go at making one? Do let me know if you have any questions about this or need anymore help!

*Products marked with an asterix (*) have been sent to me for review. However, all opinions in this post are 100% my own

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Hair scrunchies!

Can you believe that the hair scrunchies we wore to school in the 90's are now back in fashion?! Amazing. I was always lucky when i was younger as my mum used to make my sister and i hair scrunchies that no one else ever had,there was certainly hair scrunchie envy in the playground.

I was in River island the other day and spotted such a cute tartan scrunchie but i really didn't want to part with £4 pounds for what is essentially a small piece of fabric,luckily enough i had some spare tartan material at home and i followed a pattern that i found on the internet from here. If you have the correct equipment and materials its really easy to do!

Hope you enjoyed reading my post and i will be trying to get some posts up more regularly! Please feel free to comment below i love hearing from everyone :)

DIY | Transforming a plain black dress.

If you've read my post on my upcycled denim shorts you'll know that i love updating an old outfit or transforming a new one. I had a black sundress from Topshop which has been sitting in my wardrobe for ages,it wasn't that i didn't like it,it just looked really plain. While i was on holiday and the cruise stopped of in Palma de Mallorca for the day we went in El Corte Ingles,for those of you who haven't heard of it before its a massive department store that is largely populated across Spain, its the answer to our John Lewis and Selfridges. In the haberdashery section i found some gorgeous ribbons,which i have never seen anything like before in the UK to buy. I picked this ribbon because of the gorgeous colours running through the flowers,it also reminded me of all of the floral crowns that are in the shops at the moment. For a metre of the ribbon it only set me back 6 euros,so i was very pleased with this purchase!

Dress - Topshop// Sandals - Topshop// Sunglasses - Urban Outfitters

This was really simple to do! I simply measured how much of the ribbon i needed for each pocket,pinned it onto the fabric and then sewed it by hand with black thread so it wouldn't be seen to the eye. I haven't added much to the dress yet its given it a nice pop of colour to make the outfit look more eye catching!

Thank you for reading! What do you think of this dress? Have you tried anything like this? 

How to do| Newsprint nails tutorial!

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a lovely weekend, despite the weather being rainy where I live i'm making the most of it! Here is a simple nail art tutorial on how to do newsprint nails, it isn't time consuming and the result is a simple yet different design!

Finished result

What you'll need:

-Your nails!

-newspaper

-Light coloured nail polish(such as nude,light pink,white)

-Top coat

-Vodka(paint stripper!)

Tip - The cheaper the vodka the better

Top coat - Collection 2000// Barry M - Lychee

1. Firstly i chose a light coloured nail polish for the base coat of my nails, this is so the news print will show up more clearly against a light nail.I find that white works best but this time i used Barry M Lychee (nude).

2. Then take a newspaper and tear into strips roughly a bit bigger than your nail,do this 10 times,one for each nail.

3. All you need is a tiny bit of vodka or paint stripper for the next step. I poured a little bit into the lid for this,i then dipped one nail at a time into the vodka and then pressed one of the strips onto the nail for about 10 seconds,peel it back and you have newsprint nails!

4.Continue this for all nails and then add a top coat on top to seal the print onto the nails. It really is an easy way to have some cute nails!

Finished result//Sorry the light isn't very good on this picture!

I hope you enjoyed reading! You can also use this technique with old maps which is also really effective. Have any of you tried this before? :)

Upcycled denim shorts.

If you've been shopping lately you will have seen the current trend of denim shorts that have patches or pockets covered with fabric,sequins,different trims and other embellishments. I am one for having a go at customising my old clothes into new, so i found an old pair of denim shorts and had a go at creating my own pair which cost me nothing!Here is how i did and how you can do it! With the right materials and equipment it isn't that hard and you have a pair of unique shorts that no one else will have.

Shorts - (originally) Bershka//Top - Hollister

Equipment - 
-A pair of shorts
-Material of your choice
-Paper(for the pattern)
-scissors
-Pins
-Needle and thread or sewing machine depending on fabric

How i did it - 
1-After i decided what shorts i was going to use i had to find some material. I found an old bag that i had which i no longer used, but the fabric was so gorgeous and already heavily embellished with beading so i knew this would look perfect.

2-Next i placed the piece of paper over the area i wanted to cover by the fabric,for mine it was the right hand side of the shorts,then by holding it carefully i traced around it, this part can be fiddly.

3-I then cut the template out and placed it on the fabric where i wanted it and pinned it on. I then cut around this template leaving about 1cm extra to give room for turnings.

4-After i cut it out i placed it on the area to be embellished and pinned it on,you can also tack it with stitches if you find this easier.

5- Sew neatly around the edge either by hand or machine whichever is appropriate. Mine was done by hand because the material was embellished. I also unpicked the belt loop and reattached it afterwards to give it a neat finish.

6-Ta da! You should end up with a unique item of clothing which you certainly wont see anyone else wearing!The possibilities of this really are endless,use your imagination!

I hope you enjoyed reading this! Has anyone else tried this before or customised any other clothes?I would love to hear from you all!