My friend L. emailed me one day with this link, asking if I was up for trying this simple T-shirt refurbishing project. Since she was offering her crafting expertise and sewing machine, I could not refuse. I struggled a bit with the initial instructions, so I decided to document this DIY project in every minute detail to help other novices (like me) be able to do this even without the help of an expert seamstress. (Thanks, L!)

Materials Needed:

• Old t-shirt (we thrifted these discarded German Army shirts for under 3 Euros each)
• Elastic (approx. 1.5 meters per shirt)
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine (preferred)

Instructions:

After you’ve chosen your t-shirt to deconstruct, begin by measuring the circumference of your chest (watch L. demonstrate…)

Cut the elastic to size so that it will fit around your chest snuggly (this will hold up your top, so a snugger fit is preferred.)

The bottom hem will now be your new top hemline, running across your chest. Using a seam cutter, tear a hole large enough to run the elastic through it. (Tip: choose a spot on the side of the shirt that will likely be hidden under your arm when worn, rather than in the front or back).

After you’ve run the elastic completely through the seam, bring the two ends together and try the shirt on. You may find that you have to pull the elastic tighter still before sewing the ends together. Once you’ve determined the perfect fit, sew the elastic ends together and hand-sew the cut in the seam shut.

Now your shirt will look like this…

Flip the shirt upside down and begin working on what will become your bottom seam and pockets. Pinning the neckline together helps keep the shirt from shifting as you cut across the neckline to widen the opening and make it your new waistline…

Next, flip the sleeves in and upward on the shirt, positioning them as the pockets they will become. Use pins to fasten them in place so that they remain in the desired position while you work on the bottom seam…

Turn the shirt inside out so that you can secure the bottom seam in place with pins…

Turn about an inch of the seam upward and pin into place, so that you can sew a new seam along the bottom of your top. Before you sew it in place, I suggest trying it on once more with the pockets and seams pinned into place to make sure that you have cut an opening that is large enough to fit comfortably around your hips and that the pockets are well positioned for how you would like them to look. Once you’re satisfied with how it looks, sew that bottom seam into place (you will also be sewing the sleeves/pockets into their new position along that hemline as well). . .

At this point, you will have tried on your shirt several time and will have moved and re-shifted your pins more times than you can remember, so it’s only fair to go ahead and pour yourself a margarita. Yes, that is a legitimate step in this shirt-reconstruction project.

This next step is optional. If you want to creating ruching along the top of your new pockets, then measure and cut a piece of elastic that is slightly shorter than the circumference of top of your pockets and follow the same steps you took in running the elastic through the seams the first time around (as described above).

Once you’ve rushed the tops of your new pockets, secure the pockets to the top by sewing along each side of the pocket like so…

Congratulations! Your shirt is complete. At this point, you can leave it as is or add any embellishments, adornments, or other such details. L. and I decided to add a couple of abstract floral decals to the top, so we used a bit of scrap fabric she had from her sewing left-overs and cut out a few floral embellishments…

I added one little decal to the pocket and one to the top right side of my new shirt. I attached them by hand-stiching all along the border of my decal to secure it to the shirt. Another alternative would be using a no-sew adhesive tape to attach your embellishments, as E. did with these flower decals on her cardigan.

And you’re done! While this project took a bit of time the first time I around, I wanted to share these instructions with you because I think it is a relatively easy project that even a novice like me can try. And it takes a plain old shirt from your wardrobe (or thrift store) and completely changes it up.  The resulting shirt is still a blank canvas – add ribbon, lace trim, floral embellishments, buttons, or even straps to it.

For my next one, I would like to try using a graphic t-shirt that could take on a fun abstract result when flipped upside down, or a solid colored tee, adding some lace trim and ribbon straps that  could tie into a bow on top of the shoulders.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful and have fun reconstructing your own old t-shirts! S.

And since I celebrated my height yesterday for Dress Your Best week, it seems appropriate to post a sewing project prompted by my need for a longer-than-in-stores dress.

