Fabulous spring flats

Just in time for Easter Sunday, how about some pretty Spring ballet flats?

 I bought some sweet little basic white ballet flats for my four-year-old from the fancy French store they call Target.  Immediately, I decided they need a little brightening up for Spring.



If you have some fabric and ribbon scraps and a pair of  bored ballet flats, you can have delicious little Spring shoes in no time ( a grown-up version would be great too)!

quick spring jacket upgrade : from delightful to super delightful in 25 minutes

Question: What is wrong with this jacket?




Answer: Not a thing

I bought this cheery Spring pea coat for my daughter from Old Navy.  It's cotton knit,  cute, comfortable, perfect, still I couldn't leave it alone.  Maybe it was a longing for Spring flowers or my uncontrollable urge to embellish everything, but I simply had to add some brightly colored fabric flowers to the jacket.  I gathered some colorful fabrics from my stash, got to work and in a short time, the Old Navy jacket was upgraded from cute to deliciously cheerful!

 

If you have the same need for color and uncontrollable urge to embellish, gather these supplies and play along:

• two scraps of polyester-blend fabric in different colors (I used satin in 1/8 yard strips)
• denim fabric scraps
• scissors
• fabric pen or regular pen
• glue gun
• tea light or candle
• Drinking glasses in various sizes or other round items to trace
• beads, buttons or jewels for the the middle of your flowers
• 1-2 bar pins or safety pins
• Small piece of felt to back the flowers ( it helps if the felt is the same color as your jacket)

Quick Spring Jacket Upgrade Tutorial: 

From Delightful to Super Delightful in 25 Minutes

1.  Make two melted flowers from your two different colors of poly-blend fabrics. Make one slightly larger than the other (click here to read how to make melted flowers).

2.  Make three pinwheel flowers, all the same size, from your denim fabric (click here for instructions to make pinwheel flowers).

3. Cut a circle out of your felt just big enough to hold all of your flowers.

4.  Attach all of the flowers to the felt circle using hot glue.  Place the flowers as close together as possible or even overlap them so that the felt isn't visible between flowers.  Try to glue almost the entire back of the flower to the felt  so the flower won't droop and flop when you hold the felt up.

5.  Cut off any felt edges that are visible from the front.

6.  Add a bar pin to the back of the felt using hot glue or you can just use a safety pin to attach it to the jacket.  If your flower pin is extra large, you may need to use two pins (top and bottom) to hold it in place.


7.  Attach your cheerful little upgrade to your jacket and notice how you suddenly have sunshine on a cloudy April day.

 

I am sharing my project on Savvy Southern Style and these blogs this week.

Melted Flower Tutorial

Melted Flower Tutorial

Supplies
Hot glue
scissors
pen
glasses in various sizes or other round items to trace
tea light or candle
scrap of of fabric about 1/8 yd ( always use a fabric with polyester in it for this project.  I like satin.)


1. Trace circles in graduated sizes onto the back of your fabric (I used a variety of cups for my templates).

2.  Cut out all of your circles, being sure to cut off the pen marks.

3. Light tea light and set it on a flat, heat-safe surface.

4. With the right side of the fabric facing up, (tracing marks on the back) hold the edge of the fabric circle over the flame to melt and ruffle the edges.  Continue melting the entire perimeter of the circle    ( you may want to practice on a scrap first).

5.  When each circle has melted edges, glue them together (biggest on bottom, smallest on top)

6. Add a center ( fabric, buttons, beads, etc.) with hot glue