 To give your old coats and jackets a breath of fresh air, customise 'em! Customisation is increasingly trendy - here are our tips and tricks for perfect personalisation.
For amateurs
If this is your first time then start small: replace your boring buttons with more original ones (check out markets and craft stalls for ideas). Sew on small patches (these can hide holes and stubborn stains too!). You'll feel that you're wearing something unique that you've designed. Get hold of a pretty vintage brooch to pin on or make one yourself using a safety pin and stick whatever you want on it (small beads hooked onto fishing wire and then attached, for example).
Make sure your colours go. If your jacket already has two colours, avoid overloading it by using discreet shades. Sequins and huge pink flowers might be a bit OTT.
With an iron
If you have time to check out your sewing shop, see if you can find patches and transfers that can be stuck on with an iron (and that stay on). It’s easy to do and you can also get creative with photo transfers, drawings of angels, flowers or even text.
Good sewers
If you want to give your jacket your personal touch, get sewing. It's easy to sew tulle or lace on the sleeves, ribbons on the back to give a corset effect and different fabric on the inside of the collar.
Stencil technique
You need:
- Fabric paint
- A stencil
- A piece of cardboard and pins to attach the stencil.
First choose the illustration you want to put on your jacket. You can make your own stencil instead of buying one. It’s very easy: choose the format and size of your text and then print it on paper, cover the paper with sellotape and then press it down hard onto card with a cloth to stop getting bubbles and make sure it sticks to the paper. Cut out the text. If any letters have holes (o, e, d etc), it’s best to cut out the hole separately, use self-adhesive on the back, place the stencil and then stick the holes on to prevent blunders.
Painting
- Make sure your fabric is smooth and clean before you start. First brush down the area to be painted to remove any dust, then place the cardboard inside the jacket and pin the part that you want to paint to the cardboard, making sure that the fabric is tight.
- To fix the stencil in place, pin it well to the cardboard. If you can, try to get the stencil to ‘stick’ to the fabric by using pins between letters but be sure not to restrict your movement. Otherwise you can buy special glue to fix your stencil in place (wait for the glue to dry). Later you can wash the glue off easily.
- To fill in your stencil, use a brush with a fine tip for precision.
The advantage of textile paint is that it’s quite compact and supple, which helps you stay within the lines. Apply a first coat, wait a few hours, then apply a second coat and leave for 24 hours. When you remove the stencil be careful that any excess paint on the sides doesn’t ruin your stencil:
- Either remove the stencil before the paint is dry (this is only possible with only one coat)!
- Or wait until the paint is completely dry. You need to make sure you that you remove the stencil gently, centimetre by centimetre, using a blade to remove it or cut the excess paint. Be careful not to cut the fabric!
Dyeing
If you want to change the colour of your jacket, look at the material and then look at the instructions on the box. Wash the item first and check out our guide to dyeing fabric!
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Customising coats
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