DIY: Saving your Stuff with Embellishments

I am all about camouflaging imperfections in order to renew things to better serve their purpose. From curtains covered in doilies, to clothing, throws, lampshades or purses covered in lace ruffles or fabric rosettes, there are many options out there to save that coveted, ruined object. Have you thrown something out that you later regretted, something that could have been saved by a tiny embellishment? Do you go thrifting to find a shirt that is perfect, except for a small stain or rip? Well, there are plenty of great options to fix that! Fabric rosettes are easy to make and can simply be stitched or even glued on. Over 40 great flower tutorials here!

 

Doilys can be tea stained for a vintage aging effect. They are easy to handstitch, or can be ironed on using stitch witchery.

retro doily window covering by enchanted little pixie 

embellished throw using ribbons, ruffles and lace salvaged from old clothing tutorial by nester

lace ruffled shirt tutorial to hide a stain by me, littlelovables

flowered embellished dress to camouflage ink stains by in the fun lane

 

Personal Style: Layering Bling

Just a quick little fashion tip. If you look in my closet, you will probably see about 3/4 of the shirts I wear are similar to this, in varying shades of brown or gray. My clothing manifesto mentioned that I was tiring of experimenting with all the trends and bright colors and such. So, to not be totally boring, I layered two statement necklaces. The winged lion is one I made using an amazing vintage pendant. I do have more available if you want one! The pink acrylic waterfall necklace is forever 21. I think they go kind of perfect together, and I love the cool, jingle feeling as well. Pair the boring 'ole top with some skinny jeans, faux leather leggings and sassy shoes and you're good to go.

 But the best accessory is a cutie hunk of a man...

 ... and two adorable offspring on their best behavior.

Personal Style: Pinstripe Vest

I found this double breasted, pinstriped (cream/brown) denim vest with super cute buckles and ruffles at Goodwill. A whole bunch of things I love, but on a vest? I don't usually do vests. So I brought it home and tried it with this heather gray athletic craft shirt. It may not match, but I think it's pretty cute and it helps me keep my back straight... so there's a plus for my poor posture.

 earrings, made by me available here

This picture makes me sad. I got all wild the other night and chopped 8 inches off my hair! (which really means about 6 inches, right?) So, now, no more fun buns and updos. I'll talk more about the cut in another post.

 

My two boys showing their fashion sense. Which is perplexing since they never wear these clothes... usually they prefer to wear the same four shirts all week long (Leggo Starwars and some cute monster shirts). Caleb is loving the beanie right now, even though it's crazy hot.

 And, these outfit posts would not be possible without my David. So, here is a little outfit post from him.

Personal Style: 70s Humanity. Sequined Scarves. Trousers.

  Something a little unexpected. Very 70's. I would never in a million years pair these colors together.

Looks like it's been a million years.

I love this shirt, and apparently, pairing washed out, fitted graphic tees in unexpected ways is a new thing for me to be documenting. The shirt reads, "Humans are no way to treat a planet." "A modified version of a quote from Kurt Vonnegut Jr. "Life is no way to treat an animal"." From those rapscallions,  mixed species.

And oh, if you think these are wide leg trousers... you should have seen the ones I put back! I kind of regret it, though they were a tad hideous/glorious and only $6.

I did very light and natural make-up since I was on the way to the gym. Though, I think it would look better with this outfit had I done a very heavy, winged black liquid liner.... and attempted to do something with my hair.

I shrunk a really cute, wool anthropologie cardigan a while back. Before I gave it to a local 5 year old girl (who loved it), I cut off the trim, and behold, this heavily beaded lace scarf was born.

shirt: mixed species
ring: miss bellas room   (her etsy)
trousers: bannana republic, thrifted
shoes: thrifted
belt: calvin klein, thrifted
neckerchief/scarf: anthropologie trim cut off a cardigan

*linked to clothed much's rule breaking monday

Personal Style: Retrofitting a Batman and Robin T-Shirt

Behold my Batman and Robin tshirt. One of my very first thrifted finds ever,  from yeeaaarrsss ago. My trusty, (nearly) vintage, Chris O'Donnell as Robin ringer tee. The one that always invokes questions from my 5 year old such as, "Is that a boy shirt?" "Why you like to wear that?", "Can we get daddy one?", and so forth.

