Target Tuesday: Floral Corsage Tank

Ever since Jenna Lyons took over as creative director at J.Crew in 2007, I have been completely obsessed with their clothing. I love all their vintage-inspired details - from the ruffled edges on the cardigans to the organza petals fluttering about their t-shirts. Whenever I go shopping at J.Crew with my girlfriends, they always tease me about the fact that I will pick up a flower-embellished garment and say "I can make that". Well, maybe I could (maybe not!), but I never tried...until today.

So, I headed over to Target in search of some basic tops that I could give a "J.Crew-esque" makeover. I immediately found what I was looking for when I spotted this lavender-pink ribbed cotton tank.

At only $7.99, the price was right and I loved the color. I decided it would look perfect embellished with a corsage of fabric flowers, so I gathered together the supplies that I needed:

*scraps of fabric in a variety of textures (velvet, organza, tulle, satin)

*sew-on velcro (not the sticky kind!)

*rhinestones or other embellishment

*needle and thread (in coordinating shade)

*scissors

*marking pencil

I began by making my fabric flowers. There are a great many tutorials out there on how to do this, but I just kind of make mine up. I start by cutting out a bunch of flower shapes in several sizes - and the great thing about this is that they can be very imperfect flower shapes. In fact, the more funky the shapes are, the more interesting your flower will look.

I suggest using a variety of different textured and colored fabrics. I chose tulle netting and several different satins in shades of cream, lavender, mauve, and pink. Once you have a bunch of cut-out flowers, just stack them up and sew them together with a few stitches in the middle. The number of flower layers is up to you - but the more layers, the more substantial and dramatic your flower will be.

If you gather up (scrunch!) the middle of each flower a bit, you will get more of a fluffy, 3-D effect.

When you are happy with your flowers, you can add some rhinestones or crystals to the centers.

If you use washable fabrics, you can sew your flowers directly onto the tank. Personally, I find that the flowers never quite look as good again after they are washed, so I prefer to attach them with velcro. Then I can simply just remove them before I toss them in the wash. To do this, I just sew on some small pieces of velcro to both the back of my flowers and the tank itself.