Have you always wanted to make your own pair of shoes? I know I have!!

And it is possible. In East London, I CAN make Shoes - an initiative of Australian shoe designer Amanda Luisa – organises 3-day workshops for amateurs, like me, that dream of making their own pair of killer shoes and take them back home afterwards.

Source: I CAN make shoes

The London-based label DIYcouture launched its debut collection DIYC<now/>.

DIYC<now/> is not the average clothing collection. Instead of buying a finished garment, one purchases a book containing a set of instructions to make that particular garment yourself.

Their message:

“Inspired by the thousands of invisible pairs of hands around the globe that make the clothes we buy, DIYcouture hopes to inspire people to turn off their screens and get up to their elbows in the 3-dimensional world of creation. It supports the slow revolution. Helping people to produce garments that are precious, rather than disposable, this is the antithesis of fast-fashion.”

Together with the re-launch of their Camden store, Oxfam also began a DIY competition. The relaunch of the store is in collaboration with Mrs Jones , who recently styled a photo shoot featuring “real” people modelling unique looks created entirely using garments from Oxfam’s recycling facility, Wastesaver.

Parallel to some workshops in the Camden store, a DIY fashion competition was launched online.

And if you lack the creativity to start altering on your one, you can always resort to the more than helpful tutorials on the Oxfam website.

Oxfam DIY 2009 from Susie Bubble on Vimeo.

A fabric I like very much is felt. So I was very excited when I came across these UNCUT slippers which you just need to cut out of a sheet of felt. Ernest Perera, the designer behind the slippers, printed a pattern of the slipper on the fabric. So the user, just needs to cut out the pattern according to his or her size and fold it over.