Styling a handbag for Sarah Jessica Parker to tote in Sex and the City has taught Selena Francis-Bryden a thing or two about fashion. Now the West Watford mum-of-two has condensed her bright ideas into a do-it-yourself fashion book, reviving the spirit of ‘make do and mend’ for the post-recession generation.

Selena loves nothing more than rummaging around charity shops and car boots sales. Her favourite spots are Nine Lives in Rickmansworth and the New Hope Trust.

Raised in northwest London, Selena honed her fashion sense working the stalls of Portobello Market with her dad. Among Selena’s other celebrity clients are Paul Smith, Dolce & Gabbana and Meg Matthew. She has also designed clothing for Footballers Wives, BBC’s Spendaholics, and Hollyoaks, as well as working for Top Shop and as a commissioned artist with New Look, River Island and Miss Selfridge online.

The fame hasn’t got to her head though, being mum to Daisy, ten, and Jack, 15, has kept her grounded.

“Daisy loves redesigning stuff and has customised her own bedroom and Jack is artistic with his clothes but he won’t let me touch his room,” says Selena.

“We don’t really shop in the high street. I buy curtain fabric on sale, offcuts and clothes from charity shops.

“I’ve never been one to spend money on clothes. I used to get free stuff from working in the market and always been a lover of charity shops. The maximum I’d spend is £5 and that’s on anything from clothes to shoes or accessories.”

Containing more than 40 projects, none of which require prior skill or a sewing machine, DIY Fashion features clothes that anyone of any age can make. From restyling your boyfriend’s jumper to breathing new life into dad’s unwanted T-shirt or revamping grandma’s cardigan, the book is packed with ideas that the reader can adapt to their own wardrobe.

There are tips for making repairs and redesigns, as well as your own customised accessories such as brooches, necklaces and evening bags.

Selena tells me she never throws material away and has bags and bags of scraps in her home, but her husband Jason doesn’t mind and brings his engineering skills to bear on several projects such as melting down old vinyl to create molded handbags.

Her favourite material to work with is denim.

“It’s great stuff,” says Selena. “It’s so cheap and easy to work, there are so many ways you can use it and there’s so much of it out there. All you need to do is move the pockets around and you can make a cushion or a skirt out of a pair of jeans and change an everyday thing into something really useful.”

DIY Fashion is published by Laurence King, priced £14.95. Details: www.laurenceking.com