Anthropologizing Walmart 2

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After last week's tutorial on the Hibiscus sandals,

I got a request from a reader to do a tutorial on

how I would imitate the Rose Remnant Sandals.

Obviously, I went with different colors all together,

but I wanted to use the sandals and the

great teal ombre ribbon I already owned.

I put a little fold in the middle to give each tri-fold layer more dimension.

If you don't own a sewing machine, you can do this step with a needle and thread also.

Your rose should look like this when you're done with all three layers.

Ideally, I would have used a single piece for the center,

like a small brooch or chandelier earring,

but I didn't have time to get to the mall and already had

several beads in this color, so I went with it.

If you decide to use individual beads,

the trick is to tack down only two or three together.

Work your way around the center of the flower until the

beading covers as much space as you want.

Anthropologizing Walmart

I bought these T-strap sandals forever ago

from Walmart, and similar versions just

keep popping up every summer.

This year's versions are embellished with

ribbons, leather flowers and fabric pom-poms,

so I thought I'd give my old stand-by's a little face lift.

Make sure you buy the twill tape,

not the iron-on hem tape shown in the picture.

For the shoes, I used pinking shears for this step.

And just a couple pics to prove that I'm stickin' to the color scheme this week!

This is how I stepped out to my son's first baseball game of the season.

I wish I'd have had my sandals done before I took these pics,

'cuz I so would have worn them with this outfit.

(Maxi skirt, thrifted, LOFT jacket, J.Crew tee, H&M flower pin, UO Kimchi Blue flats)

Embellishing with Flowers

This sweater is a piece I built as a part of the tiny

eight-piece collection I'll be premiering soon,

so I thought now would be a good time for this tutorial.

I constructed this sweater knowing I would embellish it this way,

but you can use this technique with any t-shirt or felted sweater you own.

There are a hundred ways to do this, and none of them are right or wrong,

'cuz it's really about giving something a bit of flare and dimension.

Don't worry about it being super precise.

As you can see, I used paper towel to make a pattern

because it's thicker and more durable than tissue paper,

and ya know...it just happened to be real handy.

You can make your pattern any shape you want--

circles or flowers with pointy petals.

I used this shape for the extra flutter, simply because

the details get lost when you're using black fabric and I

wanted to make sure the flowers stood out.

For this sweater, I cut out 11 flowers that were 3 inches in diameter.

If you want a fluffier effect, cut out bigger flowers.

I wanted the central flower at the neck to be a bit bulkier

than the others, so I combined two flowers and tacked

them down with my sewing machine to make sure they stayed put.

(You could actually tack this by hand, I'm just kinda OCD about my stuff not falling apart.)

I started with the doubled flower and went from there.

Always, always, always try your stuff on before you

permanently tack it down. I'm just sayin'...

You'll save yourself a lot of ripping out

time if you make sure everything is placed where you want first.

(No one wants a fluttery flower, no matter how pretty, stickin' out

from an awkward place, know what I'm sayin'?)

Try it on first!

This is another step you could skip, but something I did

with the bottom flower just to change things up a bit.

So, do you think you'd ever try something like this?

Do you buy things and change them up

or are you just as happy to buy and wear?

I'm kinda startin' to think I have a problem,

'cuz I mess with everything I buy...