I like to usually wear the tee like below, but I wanted to snarf it up a bit, so I added this little gray shrug, and smokey eyes. I think it's kind of cute, different, and unexpected.

These jeans have some spandex in them, so I must wear a belt otherwise they keep sliding down. But, I am fresh out of micro black belts and didn't want a gigantour buckle poofing out of the middle of my shirt, so I belted it to the side. It makes for a much better silhouette. Because belt buckles that look like a gut under your shirt is not winning.

The only danger, is random males will comment on any lady wearing a comic type tshirt. Like the magazine salesman guy my kids let in whilst I was telling them to pretend we weren't home. He also complimented my garden gnome.... I think he just wanted a sale. Too bad for him that I don't need any overpriced magazines!
 

*linked to clothed much's rule breaking monday.

Personal Style; Emasculating a Man's White V-Neck

So, I experimented with a men's athletic white v-neck. I was hoping for more of a relaxed drape, it's still a little stiff (especially around the shoulders), but hopefully it will loosen up after a while. I thought a middle partial tuck sans belt would make it look a little more 'intentionally styled'.
 

To roll the sleeves, I pinched it in about an inch, and rolled maybe two times, like the j.crew jean cuff roll. Everything here is thrifted, except for the shirt. I love these ballet flats b/c they have a huge bow on the toe. So, I spent around $18 for the whole outfit, max.

Beyond casual with a big a messy bun. Oh, and no I didn't darken my hair. I just used the Pantene brown glazing shampoo and conditioner. It adds a punch of depth to your color, I highly recommend it. Which, is serious since I'm a hairstylist and all. (Paul Mitchell and Redken color shampoos are also awesome, just happened to grab this when I was in a hurry... Pantene usually makes me shudder.)

* linked to: clothed much's rule breaking monday

Personal Style: Casual Glamour

I love bumming around in casual jersey. And when I say "bumming around", I mean running errands while wrestling with my kids. Usuallly, I would wear flats, but couldn't find them so I wore these trusty shoes. My (sold out) Shade jersey skirt is a little baggy and a little frumpy. Actually, it doesn't look quite as bad in person as it does in these photos. The fitted American Apparel athletic vintage fit gym tee is one of my favorite fits of all time. Unfortunately, the shirt doesn't hold up to washings very well and gets a little too faded/ pilly for my liking, but I'll survive. Especially since it's my favorite (sold out) Ich Liebe Etsy print.

So, I did this somewhat 40's wave with my bangs and another messy side chignon. Since I made my Ivory Rose earrings  using (increasingly harder to find) vintage cabs from around the same era, and donned my red lipstick, I feel justified. Casey has some wonderful retro hairstyle tutorials, and there are many on youtube as well.

 skirt: shade/ shirt: etsy / shoes: thrifted / earrings: jeweled ambrosia

To learn how to REALLY glam up this look, visit my post here.

*Linked to Clothed Much's Rule Breaking Monday.

Ruffle Shirt Tutorial and Layering Cardigans

Sachiko, the talent of Tea Rose Home has a beautiful ruffle shirt tutorial here.  In fact, she has several different ruffle shirt tutorials, and many other tutorials on making wonderful things as well. They are much more sophisticated than my layered lace shirt tutorial. All are beautiful but this one with the horizontal ruffles, and the demure fabric roses is my favorite.

Maybe it's my favorite because how soft it looks, or the calm, grain color, or even how it is paired with this cardigan in the perfect shade of robin's egg blue. Do visit here to see the step by step instructions (with clear photos) on making this shirt. Then, find a nice, light, cardigan you can layer over it. How about one of these?

 vintage 1960's cornflower blue ~ revive vintage

 vintage 60's embroidered sunny yellow cardigan ~ annetheia vintage

 vintage 60's fuzzy baby pink angora cardigan ~ the greedy seagull

 

 vintage 1950's pale yellow cardigan ~ bonjour dolly