HI! Wow it’s been awhile since I’ve made a post. Don’t worry, I’m here.. thriving, breathing, and happy. So much has changed since the last time I posted. To give you an update on where I’m at in life and what I’ve been doing… well, I’m in my last semester of undergrad which is super exciting! It’s the home stretch and I can definitely feel it. I’m not taking a full course load this semester which is very nice. I have more time to do things I enjoy such as helping out in elementary schools, reading for leisure, and doing DIY crafts! I’ve done a few DIY crafts over the past couple of months and I’ve really enjoyed making them.
I usually get my inspiration for DIY crafts from YouTube. If you know me, you know I’m not THAT creative. Like seriously. But, I do like to challenge myself and I have done DIY projects with clothing and it turned out well. Surprisingly though, this specific DIY sweater project was not inspired from YouTube.
With more time to myself this semester, I felt inspired to do a fashion DIY project because a) it’s fun, b) you save $, and c) it’s so rewarding to see the finished result and wear it around knowing that YOU made it and that you didn’t get it at Brandy Melville or Urban Outfitters. Alright… let me give you some background context as to how I got inspired to start this DIY sweater project.
For some time I have been wanting a white Champion sweatshirt/hoodie. Don’t ask. Why I wanted the specific colour and specific brand.. well, just because. And trust me, I know that’s a crappy answer. It’s funny because I’m taking a sociology course about consumption and society so the fact that I’ve always wanted or thought I needed a white Champion hoodie is hilarious to me. Our constant desire of wanting to consume, with regard to fashion at least but also in all aspects of life, is demonstrated by the fast fashion industry and the fact that a lot of us convince ourselves that we just don’t have anything in our closet to wear! I mean don’t get me wrong I say that too, but many of us, myself included, need to be more consciously aware of the type of consumer we identify as and how our consumption patterns affect social and environmental relations.
Okay I’m definitely derailing from what I actually want to write about. I do that sometimes, whoops! Ok. Back to the white Champion hoodie. I didn’t just want to go out and purchase one. I didn’t need it and I knew owning one wouldn’t change my overall long-term life satisfaction – I mean does any piece of clothing do that? Christmas just happened and my wallet was still recovering. Somehow somewhere I came up with the idea of going to a thrift store in hopes of finding a plain and simple white hoodie. I mean how hard could that be? If I found one, I’d want to add a personal touch to it like a cute iron-on patch. So that’s when I started looking on Etsy to see if anything caught my eye. I started searching keywords like “cute iron-on patches” and “butterfly iron-on patches” on Etsy. A current fashion trend I’ve seen pop up on social media and in stores is a cropped top with a butterfly print right in the middle. I always thought it looked nice but not enough for me to go buy it with my own money.
Fast forward a bit. I found two iron-on patches that I really liked on Etsy. One was a bottle that said “feelings” on it. The other was a blue butterfly. I’ll link them below at the end of this blog post! Before purchasing them, I wanted to hit up a thrift store or two to see if I could find a hoodie to crop. So I did. Last month in January I drove to my nearest Value Village. I’m pretty sure after walking up and down the aisles I had ~15 sweaters/hoodies to try on. I finally narrowed it down to two! A white PINK (the brand, not the colour) hoodie and a Hanes navy blue sweater.
Pictured below are the two sweatshirts I purchased from Value Village, for a total of just under $20.
I started with the white PINK hoodie. I found it useful already having a cropped t-shirt to use as a reference for how cropped I wanted my white hoodie to be. I put my cropped t-shirt on top of the white hoodie and used a ruler to mark a dotted line with a pen so I would know where to cut.
After cropping it, I started peeling the PINK lettering on the front left side of the hoodie with my fingernails. I did this because I knew I probably wanted to put an iron-on patch around that area and also I didn’t want the brand to be visible on the front. Thankfully it was easy to peel off! 
I did the same cropping method for the blue sweatshirt.
Oh yeah and I finished cropping both pieces the same day I purchased them. When I got home from the thrift store, I immediately purchased the two iron-on patches from Etsy because I knew each would take ~3 weeks to ship. So.. technically the whole project took like over a month because I had to wait for the Etsy delivery but regardless this was such a fun and creative project (at least in my mind!).
To iron on the patches, the instructions were stated on the Etsy website (again it’ll be linked at the bottom of this blog post). Super simple and straightforward.
I did a mini photoshoot with papa mah today so enjoy some low-budget in-the-back-yard photos!!!
DIY Cropped Feelings Sweatshirt
Look #1: Vulnerability Looks Good On You
Close up of “Feelings”
Have you checked in with yourself today?
I chose to purchase the “Feelings” iron-on patch because it’s a gentle reminder that it’s good to be vulnerable and express your feelings. It’s good to have feelings in general. It’s healthy to express and acknowledge them. Sometimes in the moment we feel things that may not actually represent our true selves. Sometimes we hold in feelings because of X, Y, and Z. Sometimes we convince ourselves we’re feeling some type of way when we’re feeling quite the opposite. Wearing this for me will hopefully act as a subtle reminder that everyone has feelings and that feelings can sometimes be messy and murky. But as long as we acknowledge them and let ourselves feel what we’re feeling instead of continually bottling them up for an unhealthy period of time, we’ll get through things.
DIY Cropped White Butterfly Hoodie
Look #2: Kill Them With Confidence
Spread your wings.
Own your wings and love them.
I chose to purchase the blue butterfly iron-on patch for two reasons. One, because it’s trendy. Secondly, and more importantly, I associate butterflies with confidence, kindness and uniqueness. Wearing this will serve as a reminder to believe in myself. To not always be so hard on myself, to take a leap of faith or challenge myself and recognize that I have unique qualities.
That concludes my Spring 2020 DIY Sweater Project! I had so much fun making them and honestly a lot of fun with this blog post, too. As promised, here is the link to the “Feelings” iron-on patch. Here is the link to the Blue Butterfly iron-on patch. I’m excited to wear them on a daily basis. (Hover your cursor over the word “here”. I’m a noob and definitely not tech savvy so if you couldn’t visibly see the link don’t worry, I got you). Just like my style, they’re extremely comfortable, soft and casual! Best believe I’ll be rocking these everywhere I go.
As always, thanks for reading and stopping by. :)
xoxo,
ali