DIY - Frayed Hem Jeans

I 've be been obsessed with frayed hem jeans for a little while now and have been waiting to do a tutorial on them when I finally decided which jeans were going to make the cut (excuse the pun). I bought this pair from Zara in India when I went 2 years back, - they were in the sale (obvs) and since I'm not keen on the length of them I decided they would be perfect to fray. So here you go - a little DIY on how to fray your own pair of jeans!

What you need:

Jeans

Ball point of dress makers chalk (whatever you have available to you)

Scissors

Unpicker

1

Using the scissors make a snip up the inside seam of the leg to the length of how long you would like the frayed section to be. Turn the jeans inside out and with a pen mark a line along the width of the leg from the end of your cut. This is your guide to make sure you don't end up getting to carried away with the fraying.

2

Using the scissors cut the original hems off the bottom of the jeans. Once these are removed you are ready to start fraying. Using the unpicker start pulling away the white fibre strands (if you have regular standard denim jeans - the blue type). As you start pulling away the strands you may find you can pull the strands clean away from the rest of the jean. Carry on doing this until you reach the pen mark you drew in as your guide.

3

WEAR THEM! :)

Snake Skin High Heel Sandals

Yesterday was my last full day at the ICMS Studio before getting prepared for Curacao. Now even though I'm totally hyped for it, I always get bogged down with things I need to get done before I leave, this time it was footwear. I wanted to make a pair of high heel sandals, along with espadrilles and complete my sisters flat shoes. I did bits and pieces on the espadrille and the shoes for my sister and managed to complete a whole pair of snake skin high heel sandals. Below are some of my process images and the final outcome. I adore them and can't wait to put them on in Curacao, they took me about 3 hours to complete, with help from my boss. High Heel sandals have an instant satisfaction just because the progress is instantly visible as its a shorter process. I'll be making more in no time! Add me on Instagram: @madebykirenmodi or follow me on snapchat for more instant updates; kirennnmodi

Inspo for Shoe Clip DIY

I have been promising to do this post for ages now and I thought what better way to do it then using Pinterest...My name is Kiren Modi and I'm addicted to pinterest! I started using it around 5 years ago and then it was more of a place to get cool ideas down to remember them so I could go home and show my family all the great things I had seen. Now days I use it as place for inspiration and since starting up my new brand I find my self constantly searching for new things to look at. I have started using new boards for all the new projects I'm thinking of doing this year. Shoe Clips is one of them. So today I leave you with some inspiration. Comment below this post by mentioning the ones you like (or if you have any other ideas on what you would like to see as a shoe clip) and I can set about getting a DIY post ready for you!

Made by Kiren Modi pinterest board

High Heels High Hopes pinterest board

Espadrille DIY

Yes, you may recognise these espadrilles from a previous DIY I did just before my trip to India in February and yes you are seeing double. I always buy shoes that I know I will get a good wear out of (or if they're a bargain) twice. The second pair have been through general wear and tear through the daily commute - since they're an off white colour I was expecting them to get dirty quickly, hence the two pairs. They're far too comfortable to throw away so I've decided to inject some life back into them by up-cycling them with some metallic leather I had laying around. Heres how I did it;

What you need: 

• Leather 
• Silver pen (or any pen that shows on the leather or material you are using)
• Fabric Scissors
• Aquilim (non toxic footwear glue)
• Brush

1. With the Aquilim glue cover the entire surface that you intend to cover with the new leather on your shoe (Leave the glue to get slight tacky)

2. Once the glue has got slightly tacky place the leather over the top of the glued surface, rub down air bubbles and make sure the entire surface is covered with leather. Using a silver pen outline where the leather should be trimmed to allow for neat edges.

3. When you are happy with the silver pen marks, peel back the leather (dont worry to much - this particular glue is a contact adhesive so both surfaces have to be glued to insure a secure bond between the two materials) and cut around the silver lines you have drawn.

 

4. Using the Aquilim glue, cover the shoe surface (again! - as peeling back the leather would have removed the glue) and the leather and leave both of the surfaces to dry for a couple of minutes.

5. Place the leather onto the shoe and gently guide and stretch the leather into place (leather is an extremely malleable material so don't worry to much the leather does sometimes shrink when combined with the glue - a gentle tug will put that right back into place) Line up the sides and be sure to rub the air bubbles out. If there are some areas that have impossible areas with crease just peal the leather back and lay it over again - do this until you're happy with the outcome!

6. with the excess leather simply trim these areas down and fold them under. Remember to glue both of the sides you are sticking together to insure you have a secure bond.

7. aaaaaannnnnddddd they're ready to wear!