Supplies:

• a tank top
• 2 yards or so of patterned fabric
• scraps of a coordinating fabric for pockets
• matching thread
• disappearing fabric pen or chalk

Steps:

1.  Measurements. Take your measurements for the skirt portion. Measure your natural waist. Stand in front of the mirror and measure your desired length. To make our math easy, let’s say that my waist is 30 inches and my desired length is 22 inches, plus 1 inch for seam allowances and hemming. (Okay, actually it should be more like 1.5 inches, but I was willing to sacrifice a quarter inch.)
2.  Then, put on the tank top you’ll be using. Standing in front of the mirror, use a disappearing fabric pen to mark the smallest part of your waist or wherever you want your skirt to begin.

3.  Measure and cut your patterned fabric. You’ll need two identical pieces 30 inches x 23 inches.

4.  Pocket time! Freshly Picked has a handy pocket pattern, or you can simply fold a piece of fabric in half and draw around your hand, leaving about a half inch allowance all the way around.

Pin and cut out a pair. You’ll need four total pocket pieces.

5.  Take your pieces of skirt fabric (30×23″), measure three inches from the top edge, and pin a pocket piece to each side, right sides together.

6.  Use a 1/4″ seam to stitch the pocket to the skirt piece. Repeat for all four pieces.

7.  Press the pocket pieces open.

8.  Pin the skirt pieces together, right sides facing each other. Sew a 1/2″ seam along the edge, going around the pocket.

9.  Turn the skirt right side out, press your seams flat, and marvel at your pocket-making prowess.

10.  Hemming. Turn and press your bottom hem 1/4″, then turn up 1/2″, press, and stitch. Nice and clean.

11.  Tank top time. Remember that mark you made on your tank top? Pin the layers of the tank together to keep things in place. Extend the initial mark across your tank top and (deep breaths) cut. A few tips: measure up from the hem of the tank to your mark, then duplicate that measurement along the width of the tank top, measuring from the bottom. Connect the dots and cut on the line. Also, when I do this again, I’ll probably cut a quarter inch above my initial measured line, to accommodate the stretching/sagging that will occur with the added weight of the skirt.

12.  Gathering the skirt. Set a long stitch length on your machine and stitch a 1/4″ seam around the top edge of the skirt. Gently pull the end threads to gather. Carefully spread the gathers evenly around the skirt waist until the width of the skirt waist is the same as the width of your cut tank top.

13. Putting it all together. Here is where things get a little tricky. You need to pin the skirt and tank together, right sides facing each other. I matched up the side seams of the skirt with the side seams of the tank and pinned those first. Then, I evenly pinned the rest of the skirt together to the tank, trying to avoid puckering. You can pull or ease out the skirt gathers as necessary.

14.  Stitch the tank and skirt together using a 1/2″ seam. You’ll be sewing just outside of the 1/4″ gathering stitch. Be careful not to stray, otherwise your gathering seam will be visible in the final product.

15. Ta da! Flip everything right side out and try it on!

A note of warning. My tank definitely stretched some during sewing, meaning that it doesn’t hug the narrowest part of my like it used to. I, of course, just used a stretchy belt to solve the issue (a sash would also do the trick) and that usefully covered any awkward puckering too.

If you’re worried about being able to get the whole contraption on easily — given the whole knit + woven situation — I’d bet that you could actually sew in a wide elastic waistband to join the woven skirt with the knit tank, adjusting measurements accordingly. Basically, follow the skirt tutorials I linked to above that have a wide elastic waistband and then attach your tank to the elastic waist rather than the skirt itself. You’ll have a strip of visible black or white elastic, of course, but you can either enjoy the colorblocking or cover it with a wide belt.

I can imagine so many fun variations on this. A striped tank with a floral skirt. A graphic print tank with a solid skirt. An analogous color combination of tank and skirt. An embellished tank with an attached skirt. None of my old tank tops are safe! And, yes, I just may go raid the sheets and table cloth section of my local Goodwill to build up a skirt fabric stash.

Sources:

• Grey Cardigan – H &M, embellished by me
• Purple Tank – Gap
• Denim Skirt – Gap
• Boots – Banana Republic, via ebay

I’ve had this grey cardigan for years.  For a while it was a staple in my wardrobe (making almost as frequent appearances as my beige cardi does now) but eventually, I just stopped wearing it much.  I got bored with it, but I couldn’t bring myself to toss it in the donation pile.  When E. decided to do a cardi-embellishing project, this seemed the perfect item to breath new life in to.

Despite the fact that E’s sewing and crafting abilities are far superior, I took on a slightly more difficulty DIY…but, trust me, if I can pull it off, so can you.

