DITCH writer Lois takes on the latest 601 challenge and creates her very own club rat outfit
I get social anxiety from running, I am too impatient for yoga, and will never understand the rules of rugby. But clubbing? Clubbing is my sport.
As a girl who grew up with Bratz dolls, I was bitterly disappointed when I arrived at the club and found people don’t actually go out in matching tops and headbands. Still my “passion for fashion” leaves me spending ungodly amounts on fresh clubbing outfits each weekend, killing off my alcohol funds and the planet.
Oh, and one other thing:
I cannot get off my phone. I’m constantly scrolling through TikTok and Instagram to find DIY inspo, but never end up going through with it. Which brings me to this edition’s 601: Making my very own clubbing outfit in 6 hours, 1 minute.
The average screen time of an 18-24-year-old has climbed to six hours and one minute, regulatory board Ofcom found out last November. That’s 91 and a half days per year. Over an average lifetime, that’s roughly 20.25 years.
This article series should wash those worries away. You see, those statistics got us thinking here at DITCH just how much you can achieve in six hours and one minute. How far can you go? How much could you sew? These all-important questions are the basis for the 601 challenge.
Yes, that sounds like a long time. For someone like my nan, who spent years of her life whipping up costumes for me and my siblings, you could make an entire wardrobe in that time. But unlike her, I can’t sew. Until now!
The Rules
- No phones (duh)
- Attempt a full club rat outfit to wear to the club
- Finish in 6 hours, 1 minute, before heading straight to pres!
6 hours and 1 minute to go…
I head straight to Pinterest (no, the irony is not lost on me). I withstand the urge to scroll, and head to my wishlist board. Better make something I was planning on throwing money at, right? I find a tube top worn by Carrie Bradshaw, and a Y2K-esque denim mini-skirt, complete with lace. Seems simple enough. Being me, I’ll have to bedazzle the bejeezus out of them.
Then, I head to the nearest material shop. I’m a fish out of water, rifting through the fabrics and pretending like I know what I’m looking for. Luckily, the shop owner was very nice, and pointed me in the right direction.
Me: “I am definitely going to f*ck this up.”
Shop lady: “Ok… we’re going to need more material.”
Materials obtained!
5 hours and 43 minutes to go…
I sketched out my designs like a true fashion designer and I gathered my club rat outfit ingredients.
You will need:
Elastic
A semi-functional sewing machine
Old clothes to upcycle/fabric to make new
A sh!t ton of gems to hide the mistakes
3 billion beverages (alcoholic or otherwise)
Just over 6 hours
Should I have gone and found a pattern for this? Definitely. Instead, I traced one of my favourite tops onto the fabric, leaving an inch around the edge for hemming and f*ck ups, then started snipping.
4 hours and 3 minutes to go…
OH MY GOD. Sewing takes FOREVER. I truly feel in awe of the people who make clothes. It took me TWO HOURS to sew this little tube top. But we still buy £3 little tops online?
And then….
3 hours and 22 minutes to go…
Disaster struck. As I reached the end of the tube top, my sewing machine- fatigued being used for the first time in years- stuttered to a halt.
I had a moment, threw some things, muttered some expletives… and moved on graciously.
Realistically, sometimes these challenges fail. I had only two hours before I had to test out my club rat outfit. I decided to make the best of my time, and bedazzle my roughly made tube top.
2 hours and 39 minutes to go…
This hour was oddly productive. I learnt what a hotfix gun was, and how to use it. And now I don’t know what I was doing with my life before it? You just pop the gem where you want it to sit, press the hotfix gun on top for a couple seconds (be careful, it’s hot and I don’t want to be sued) and voila, your clothes are 100000 times better.
1 hours and 12 minutes to go…
Bedazzling is not very time effective. Would recommend not doing it whilst trying to curl hair and stick false lashes onto your face. But, as my timer went off and Nelly Furtado started playing, I took a moment to reflect on the challenge over my dangerously strong ‘pres’ drink.
Lessons learnt:
💸 Seamstresses deserve a serious pay rise.
🧵 Trusting a dodgy sewing machine is a mistake.
✨ There’s no such thing as too many gems.
The finished product:
Although I was way less stressed with picking the perfect getting ready playlist, snapping a billion pre-club selfies, and making floor art with my entire wardrobe, I would not recommend creating the outfit the day of going out. It was very stressful, and I did spot the odd thread peeking out of my top as I boogied.
To my fellow club rats, instead of buying another stringy top that will inevitably break or go weird in the wash, why not personalise and make your own club rat outfit?