Grace Langdon Art : How we do "preppy"

So around our house we don't really do preppy.

Its not that we don't like it, its just we are a little "different", my mom always described my style as classic with a twist. But a few weeks ago Reed and I went to the Carolina Cup. If you aren't from around here it is a horse race that has become an event that requires a certain southern dress code. The girls go traditional southern with bright colored sundresses (mostly Lilly Pulitzer) and large sun hats while the boys wear bow-ties, seersucker and any other range of bright spring fashion.

Of course Reed and I decided to be different and put our own swing on the Cup/Easter fashion.

(This is a picture from the beginning of The Cup. Reed and I are on the right I'm in the crazy pants and Reed has on his homemade bow-tie).

So, all that to say about a classically twisted style I thought I would share how we decided to dress Reed for the occasion. He doesn't own a bow-tie and we didn't want to go buy one because we didn't think he would ever wear it again. Obviously the only other solution was to make one :)

First things first, I got some old bow-ties from my mom. And yes these are "not real" cause you don't actually tie them. But I took the bow off and used the strap to attach Reeds new bow.

And here is the twist!

We didn't use fabric but decided to go with turkey feathers instead :)

So we laid them all out and found 6 that fit together relatively well and looked semi symmetrical.

Then it was easy. We just hot glued three feathers together, one set for each side of the bow.

And then hot glued them to the strap that was left over from the old bow ties.

Then all that was left was to choose what to wrap around the center to make it look more finished.

I was thinking that embroidery thread would be pretty to add a pop of color, or even twine to play with the rustic look. But we also saved the center from the old bow tie, which is what we ended up using.

Here is my hansom man with his new completely custom bow tie!

Its a little more old fashion than the others because of how straight it is but it totally fits him and he was so proud of himself. (PS. Reed made this one and I made the one below it)

This is the one I made wich was the same process just a little different in how I arranged the feathers.

I also mixed feathers, Reed wasn't a fan he thought it should stay in the same bird family. But this one has turkey feathers that are fanned out a little more to make it a little wider and the light feathers in the center are duck feathers. I just thought the contrast was nice.