To make these little flowers you will need:

• Scrap Fabric (I used a purple jersey)
• Thread in to match your fabric
• Scissors
• A Needle
• A few pins

Cut  your fabric into 1-1 1/2 inch wide strips, 4-6 inches long (I used a variety of sizes). Fold the fabric strip in half and pin it to keep it folded.

Then do a running-stitch across the bottom (where the folded ends meet).

Pull the thread on one end to gather the fabric together. Use your fingers to adjust the gathering and shape the fabric into flowers.

You can either make a few stitches to keep the fabric in this shape, or tack the flowers directly to the cardigan, shaping a bit as you go.  I played around with the placement of the flowers for a while, but eventually settled on a keeping them on one side of the neck line.  I still have some fabric left over, so I can always add a few more flowers later.

I know have the DIY embellishment bug and I’m excited to go through my drawers looking for tired pieces just begging for a few ruffles or a corsage of purple jersey!

7 March 2010 – Embellished Cardigan DIY, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

• Embellished cardi: Target + Amy Butler fabric + a little DIY
• Navy top: Target
• Denim pencil skirt: Banana Republic Factory
• Gray knee socks: mom’s from college
• Boots: Steve Madden Iriss

End Notes:

I adopted this little green cropped cardigan from one of my sisters-in-law, but shortly thereafter it developed a little hole in the shoulder. Rather than throwing it away, I thought that it would serve as the perfect base for trying my hand at cardigan-embellishing. I started with this Blushing Bouquet cardigan from Anthropologie as my general inspiration:

A few simple steps:

1.  Select a fabric with a strong print. Iron on a length of fusible web to the back of your fabric.

2.  Cut out the pattern you want to applique. I tried to get a variety of sizes of flowers and leaves from my fabric.

3.  Lay out the cut-outs on your cardigan. I wanted mine to go all the way around the neck, so I couldn’t lay everything out at the same time. Instead, I selected a few flowers as anchor points and ironed those into place.

4.  Keep ironing the cut-outs onto your cardigan until you have the desired look. And… ta da!

A Few Notes: Any time you adhere a woven fabric to a knit, you lose the stretch of the knit. So, if you need your cardi to keep that stretch — particularly around the bust, for example — then refrain from appliqueing embellishments there. Also, be sure to follow the directions on whatever brand of fusible web you purchase for best results. And finally, I think this is going to be a handwashed laundry item from here on it. But I think it’s worth it.

If academia doesn’t work out, maybe I’ll just become a full-time cardigan embellisher. I know that, given time and supplies, I could very well make something like this or this or this. And look how many fabulous — and often surprisingly easy! — ways there are to fancy up your cardigan using ribbon or just scraps of fabric!

• Lace bits!
• Wee little bird appliques!
• JCrew look-a-like ruffled cardigan!
• (Archival Allure tries out two options herself.)
• Über-ruffles!

As always, we’d love to see what you’ve come up with yourself!

Ah, the winter shorts. So contradictory and impractical of a trend that it’s spread like wildfire. Even J.Crew can’t help pairing their shorts with blazers, classic cardigans, or crisp button downs (just see above for proof). So who am I to fight it? I actually love the winter shorts trend because it’s just like wearing wool tights with skirts or dresses only better; No worrying about your skirt flying up in the wind or your dress static-clinging to your nyloned legs. You get the best of both worlds.

Since I’ve been getting so much mileage out of my recently purchased tweed shorts, I decided to take a pair of scissors to an old pair of jeans and gift myself a second pair of winter shorts. A denim cut-off pair. I think it was around the mid nineties that I last turned a pair of jeans into cut-offs, so I proceeded with caution and recorded the transformation for your benefit as well. In just a few easy steps, you too can be the proud owner of a pair of denim cut-offs…

Supplies:

• Old jeans to be cut up
• A pair of well fitting shorts for comparison purposes
• Scissors

The Process:

Pick a pair of jeans that you won’t be sorry to cut up. Of all the jeans I brought abroad with me, I was most willing to part with these black DKNY ones that I thrifted a few years back. Since I’m really liking a narrow or skinny jean cut as of late, I decided to breathe new life into this flared pair by converting them to shorts.

