Prepare for The Coachella Valley Music Festival with These DIY Fashion Ideas

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is just months away and everyone’s excited. This April, every concert fan will get to watch live performances by chart-topping and indie artists. With a massive repertoire of bands and talents lined up this year, everyone is sure to have a memorable time. They can even get custom-made concert freebies and giveaways as souvenirs to show support for the event.

More than just an enormous gathering of celebrities, this event is also an avenue of self-expression. It’s why dressing up in your most creative outfits is the trend, rather than going on a shopping spree for new clothes. This is a perfect opportunity for everyone to try making something truly their own. You can expect to see handmade custom clothes and accessories, all suited to the wearer’s personal tastes. If you want to try making your own personalized outfits, here are some ideas that can help you get started.

Dyed Jeans

Colorful clothes are a must for this event, which is why some people prefer to dye their clothes. You try doing this with old pairs of jeans to breathe new life into them. To start, get bleach, your choice of garment dye, soda ash dye, safety gloves and a bucket.

First, fill the bucket with 1 part warm water and 1 part bleach. There should be enough to cover the jeans when you place it in. Allow it to soak completely for 10 to 20 minutes. If you plan on cutting these to convert to denim shorts, only the top half needs to be bleached. Once this is done, take the jeans out and rinse thoroughly with cold water before drying. Be sure to handle the wet fabric with gloves at all times.

With the jeans completely bleached, all you need to do now is to dye them. The process is similar to bleaching, except you’re adding color. First, fill the bucket with two to three gallons of water and then pour a 1/4 cup of salt into it. Then add 3 teaspoons of garment dye into the water bucket and stir to saturate the pants.

After 20 minutes, pour 1/3 cup of soda ash dye fixer into the bucket to allow the color to set. Stir it up and let it soak for an hour before you take it out. Again, be sure to use gloves while handling the jeans. Once you take it out, be sure to move it to the washing machine and set the cycle to rinse in order to remove the excess dye. Dry it afterwards and you’re ready to wear it.

Decorated Leather Belts

Aside from colored pants, you can pair them up with decorated belts. If you have old ones, then jazzing them up with colored fabrics will be a great way to revive them. Making them is relatively simple too. All you need is the fabric of your choice, hot glue, and a leather awl to pierce holes in the fabric.

To start, first apply the adhesive in the middle of the belt and place the cloth over it. Then trim the edges of the fabric then glue it so it doesn’t fray. Once that’s done, use the leather awl to poke through the holes of the belt and let it set for 30 minutes before wearing.

Decorated DIY Bracelets

Accessories are a must in every Coachella Music Festival, and bracelets are some of the most common items to wear. That said, expensive jewelry isn’t something you want to have with you. Not when you have lots of ways to make your own custom wristband out of everyday objects like silicone rubber bracelets.

To make these, simply choose a fabric that you want. Printed types work best if you want it to be flashy, but colored ones are fine if you plan on adding more decorations on it. Simply cut the cloth into a long 1-in. by 12-in. strip then wrap it around the silicone bracelet. Once that’s done, glue the ends of the strip in place. You can even glue buttons or other trinkets into the cloth if you want.

These are just some of the available options for you to get ready for the big day. At its core, artistic expression is the guiding principle of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. Instead of going with current trends, you get to define your own style and mingle with like-minded people.