DIY Sleeveless Trench Coat. (via Honestly WTF)

DIY Clutch. These are so adorable and incredibly easy to make! (via The Ivory Dahlia)

Brass Safety Chain ($1.13/foot) + Elastic = Headband

I purchased 2 feet of chain and used about 14 inches of it (2 strands of 7 inches) & black elastic to make a headband.

I threaded the black elastic through two (or one, if you wish) strands, folded over the end and used a hot glue gun to secure it.

There are huge spools of chain at hardware stores where you have an employee cut a certain amount for you. Make sure you choose a chain that is easy for you to cut/twist apart with pliers or scissors; some of the chains are difficult to trim unless the employee uses the special chain-cutting-machine-thing.

You’ll need:
- a large silk flower
- floral tape
- 2 pieces of 16 or 18 gauge floral cloth wire
- a piece of 4 x 4″ green felt
- a glue gun
- a pair of wire cutters
- a pair of scissors

You’ll start by cutting 2 circles from the piece of felt at approximately 2″ in diameter. Form the wires of your halo by molding and bending each piece into a half circle. Lay the two half circles opposite of each other to create a single circle, laying it over the top of your head to check the fit. Wrap floral tape over 2 sections of overlapping wire at 11 o’clock and 3 o’clock. Trim any overlapping pieces with the wire cutters.

Using the wire cutters, cut the stem off the flower making sure the back is flat. Glue one of the felt circles to the back of the flower. Lay the 3 o’clock section of the halo on the backside of the flower. Sandwich the halo between the flower and the second felt circle with plenty of glue. As your pressing the two felt circles together, pull the halo up on its side, making it stand perpendicular to the back of the flower. Insert glue into any openings, making sure the two felt circles are sealed together.

The possibilities are endless with this as you can wrap flowers around half or the entire perimeter of the halo, reinforcing with glue. Or if wearing a halo just isn’t your thing, make a hair pin or brooch by gluing a large bobby pin or a pin back to the back of the first felt cutout.

Your flower halo is ready to wear!

3 ways to tie a turband.

I love these shirts from Garnet Hill.  I also love almost everything else in the catalog.  Seriously.  I keep a hard copy inspiration binder and I ripped out probably half of the pages in the latest GH catalog, and that was me trying to tone it down.    Anyway.  These shirts are great.  They’re also 44$.  Forty-four dollars. 

So, I went to Walmart and got two 2$ tees.  One in my size, and one XL to cut up (because I figured, hey, for the same price, why not get more fabric?).  I cut out a bunch of flower shapes first: 

I cut the shirt into strips, folded the strip in half, cut that into segments, then cut these little shapes out.  I wanted them kind of elongated in one direction, since I’d be gathering them in that same direction.
Soon I had quite the little pile:

Some of them turned out pretty crazy, but that’s ok.  You can’t tell once they’re on the shirt.

Next, I did a gathering stitch down the middle, going long-ways.  I did some singles, but mostly doubles, like the one pictured above.  Then I gathered by pulling on my bobbin threads.  After it was gathered, I pulled the top threads to lock that sucker down.
After I had gathered all of them, it was time to place them on the shirt.  I put on the shirt and pinned the leaves in place, as guidelines.  Also, to make sure I didn’t have any leaves pointing anywhere awkward (you know what I mean).
I chose to hand sew most of my flowers on.  I started with my machine, but once I got to where they were really close together, I switched, because I’m sure my machine (which is a monster and only goes moderately fast and super fast- it stalls if I try to sew slowly) would have gone crazy and gotten away from me and sewed everything down flat, when I wanted the same loose, almost ruffly look of the Garnet Hill shirt.  So.  I sewed  by hand.
Then I put it on, realized that my buxomness caused it to look more sparse than it did lying flat, so I took it off, cut, gathered, and applied more fabric flowers.  And then…

We are smitten with Stella McCartney‘s floral ensembles from her Spring 2011 collection, inspired by 18th and 19th century botanical prints. The studies by notable botanists Robert John Thornton and Pierre Joseph Redouté are so incredibly lovely and vibrant that we too were inspired to add a bit of floral flair to our own clothing.

You’ll need:
- an old jacket or blazer (we used a vintage army coat)
- iron on transfers for dark clothing
- botanical images (we used images from Redouté)
- a printer
- a pair of scissors
- an ironFollow the instructions that accompany the iron on transfer papers, as they drastically vary depending on the brand. Search for floral images on the internet and print several large scale images. Precisely cut out the flowers, leaving some leaves and/or stems attached. Arrange and overlap the flowers on your jacket. Iron the transfers to the jacket. To clean, wash your garment inside out in cold water and dry in very low heat or let air dry.

We chose to add flowers to a small portion of this jacket, but feel free to go wild!