It helps if you already own a pair of well fitting shorts that you could use as a measuring guide. These don’t have to be jean or dress shorts, even a pair of workout shorts would do if you like how they fit and the length is a good indicator for how long you’d liked your new pair to be. I love the fit of these tweed shorts, so I used them as my measuring guide. I found this to be easier than trying to mark the jeans or to indicate with pins the length I’d like to achieve.

Simply lay your model pair of shorts on top of the jeans and cut a few good inches lower. Make sure your jeans are laying the same way as the shorts –  with the hem seams lined up. The front waistband will be lower when the hems match up (see top image for example). Don’t match up the waistbands because this will result in uneven leg seams once the shorts are on (you need more fabric in the tush area).

Once you’ve double checked that the shorts and jeans are lined up correctly, start cutting a good section below the hems of the model shorts. Account for rolling the hem if that’s what you want to do and err on the longer side with your first cut.

Once you cut both jean legs off, roll the cuffs for your desired end effect and try them on for fit. Trim another inch or two off if they’re too long or enjoy more of a trouser shorts look. Style as desired.

Now, any tips on what to do with that left over jean fabric?

Sources:

• Red and white eyelet top – from my grandmother’s closet
• Black cardi – Marona, thrifted (embellished by me)
• Jeans – thrifted
• Wool leg warmers – local drugstore
• Boots – Dillards

Endnotes:

This is something I wore during my break in Romania and never got to posting. I’m now back in Munich and back to work. When I wore this, I was just spending a casual day reading and hemming a dress of my mom’s that I found that she probably wore in the 70s or 80s. I can’t wait until it’s warmer out and I can wear it. I’ve been inspired by a plethora of sources lately to flex my DIY muscles a bit more. I will long not be the DIY queen that our E. is but I’m hoping to get better at handling a needle and thread (I don’t have a sewing machine) so that I can buy all those lovely garments I always see while thrifting and put back because I don’t know how to alter them.

Buttons, originally uploaded by academichic.

Buttons, originally uploaded by academichic.

I’m starting small with a dress hem and this embellished cardi I’m wearing. I was inspired by this embroidered black cardi by the lovely remixer ‘The Frog’s Eyebrows‘ and the button embellished cardi crafted by the stylish Clodo to pull out my own thrifted black cardi and spruce it up a bit. It’s hard to go wrong with DIY’ing a thrifted item since it’s not likely to have cost much or be all too irreplaceable. I found a handful of pretty vintage buttons in my grandmother’s sewing drawer and grouped them in clusters of three in shades of red and whites to adorn the cardi’s neckline. It’s not much of a change but just enough to make the cardi feel a little more exciting and new to me. I still want to try my hand at embroidering a cardigan, but that will have to wait until I thrift a practice item and some embroidery ribbon.

How about you? Are you of the crafty sort and if so, what are your favorite kinds of DIY projects? For us novices, do you have any words of wisdom? Also, does anyone know of a site with great embroidery patterns for free? Thank you, as always, for your input! S.

6 January 2010, originally uploaded by academichic.

3 September 2009 – Independent Study, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

• Purple cardi: Gap Outlet
• Gray nursing cami: Target
• Black jeans: thrifted and “skinnied” by me
• Orange pumps: Dolce Vita, via solestruck

End Notes:

Though this is just a simple outfit for running errands, I need to momentarily crow about the pair of jeans I’m sporting here. These indeterminately colored jeans were part of my thrifting haul a few weeks ago. They were bootcut and, as such, were quite flattering. But I’ve been having a hankering for a slimmer fit on my bottom half and decided that this $5 pair would serve as the perfect sacrificial lamb for another foray into DIY land. (That’s a mixed metaphor.)

As Sal wrote a few weeks ago, taking a scissors, needle, and thread to your existing wardrobe is a great way to revamp your wardrobe for practically free. I’m far from a skilled seamstress, but I know my way around a sewing machine well enough to hack at existing pieces in an attempt to tailor them more to my needs or taste. I’ve chopped and hemmed pants to make bermudas, shortened dresses, and even done a few more complicated reworkings, like the orange maxi-dress-turned-drapey-knee-length-number.

A quick Google search resulted in a plethora of written and video tutorials on how to make skinny jeans. I ended up primarily following the advice of this one and using a pair of my pre-preggers straight leg jeans as an additional guide. It took a couple rounds of experimenting (better to sew too wide than too narrow!), but I’m pleased with the results. This is my version of “skinny”: more straight than tapered, skimming over the hip but with a close enough fit to appear on trend.

