Anthropologizing Old Navy

One of my pregnant friend's bought this knit maternity

dress from Old Navy and asked me to embellish it a bit...

turn it into something a little special.

Anyone who's been pregnant knows it's

practically impossible to find great dresses

with cute detailing for less than the

monthly mortgage on your home.

When I was taking design classes a few years ago,

one of my assignments was to burn several types

of fabric and catalog how they reacted to heat.

A lot of fabrics just turn black or melt away,

but chiffon and satin react by curling at the

edges, which forms a really cool petal look.

Here's a step-by-step for making flowers

like I put together for Julie's dress.

1. I cut my circles two, three and four inches in diameter, using chiffon, satin and crafter's lace.

2. For each flower, cut one lace circle, one satin circle and two chiffon circles.

3. Hold circles over the heat of a flame (not actually in the fire, 'cuz it will turn black rather than curling).

4. I always curl at least two chiffon layers together since it's so thin, and I like the way it looks better.

When you're curling chiffon, make sure you don't hold it too close to the flame...just a little heat is all you need.

5. I hand-tacked the flowers down in the middle with a needle and thread.

Do any of you Pinterest?

I love that site!!

I used to store the images I wanted to keep all over my

computer only to find them in long-lost files years later,

so I L-O-V-E having one place to pin

all my favorite images.

These are some of my latest pins on a few of my boards.

Images I Like

DIY Pretties

My Style Pinboard

Favorite Places and Spaces

Let me know if you Pinterest, 'cuz

I wanna see all the cool stuff you like!