(Flower) Pothead

Oh, hey neighbor. Yeah, I'm taking pictures. Of myself. With a tripod in the front yard. What? These America's Next Top Model photos ain't gonna take themselves.

It's spring and I've officially become a Flower Pothead. I've spent hours on flowers: planting, painting, wearing, embroidering and decorating with them. This spring thing better stick around because I'm in deep. I thought I'd share with you just a bit of the flowery fantasticness I've gotten myself into:

Flowers in my Hair: Saw Casey wearing flowers in her hair on a recent post and just had to do the same. Mine are fake flowers purchased at JoAnn's hot glued to a hairclip.

Flowers in my Patterns: We dropped in my favorite vintage shop in Orlando, Paris Market Vintage, where I swooped up this sweet 1970's era skirt for a mere $4. If you are ever in the area, it's a great shop with the sweetest ladies working there.

Flowers on my Doorstep: I took these $10 plastic flower pots, turquoise spray paint and cheap acrylic paint and did 'em up Bob Ross style last year. They've sat outside all year with very little wear. I decided to try trailing petunias in the pots this year. I'll share with you how I painted these pots in an upcoming post.

Flowers on my Hoop: My embroidery hoop, that is. I managed to make some headway on our recent trip. I'm about half way finished now...you'll have to wait and see the result when it's complete. It might be a while.

Flowers in my Foyer: I don't care that they might be weeds, they are flowery just the same.

Flowers in Miniature Bottles: Hubs came home from a recent adventure with a sack full of these miniature jars. He'd been off-trail hiking and stumbled upon a cache of vintage trash. Such a great find, don't you think?

Flowers in the Sunshine: Nuff said. Hope things are coming up roses where you are!

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DIY: Hankie Pankie

Photo from last summer. Notice the slight tan and the relaxed I've-been-sleeping-in-for-the-past-month look about me. Hoping to get a little of that back with my upcoming Spring Break.

Okay, call me crazy, but I don't think this warm weather is going anywhere. It's been in the 80's for a week or more in these parts and I don't see any signs of stopping. Which is totally cool with me. In fact, I've gotten so excited about the warm weather I've begun the long process of pulling out my tub(ssss) of summer clothes. And, in doing so, I found this skirt I had created last summer. I thought it was kinda funny how similar in concept this Hankie Skirt (Skankie?) was to my Scarf Blouse (I've settled on Blarf).

Inspiration: anthropologie. Funny story, I was once scolded at an anthro store for taking pictures of a display. Now I'm much more stealthy.

I just about died when I saw this skirt at anthro last summer. And then I died some more when I saw the price tag. So I began thinking of creating my own Skankie using vintage hankies, not some knock-off printed-in-China ones as seen on the anthro skirt.

The hankies that didn't make the cut. To be honest, I just couldn't bear the thought of cutting into the 1952 calendar hankie...it's just too sweet.

And while I do have some vintage hankies, I knew I'd need quite a few to make this skirt. So a friend and I went on an antiquing adventure and stumbled upon a treasure trove of hankies. I only allowed myself to buy those that were under $3 which helped limit the huge selection. The best part about creating this skirt was hunting for those perfect little hankies.

This is one of the first sewing books I bought when I got my sewing machine several years ago. The directions are simple and the skirts are adorable.

 I decided to use the Swing Your Partner prairie skirt pattern from Sew What! Skirts. I sewed the hankies together, sometimes right sides together, sometimes overlapping the hankies if the edge was pretty. Once I had a strip of hankies sewn, I added muslin behind the hankies so they weren't so translucent.

Front and back of the skirt. The embroidery you see is on the belt...which is for sale in my shop.

 Then began the task of gathering. For the top piece, a strip of elastic was added for the waist. I do love me some elastic waistlines. Then I gathered the top edge of the fabric of the second piece with a basting stitch. After gathering, I pinned the right sides of the layers together and sewed. This step was repeated again for the bottom tier of the skirt. To get yourself some thorough, easy-to-comprehend directions, I strongly recommend this book. Or a youtube tutorial.

So there you have it, The Skakie. Perfect for these summery hot spring days.

Well, kids, that's all for now. I'm heading out of town to Memphis this weekend for an art teacher gathering and some hangout time with one of my favorite friends. This friend of mine is the talented one who helped me sew my first dress from a vintage pattern: http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html. I'll be back soonish with my What-I-Wore-This-Week post...which I'm really excited about as I've got something new in store! Enjoy the rest of your week.

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