runway photos: Marcio Madeira, Style.com; photo array by me.

Seen on the Spring 2010 runways (more than a year and a half ago, would you believe?) these stirrup socks, gaiters, or whatever you wanted to call them were the quintessential accessory for Alexander Wang‘s 2010 football-inspired sporty-girly aesthetic.  With a little hand-stitchery and some Stop Fraying sealant, they’re a breeze to make.

You Need:

*pair of knee-high socks

*marking chalk

*white 1/2″ wide soft, lightweight elastic

*matching thread & hand-sewing needle

*fabric scissors

*Aleene’s Stop Fraying fabric sealant

How-To:

1. Try one  sock on, and mark where you want to cut off the toe.

Also mark the back of the sock at the widest points you want your cut-out to be…and at the lowest point you want it to reach.

2. Take off sock and cut off toe, straight across.  Draw a curve on the marks you made at the back of the sock in the previous step, and cut out along the curve.
  Cut the other sock in the exact same way.

3. Apply Stop Fraying to cut edges and allow to dry according to instructions.  (If you can use a sewing machine or overlocker, overlocking the edges will create a permanent, washable piece!  With the fabric sealant these are more special-occasion-only socks, and probably won’t stand up to much washing.)

4. Sew one end of elastic to one side of the cut part of the sock.  Try on sock again to see the fit, and stretch the elastic to the other side of the cut. Anchor elastic with your needle and take off the sock again.  Sew other side of elastic down.

5. Trim elastic.  Cut other piece of elastic the same length and sew both sides to the other sock.

Wear with a pair of clogs, mules, oxfords, sandals, or anything that acts as a straight-laced counterpart to this sporty legwear.

Happy DIY’ing!
xoxox
Carly

*I actually wrote this tutorial for Foam Magazine online, in May 2010.  It unfortunately has been lost somewhere out on the Internet…if anyone has seen it, please let me know!  I also found another tutorial for these exact same stirrup socks, done by the fabulous Jazzi McG, long, loooong prior to me ever doing mine…which I was totally unaware of when Foam asked me to do a tutorial for these socks.  So sorry, Jazzi – you deserve the credit for first DIY!

**and thanks to reader Ejiro for reminding me to post this!

So this is the last of my submissions for Style Sample Magazine and New York Design Shop’s Create Couture Challenge back in early August!  Whew!  Can’t believe it’s taken me this long to post them all…I wanted to make a final DIY piece from the box of materials I received and my eye lit upon the beautiful “NEW YORK DESIGN SHOP” printed ribbon.  I love white, pink, and black together!  So I crafted up this sweet, modernist design pin – that could easily be used as a hair accessory, bag charm, ring, you name it – just by varying the size, shape, and finishing.  (The weaving of the ribbon does take awhile, but the results are fantastic!

You Need:

*NYDS Branded Ribbon (or any 1/4″ wide satin ribbon) – the NYDS-branded ribbon comes wrapped around the box when you place an order with New York Design Shop!

Additional Tools/Materials:

*scissors
*fabric glue
*stiff felt
*pin back
*lighter
*iron (optional)
*piece of paper (optional)

[prep: iron ribbon if kinked or curled; draw a shape as a template on a piece of paper]
How to:

1. Cut ribbon into eighths to start out.

2. Seal ends of two of the ribbons with an open flame.

3. Glue two ends of ribbons together, overlapping them at a right angle.

4. Seal the ends of more of the ribbons, and glue them parallel to the first ribbon, alternating the underlap and overlap of their edges.

5. When you have enough ribbons to work with, start weaving in ribbons in the opposite direction, heat-sealing and gluing down the ends as you add them in.

6. When you’ve run out of ribbons, start trimming the ones you’ve already woven, in order to create the desired shape.

7. Continue with trimming, heat-sealing, gluing, and weaving until your shape is what you like.  Make sure all edges are glued together.

8. Cut piece of felt slightly smaller than your woven shape, and glue together with fabric glue.

9. Hot-glue pin back to wrong side.

Now anyone can wear their heart on their sleeve…or on their NYDS-branded tote!!

xoxox
Carly