I have spent the last week making the best thing ever. A Lady Gaga born this way jacket. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for over a year but haven’t had time do to. I’m so excited to wear it… like, everyday.

I’ll go step-by-step in teaching you how you can make your own. If you want it to turn out like mine CAREFULLY READ through each step, DON’T just look at the pictures!!!!

Here’s the inspiration:

How to make your own:

Materials:

• jacket
• fabric paint (three colors: brown, gold, black)
• two paintbrushes: one big (rectangle shaped), one little for details
• tape (that can be easily ripped but is still thick, I used what I think is decorators tape if there is such thing. You’re going to need A LOT!)
• fine point black Sharpie (optional)
• studs (I used around hundred including the ones I messed up. I bought them from some sketchy leather store in the middle of nowhere)
• a hammer (my doorman thought I was super sketchy when I asked for one)
• washable thin marker or pen
• a print out of a unicorn (about the size of a standard piece of paper or depending on you’re jacket smaller) I used this image from online and cropped off the bottom.
• iron

1: Find a jacket. I used this linen one from Forever 21. They’re sold out of the army green one but it’s not hard to find similar jackets.

 2. Use a washable pen or thin marker to outline the BORN THIS WAY in bubble letters. Leave space between the BORN THIS and the WAY for the unicorn. I marked my space with tape.

3. Tape the inside of the letters so that you can paint around them and create an outline. This is tricky because you don’t want the letters to be straight or they wont look spray painted on. Rip the tape so that the edges are more rough and put the ripped tape on the outline. This may work better if you buy wider tape. It takes a really long time but be patient because it will come out really well!

4. Open the jacket completely so that the sleeves and front of jacket are not underneath the back and place the jacket on some newspaper. The paint will run through especially if you used thin fabric like I did. When you’ve done that, carefully paint over the edges of the tape with your big rectangular brush. Use the black paint. You want to outline the letters. Dont make the paint too thick so that it looks spray painted. Just carefully brush away from the letters.

5. Read the back of your paint bottle and see how long the paint takes to dry. If you’re anxious like me, wait at least five minutes before taking the tape off. When the paint is dry after the certain amount of time said on the paint bottle, iron the dried paint to heat  lock it into the fabric.

6. Tape over the spots you just painted. Rip the tape in the same way you did before around the edges. It won’t turn out perfect, so don’t try to make it… it looks cool with some spaces. When you’ve finished taping, paint the inside with the brown fabric paint brushing the paint away from the tape. Try to make this more filled in than the outlining.

7. Wait at least five minutes before taking the tape off. Then wait the directed amount of the paint bottle for the paint to dry. Afterwards, iron the paint to heat-lock it into the fabric. If you want it to be more filled in, use the smaller paintbrush to paint in the spaces. (I didn’t do this… I liked the spaces.)

8. Take your unicorn image and cut out the unicorn. Then tape the back back.

9. Press the unicorn onto the jacket in the space you left off and paint over the outlines in black with your large rectangular brush, brushing away from the paper. Wait at least five minutes before taking the paper off, then the directed amount on the bottle for the paint to dry. Iron afterwards to heat-set the paint. Wait at least five minutes to take off the tape, and the directed time on the bottle for the paint to dry before ironing over it to heat-set.

10. Tape the outlining of the unicorn in the same way you taped over the outlining of the letters. I got impatient here and just used my small brush after taping over half of the unicorn outline. Paint in the space with the gold paint.

11. Take your studs and use the pointy part to poke holes through the fabric. (You want to go over the letters with the studs.) Flip the jacket over and hammer the pointy parts down to secure. Make sure you hammer them as far as they can go so that they don’t fall out!

Be careful to hold the studs in place while poking and hammering. They tend to slip out, even if one side is hammered down. If this happens, the stud is ruined because one side is bent. (I did this about a thousand times. See below.)

I personalized mine by adding in my favorite Lady Gaga quotes from her songs around the bottom and on one of the front pockets. I added a cool skull pin thing I found for 2 dollars at the leather store on the other front pocket. (I also wrote one quote on the unicorn but it didn’t turn out well and I’ll probably end up painting over it.)

(PLUS, LOOK AT MY GAGA NAILS! See previous post!)

GOOD LUCK! Check back tomorrow for a finished picture!