The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Fashion & Lifestyle

DIY Couture: Making home designs fashionable

DIY Couture: Making home designs fashionable
11 October 2012
Hollie Bracciale
Avatar
Hollie Bracciale
11 October 2012

It will have happened to all of us, at some point in our lives we will come face to face with someone else wearing the same outfit. With every city now boasting the same high street stores and the internet making those stores accessible to everyone, one-off pieces of clothing – unless second hand or vintage – are hard to come by. This may no longer be the case with DIY Couture.

DIY Couture has taken it upon itself to bring back the art of making clothes and made it accessible to those of us who aren’t seamstresses. Rather than buying the garment, you instead buy instructions on how to make it. A unique idea, inspired by the complex original clothes patterns and their confusing make-up.

Since its conception DIY Couture has released two collections of garments, with a mix of simple shapes and wardrobe staples. When shopping on this unique site, after purchasing a garment, instead of getting a parcel of clothes you will instead receive a book of simple instructions to make the item or collection of your choice. The idea is to get rid of complex sewing patterns and instead use diagrams and pictures, taking the maker through the creation process visually. This gives the maker control over the design, making personally fitted clothing accessible to everyone.

Seamstress and designer, Rosie Martin began DIY Couture because she was frustrated with commercial sewing patterns that looked old-fashioned and were difficult to understand. “I wanted to help more people access sewing clothes”, Rosie told The Upcoming. Inspired by thousands of invisible pairs of hands around the world who make the clothes we buy from high street brands, Rosie wanted to encourage people to ‘get up to their elbows in the 3D world of creation.’ Trying to take away the idea of disposable fashion by helping people produce garments that are valued. Rosie describes the brand as ‘the antithesis of fast-fashion.’

DIY Couture offers tips and instruction videos on-line as well as workshops in various locations around London. Look out for the upcoming How to Make a Cloak workshop where you can make your very own cloak while learning techniques and picking up handy tips and tricks. For more details and to book a place visit the Papered Parlour website.

To start making your own DIY Couture piece start shopping here or look out the big DIY Couture book here for a collection of designs. Watch out for the upcoming competition to design fabrics for the SS13 collection!

Hollie Bracciale

Related Items

More in Fashion & Lifestyle

Five fashionable dresses perfect for days in the park

The editorial unit
Read More

Six fashion trends worth investing in this spring

Alexandra Davis
Read More

Seven spring home decor ideas to brighten up your space

Sophie Cook
Read More

Mother’s Day 2021: Gift guide

Rebekah Absalom
Read More

15 mistakes newlyweds always make

The editorial unit
Read More

Ways to support Heart Month this February

Rebekah Absalom
Read More

10 romantic dresses for your Valentine’s night in

Sophie Cook
Read More

Five London areas to go for a romantic walk this Valentine’s weekend

Lilly Subbotin
Read More

The best beauty launches to treat yourself to this Valentine’s Day

Alexandra Davis
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • London’s Michelin-starred restaurants open al fresco right now – and all those re-opening in May
    Food & Drinks
  • Kaleo – Surface Sounds
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Weezer with the LA Philharmonic and YOLA at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Motherhood Project: An interview with creator and curator Katherine Kotz
    Theatre
  • Ride or Die
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • House of Cardin
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Chiswick Playhouse Recharged: An interview with producer Wayne Glover-Stuart
    Theatre
  • Anthropocene: The Human Era at Oxford Playhouse Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Race to Save the World
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Motherhood Project: An interview with creator and curator Katherine Kotz
    Theatre
  • 50 Next unveils the new generation of food industry pioneers
    Food & Drinks
  • Arlo the Alligator Boy
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • London’s Michelin-starred restaurants open al fresco right now – and all those re-opening in May
    Food & Drinks
  • Campfire in Kings Cross: Two Tribes deliver everything you’ve been missing with a night of beer, BBQ and live music
    Food & Drinks
  • Live from the Barbican: Moses Boyd
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Launch of the brand-new 59Strings.com
Carin Wester’s Autumn/Winter 2012 collection