I want to do more embroidery, and this brings up a very common crafty dilemma: what to make. We don’t have space to hang a pile of new artworks, pendants are fun and quick but I don’t need hundreds of them, and I’m not itching to attack the bed linen. What I’d like to do is embellish some clothing. These examples on my Pinterest board are along the lines of what interests me.

So one afternoon (with gloomy light thanks to bushfire smoke) I went through my wardrobe and pulled out garments that might look nice with, or be improve by, some embellishment. Then I opened the photos in Photoshop and played with the paintbrush tool to get a general idea for colours and position of designs.

This hemp vest and top, for example. I’m thinking a multi-coloured, flowery design or whitework:

Or this dress I made from a men’s shirt. I could add some feminine scrolly bits, or replicate the striped button band across the pockets, armholes and collar:

Perhaps this retro style dress needs some ladybirds on the collar and skirt, or tattoo style roses:

Speaking of roses, this jacket could do with a lift:

I’ve had these two ripply polyester tops from Motto for a while and I’m a bit bored with them. Nothing overly heavy would work with the fabric, but I like the idea of little french knots covering parts of them:

I love white shirts, but plain ones feel like part of a uniform to me. I’ve also been dying to cover a shirt yoke in colour. This one has mother-of-pearl buttons, so that put a sea shell theme in mind, too:

And this sleeveless top made from a men’s shirt begs for a subtle design:

Lastly, I have a black shirt dress that could do with a lift:

Now I’m eyeing my shoes, wondering if I could do something like this, or this or even this.