And, as Angie over at YLF recently noted, skinnies aren’t going away any time soon. I have a feeling I’ll be heading back to Goodwill soon, hoping to snag a few more pairs of ready-to-skinny jeans.

3 September 2009 – Independent Study, originally uploaded by academichic.

The Background Story:

Initially, T. and I had a bigger wedding planned for next year. We felt that it was expected of us by family and by friends who’d invited us to their weddings to reciprocate with a similar event. With both of us being knee-deep in PhD work and my getting ready to spend a research year abroad, the bigger wedding in the works was growing into a on-going financial and time-sucking burden. But we both felt that it was what we had to do.

The moment we both admitted to each other (and ourselves!) that we were willing to risk disappointing others to make ourselves happy with this, we knew we wanted to cancel the bigger event in the works and just elope.

The Gang, originally uploaded by academichic.

We didn’t want to elope in the original sense of the word since we both really wanted our immediate families present. We also knew that we could throw a small but nice wedding with much less planning time than our original wedding had entailed, so we decided to wait no longer and book the first date available to both sets of parents for travel. And that was on a Tuesday.

Having a Tuesday Wedding proved to be an unexpected blessing. Barring the strange looks and surprised reactions we got from many when sharing our date, it actually proved quite advantageous to the short-term nature of our planning. We were able to book a small reception room at our restaurant of choice, hire our photographer of choice, and secure our ceremony site with no competition from other wedding couples whatsoever! And all within two weeks notice!

Our Tuesday Wedding was one of the best and most meaningful days of my life. Often there seems to be an implied assumption that the size of your event counts as a direct reflection of your devotion to each other. In today’s consumer culture, bigger and more becomes equated with better and more respectable. But small, intimate weddings are no less charming or elegant. Here is how we planned our small, less than twenty person wedding in two weeks time and made memories to last a lifetime…

The Ceremony Site:

With both of us being academics, it was only too appropriate that we would wed on a college campus. Here’s the thing: college campuses are public spaces and there is no fee for gathering fourteen people together at any given spot and having two stand up for vows. We realized that as long as we didn’t set up chairs or do anything out of the ordinary, we could gather at our favorite spot on campus and hold our small ceremony at no cost to us.

Tip: Check the campus calendar to make sure your day doesn’t coincide with orientation events, on-campus rallies, or anything else that would seriously ruin the mood.

Backup Plan: When you’re planning an outdoor ceremony, you of course need a backup plan in case of rain. Ours was simple: I collected a plethora of fun and colorful umbrellas. We figured that in the case of rain, we could incorporate the umbrellas into the ceremony and consequent photo shoot, embracing it rather than fighting it.

Image originally found here.

Champagne Toast:

We did not have music nor a formal entrance or exit strategy so we decided to make our ceremony special by ending it with a champagne toast. Nothing gets people more excited than a bit of bubbly, right?

The Reception Dinner:

Following our ceremony, we retreated to a wonderful local restaurant that gave us a private room for the evening. Upscale restaurants often have banquet rooms available for special events and will usually only charge for the dinner and drinks consumed and not for the use of the venue. We were also able to bring in our own table decor, which gave us another excuse to get crafty the morning of our wedding. We purchased several grocery store bouquets in our wedding colors and went to work making bouquets, boutonnieres and arranging them into small vases to adorn our dinner table:

For other simple yet stylish table arrangement ideas, check out John and Sherry’s lemons and limes centerpieces or use tissue paper flowers to decorate an indoor or outdoor space, such as Mithi of Mithi’s Creative Journey did. We made these for E’s baby shower and you can learn how easy they are to construct right here.

Marque pompom inside, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

The Getaway Car:

A limousine is not the only way to transport your wedding party in style. T. and I lucked out with access to his cute vintage MG. Having logged over 5,000 miles across the country together in this car, it carried even more special meaning to us as a wedding ride. Alternative getaway means that I just love are bikes!

Image originally found here.

Racing Bride and Groom, originally uploaded by jenniferbarbaraanne.

Or why not something as unexpected as a tractor? Be creative, borrow a friend’s ride you’ve been eyeing, use something that has meaning to you both, and think outside of the limousine box if you’re working on a budget.

a “couple” more, originally uploaded by kimmckown.

