in chains

last weekend i finally went down to the craft store and bought chains for two pendants. it's about time i did, the cross pendant has been hanging on a makeshift chain, which is actually a thin cloth belt from one of my dresses, for over a year now.



i chose a thin yellow gold chain for the silver sword because i liked the contrasting metals. the chain for the cross pendant is a perfect match with its tiny opal beads - kind of reminds me of a rosary.

the folks at Beadworks were very helpful - they showed me how to crimp the ends of the chains and attach lobster clasps. i would have been lost without them. (d.i.y. is not my forte.)





The Row maxi dress (old, from Barneys/NYC); Ann Demeulemeester biker jacket (from Bergdorf Goodman/NYC); Alaia studded boots (old, from Bergdorf Goodman/NYC); Elizabeth & James knuckle ring (old, from Intermix/NYC); vintage cross pendant (from Portobello Market/London); sword pendant (from etsy.com seller sucarjoia)

diy #1

so i was at intermix in soho one day and spotted a really cool t-shirt. it was a white, crew-neck cotton tee dotted with swarovski crystals. the price tag? $1400. why? because it had the letters B-A-L-M-A-I-N on the tag.

i'm not a big diy-er, mostly because i run out of patience easily. i'm ashamed to say i would rather fork over a couple of benjamins for a racquel allegra tee or martin margiela ripped leggings than shred things myself. for some unknown reason, perhaps it was the long labor day weekend where i stayed in the city, i got bit by the diy bug and decided to give it a try. also i think i was a little pissed off that someone out there was charging $1400 for a friggin t-shirt. it's not like there are 24k gold threads sewn into it or anything...

so here goes - i went over to my parents house to work on it because they've got a nice big dining room table. i also ended up leaving my bedazzler there, i was afraid i'd start bedazzling everything in sight if i brought it home with me.

first i had to pick a t-shirt. i knew that i didn't want it too tight and stretchy, especially around the bust, because the grid of sequins would no longer be orderly if it was all stretched out. i ended up buying a 100% cotton tee by organic by john patrick from barneys co-op. it has a great oversized fit and is very comfortable.



i knew the easiest way to apply the crystals was to first draw a grid then just drop the crystals at every intersection. however, i was too lazy to draw all those grid lines, didn't have a ruler long enough to cover the length of the oversized t-shirt, and was impatient to start bedazzling. so i only made a few lines forming a cross in the middle of the t-shirt.



using a quilting ruler, i spaced the crystals as evenly as i could 2-inches apart, using the few lines that i drew as a starting point then using that row as a marker for consecutive rows of crystals. i used three different colors of hot-fix crystals - black diamond, clear crystal, and silver shade, and the way the light plays off each is so nice, especially at night.



here is the final product, the picture doesn't do it justice because you can't really see it sparkle:



i was too lazy to do the back. the tee is so big it took me a lot longer to finish than i had originally estimated. do you think it's absolutely necessary to bedazzle the back as well? i'm kind of hoping the consensus is "no."



here's how i wore it today, i paired it with my LNA leggings that have zippers going down the entire length of the leg (love!), Alaia boots, and a Balenciaga boyfriend blazer: