A Seasonal Crown: Apple Blossom Clematis

Do you remember my seasonal crown project? I started it the winter before last as a way to stay inspired and get outside in the colder months. I made a crown every month based on what I could forage for outside, which in winter meant a lot of a dry branches, dead leaves, and seed pods! It sounds a bit grim to describe the materials that way but I also made some really pretty crowns in autumn and winter--there was an evergreen and lunaria annua crown with silvery seed pods that still hangs in my kitchen. I have loads of lunaria annua seed pods in my house actually, I collected them a few years ago and I think they're so pretty gathered in bundles on my shelves. The lunaria flowers are blooming right now and I'm tempted to make another crown showing the two stages of the same plant--you never think looking at the flowers that they will eventually form those little round silvery seed pods later in the year. But my latest flower crown is this pretty one of creeping clematis vines.
This particular strain of clematis is very popular in my region, which is hardly surprising since it is the "apple blossom clematis" and I live in the Orchard County renowned for its countless orchards. Any walk or drive in my region means passing dozens of apple orchards, so it seems quite fitting to find this type of clematis creeping on many of the homes here as well. These pale pink flowers against the darker green vines and stone along this wall also seemed such a perfect echo of the ditsy floral pattern on my dress gifted to me by Plum & Pigeon. I found her clothes recently on Instagram and love her feminine classic designs. Everything is designed and handmade in Manchester. I mostly wear solid color clothes right now, but I couldn't resist this lovely dark floral dress made with a Liberty of London fabric. It's a lightweight cotton perfect for summer, but I already have my eye on her needlecord designs for autumn. I already have ideas to remix this dress as well--it's the perfect style to wear underneath a full skirt, or a pinafore dress.  

My next video project, once I finish the videos I have already begun filming, is to make a flower crown tutorial since I get asked about my crowns so often. I don't really have any special tips, but perhaps that will be the purpose of the video: demystifying the process! Sometimes we can be so intimidated by things we have never done before we don't stop to think whether they're actually that hard or challenging. Let me assure you, if you're making crowns--the way I am at least--they aren't difficult! Perhaps there are more expert methods, but that's no reason why we can't have fun making our own imperfect bits of art. There might be professional painters as well, but everyone is allowed to putter around with watercolors if the fancy takes them! One tip I do have for flower crowns is that if you want a very easy material to work with try vine flowers! This clematis was by far my easiest and most natural crown to make. The flowers are already on a naturally long and flexible stalks, so it's very easy to mould them into a simple round shape and wear. You really only need one strip of vine and a wee bit of wire or string to bind it in a circle and you're done. Other flowers like dandelions have shorter, thicker stalks that aren't necessarily as easy to bend or get torn when you try to bind them together with wire/string, but a vine doesn't break easily.