The Extras:

Having cut so many of our costs by going small and simple, we were able to splurge and book our photographer of choice. Wedding photography can be quite pricey so with our original plan, we were going to ask a friend to photograph our wedding. Having extra wiggle room in our budget, we went ahead and treated ourselves to a professional photographer and it was definitely worth it!

Anther bonus: we now have the funds to take the honeymoon of our dreams next summer! We’re going to Ireland!

Overall, we could not have been happier in following our instincts and changing our wedding plans to better reflect what we wanted of the day rather than doing what we thought was wanted of us. We met with some resistance along the way but it seems that every wedding story has its ups and downs and there will always be some who will ‘dissaprove’ of your plans – you just can’t please everyone. But it is your wedding, so you should first and foremost aim to please yourself with this event. And as one lovely reader put it, Tuesdays will now always carry a special meaning to us. S.

Just Married!, originally uploaded by academichic.

Our recent wedding was a small affair comprised of less than twenty guests. While we didn’t do a grand event, we still wanted small personalized touches to make the day feel special. So one of our ideas was to have a champagne toast at the end of our ceremony, with which we and our guests could toast to our new life together. Here are some ideas on how to serve an outdoor champagne toast that is both elegant and budget-friendly.

I wanted something nicer than plastic-ware for our toast, and as it turns out, it was cheaper to buy glass stemware at the local Goodwill than plastic champagne flutes at the party supply store! Not to mention more environmentally friendly! I scoured the two local thrift stores and put together the above collection of stemware (comprised of 14 glasses) for less than $10. I was in luck and found a set of matching purple wineglasses which went with our wedding colors perfectly. I found a second set that had a darker stem but went with the purple ones due to their identical height and shape. Our one ‘splurge’ was a set of actual champagne flutes for the two of us, which we’ll also enjoy at future anniversaries. ($4 each at Crate and Barrel).

On a related note, Sherry and John of Young House Love, similarly reveal how they actually saved money by buying flatware from Ikea rather than renting it from a catering company. They then donated their excess of plates to a charity afterwards, thus allowing someone else to benefit from it. Check out that and many other creative, budget-friendly, and stylish wedding ideas on their wonderful Wedding How-To post!

To carry the glasses to the ceremony location, I found two wicker baskets with carrying handles also at Goodwill for only 75 cents each. I opted for ones in rosy warm colors to once more keep with our wedding colors of purple and fuschia.

The toast glasses were then placed in the wicker baskets nestled between layers of purple tissue paper. The tissue paper not only gave it a festive look but also cradled the glasses securely inside the basket for easy and safe transport.

We then bought two ice buckets from Target ($12 each) to keep the champagne cool while outdoors. The two baskets and two champagne coolers made a festive addition to our ceremony site and for a tasty treat after our vows. At the end of the ceremony, A. and T’s brother each took a basket around and offered a glass to our guests, while our dads ceremoniously popped open a bottle of bubbly. We then all toasted to the day and and many more good ones to come!

Searching thrift stores for the glassware and baskets made this an inexpensive and easy DYI project. Purchasing reusable glassware also meant less waste (financially and environmentally), and gave us a nice little collection of stemware for future garden parties,  which will always carry a special memory with them as well. Cheers!  S.

When making the bouquets for my wedding, A. and I also made the boutonnieres for the remaining wedding party. This too was not something we had any experience with, but was surprisingly easy and quick once we figured out a methodology. To learn how to make a boutonniere yourself, click here…

The supplies required to make a boutonniere are the same ones as for the bouquet. Click here for a complete list.

Begin by choosing the flowers you’d like for your boutonniere and removing all the leaves from the stems.

Group a few flowers together in the formation you’d like for the boutonniere. We used four fuschia flowers and one purple one and held them in a diamond formation to create a stacked effect.

Trim the stems and bind them tightly together using floral tape.

Cover the entire stem with green floral tape. Unlike with the bouquet, this will be the finished look for the boutonniere’s stem.

Spray the finished boutonnieres with hairspray and then place them in your refrigerator until needed.

We wanted to make a slightly different boutonnieres for the moms to make them stand out. We asked them to choose the flowers they most liked and made a predominantly pink boutonniere for them, finishing them off with a pink ribbon bow. Once we figured out how to make the first boutonniere, the rest were quick and easy and made for a personalized finished result.