There’s a really good chance you’ve seen the amazing studded trench coats from Burberry’s Spring 2011 line. I think it goes without saying they’re pretty awesome:

Burberry.com, SS11 Runway Collection

Left to right:

$7,295
$5,795
$12,995


Even if I had that pocket change laying around, I don’t think I could ever bring myself to drop that much on one jacket. So what do I do? Make my own, of course. See how I did it, below:

I came across this trench coat-esque jacket a few months ago at TJ Maxx. It was $19.99 and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.

I have a huge stash of studs by default, but you can find studs all over the internet – my absolute favorite source for studs is Studs-and-Spikes.com ! They have a really awesome selection. You can also try Ebay or Etsy, or even take apart some old studded belts.

I used 3 different kinds of silver spike and cone studs; each of them had prongs that are meant to pierce through fabric, and bent in with pliers.

A step-by-step for this project would be extremely redundant, so here’s a quick run through of what I did:

On each side of the sleeve’s seam, I made 2 columns of studs – so 4 columns total – starting at the shoulders. I used round nose pliers to bend in the prongs. When all was said and done, there was a total of 16 rows; I made the first top half entirely of the bigger cone studs, while the second half consisted of two kinds of cone studs.

For the most part I eyeballed the placement of the studs, but I also used a ruler and a charcoal pencil for some more of the meticulous measuring between studs.

I decided to cover the pockets with leather, so I traced the pocket flaps onto soft black leather. I might add some additional leather elements to the coat at a later date.

I’m thinking of completely replacing the belt with a black leather material; the fabric of this belt is much too thin and scrunches up at random places (as you can see above)…But one step at a time! I’m just glad to have finished the tedious studding part.

I actually started this back in April but only just got around to finishing it…but you know I’ll definitely be pulling this out again in the fall. I totally give 100% of the inspiration for this project straight to Burberry. Also to the fact that I’m not a millionaire.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Go for it!