DIY Corsage Shoe Clips

Uber-simple.  (So simple you don’t even need step-by-step photos to illustrate!)

You Need:

*2 silk flowers (I chose cream-colored peonies)
*small piece of stiff felt
*2 shoe clips

*scissors
*glue gun

How To:

1. Pull the flowers off their stems and trim off any jutting plastic from the underside.

2. Cut two small circles from the felt – large enough to become the base for each flower, but small enough to not show through in-between the petals.

3. Use glue gun to attach each felt circle to the underside of each flower and press the felt to cup the flower’s shape.  In order to stop the top layers of petals from falling off, you may also need to glue in-between each layer, near the center.

4. Open the shoe-clips, place a daub of hot glue on the felt (I chose near the top of the circle to minimize the amount the flower protrudes from the edge of the shoe), and press the non-toothed side of the shoe clip into the glue.  Squeeze more glue over that part to firmly attach it to the felt.

5. Allow to dry and remove gluey strings.

I’m liking this girly look on chunky clogs at the moment – found this pair at my local Goodwill and wanted to soften them up for the romantic look that’s so in right now.  I love the flower as juxtaposition to the organic wood of the soles.  Speaking of clogs, I also have a different pair [brown] of size 7 Nine West clogs up for sale here if anyone is interested.

Happy DIY’ing!
xoxoxo
Carly

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DIY Inspiration: Coco Avant Chanel

So apparently I’ve missed the few screenings of Coco Avant Chanel here in Portland that happened earlier this month. *sigh* I soooo wanted to see it, but looks like I’ll have to wait for it to come out on DVD (whenever that will be). Inspired by the sheer idea of the film (since I haven’t seen it), I crafted a few things Chanel-inspired:

Double-C Sequined Perfume-Bottle Brooch

Gold sequins glued onto black fabric in the shape of the iconic Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle, then bordered by silver bugle beads stitched around the edge. I glued on some rhinestone chain that I salvaged from a broken necklace in the shape of two interlocking C’s. Counterfeit couture. (Though I’m using the word “couture” loosely, since I used glue to attach the sequins.) I made this at least 5 years ago now…the bugle beads look absurdly crooked upon closer inspection; a mere shadow of the real thing.

Black & White Bow Shoe Clips

Made from frilly white chiffon ribbon and black satin wired ribbon wrapped around, and then stitched onto shoe clips.

Black & White Bow-Detail Cape

Made from two men’s sweatshirts. I’m posting the tutorial next, so stay tuned!  I’ve posted the tutorial here, so check it out!!

 Pirate Triple Pearl Necklace

The messy hair is on purpose. That’s the only way it can be explained.

I know this is a little bit of a deviation from the standard Chanel pearls, but I liked the pirate-esque nature of them. I made them from some cheap pearl rope I had laying about – and I added some little charms and this cool carved nut I found at a bead show. I know they would be much better if they were real – or even faux! – pearls and not these pearls fused to the string like this…but this would seriously take so many pearls and so much knotting in order to make I got tired of the idea before even attempting it.

Chanel-Style Camellia Brooch

This is the photo from the book; I didn’t actually make the brooch, sorry.

Adapted from the book “Ima Sugu Tsukuritai Co-saju” [“Corsages I Want to Make Right Now” Bunka Publishing, 2006]. Here’s the scanned, translated-by-me instructions below – just omit the instructions for the stem and attach the brooch back to the back of the flower for a Chanel-style piece.  See here for more DIY corsage patterns, by the way!

Click above for full size.

The book page is 8 1/8″ wide by 7 7/8″ high if you want to print it out, in order to make sure the petal pattern is sized correctly. The pattern requires the use of a round-headed stylus in order to create the rounded, 3D-effect to the petals. Not completely necessary, but it helps create a finished, professional look to your corsage. I haven’t sprung for the $30 heated stylus tool specifically for this purpose; I just use a metal muddler that has a small ball on the end. You could probably find a paint mixer or similar stylus tool at a crafts store. [And if you’re wondering where I found the muddler, it’s actually for mixing cel paints, courtesy of animation school in Japan. I don’t think you’ll find anything similar stateside.:-)

Hope this helps to get you into a Chanel-style mood – and hankering after black and white, stark contrasts, tweedy fabrics, pearls, and girly flowers. Have a lovely Chanel day!

xoxox
Carly

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