Freebie: Anti-Fashion Zine

I've been having a bit of a clearout this week and last night I found a whole folder full of clippings from women's magazines and beauty columns and was totally at a loss as to why I'd kept them... until at the back of the folder I found some half-finished anti-fashion zines.

Before I had a blog, I used to write lots of zines (including one called Bugs and Fishes which I published at irregular intervals for about 6 years, hence the name of this blog!). I wrote about all sorts of weird stuff, stuck it down on a bit of paper with pritt stick, photocopied it and handed it out to friends, and later sold a few copies through my fledgling Etsy shop.

As I don't sell my zines anymore, I thought it might be nice to share one here instead: issue #3 of my anti-fashion zine This Season's Must Have (yes I know sharing issue #1 would make more sense, but I can't find the files on my computer and my scanner needs replacing, so shh).

I love clothes, but fashion (and fashion journalism) drives me crazy! This Season was inspired by endless articles about the new "must have" jeans and how not wearing them would be social death. It's packed with clippings that made me either fall on the floor laughing or grind my teeth in a vaguely feminist, and distinctly anti-fashion rage. Hope you enjoy it :)

This Season's Must Have by Laura Howard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Click on the images to view full size and print (each page prints to A4 size)

How To: Make a Fun Pompom Headband

Today I was overcome by a sudden urge to make a pompom headband... and I had so much fun I thought you might like to make one too! (pompoms are very trendy, apparently)

 

Making pompoms is dead easy - there's a great tutorial HERE that explains it all very clearly if you need a refresher.

 

I used a lovely chunky yarn made up of a mix of colours for a soft, mottled look to my pompom, and used a roll of sellotape as the template for my card circles (making my pompom quite large). You can of course use any colour yarn you like, and make your pompoms as large or small as you fancy (a selection of different sizes/colours would look pretty fab together).

Make sure not to trim the strands used for tying the pompom together - you'll need these to help you attach
the pompom to the headband later.

  

Using six long strands of matching yarn and plaiting with two strands at a time, make a thick plait long enough to tie around your head easily. Knot the plait tightly at each end and trim any excess yarn.

Using the two strands hanging from your pompom, tie it onto the headband and try it on in front of a mirror so you can work out where you'd like the pompom to sit. When you've decided, use the pompom strands and a darning needle to sew the pompom securely in place, knotting any loose ends and trimming them neatly.

 

 

Et voila, a fun pompom headband!

Sew your pompom onto a smaller plaited band to make an awesome ponytail bobble:

 

Or maybe wear your pompom as a necklace?

 

Please feel free to borrow photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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