I am continuing from my previous post about my new sherbet check linen top with another linen shirt from Lands End, this time a long-sleeved button up shirt in a palm print in soft green and blue tones, also purchased at a very good sales price. I know a lot of people don't think of long sleeves for summer, but I find that it can actually be a very useful, versatile addition to a warm weather wardrobe. Make that shirt linen and it's even better.
I almost always roll up the long sleeves in summer...I mean, there may be one time I didn't so I have to say "almost always" but it's close to "really always." This particular shirt has tabs on the sleeve to help you keep the cuffs in place if you roll up the sleeves, but I find that the classic J. Crew cuff roll stays in place on shirts (and jackets) without the tabs.
I like that a button up shirt can be worn as a stand-alone top or as the topper layer over another top, like a very light weight shirt-jacket/shacket. I am showing the shirt both ways in the OOTD in this post. (And of course, in the spring->summer and summer->fall transition seasons, the shirt can be layered under a jacket, vest, sweater, cardigan, etc.)
#1: Stand-alone Top
I went for a very simple outfit formula for my first wearing of this shirt: button up shirt + leggings + flats. Once again, the gorgeous print and colors of the top really carry the look. These are the teal leggings I bought last November for under $7 from Kohls, and I thought they coordinated very well with the color palette and generous fit of the shirt. (The leggings are already down to a $1.36 cost per wear.)
I wore my DIY four-strand necklace made with 8/0 Miyuki seed beads in matte transparent teal strung on Fireline and secured to rib knit fabric upcycled from an old t-shirt. (See how that bright teal fabric perfectly matches the blue color in the print? My matchy-matchy heart swoons.) I actually still have some of those seed beads left in the tube and have been thinking of adding a couple more strands to the necklace; I've determined that I like my multi-strand seed bead necklaces a bit on the bulkier side. Luckily with the extremely simple construction of this necklace, I can just add more strands directly to the exposed jump rings on either side of the necklace.
I wasn't sure what color of shoes I wanted to wear so I went with the can-do-no-wrong pointy-toed leopard print flat that functions like a neutral but is much more interesting. The tan background of the leopard print worked well with the beige background of the palm print...and of course on me is a variant of the "match your hair" bookending technique.
My daily bracelet stack (all DIY) is a mix of older beaded bracelets (the two teal and the aqua/silver), newer beaded bracelets (the all silver and the frosted sandstone coral/silver), and a chunky paper bead bracelet I made to coordinate with this shirt.
I decided to make two bracelet sets based on this palm print shirt: one set with a light, bright color palette + silver for the spring/summer vibes, and another set with a darker, more muted color palette + gold for an early fall feel. Today I am featuring the cheerful, summery light/bright bracelet set.
I wanted to draw on the light yellow-green and brighter teal/aqua colors in the palm print for the first bracelet set, so I went through my paper stash for pages with those colors. I was thrilled to find this wonderfully colorful page dominated by aqua and light green but accented with white and coral/warm brown. It's a cover from an alumni magazine, hence it is quite thick paper, much thicker than I typically use. So I decided that I would make a single paper bead bracelet from this cover as the basis of my bracelet set (rather than my usual 2-3). I cut 7 1" triangle strips from the left side of the paper and covered the white core edges with silver marker. They rolled up wonderfully into chunky 9mm bicone beads.
#2: As a Topper Layer/Jacket
My second outfit is also all about the teal, though it has a very different look. I wore the shirt open like a lightweight jacket over an inner column of color: a dark teal tank and dusky teal knit skirt. I added a teal ombré scarf that picks up the lighter teal tones of the print. I initially tied the scarf around the neck, but I decided that on this warm day I wanted the cooler feel and more insouciant look of the scarf draped simply under the collar of the shirt.
I had planned to wear my DIY oatmeal t-shirt headband, but when I saw how well this headband I braided from a small stretchy scarf matched the colors of the palm shirt, I had to go with it (even though it resulted in an outfit with an overabundance of scarf energy). I continued the little aquatic theme of the fish charm on the bracelet with these cute sea turtle charm earrings from Christopher & Banks.
I finished strong in teal tones with my bright teal ballet flats from Payless (42 total wears; $0.31 cost per wear).
My daily bracelet stack (all DIY) in black and shades of teal is one you've seen many times before because it's one of my original paper bead bracelet sets (tube is example 1 here; bicone here). So while it may seem like I wear a brand new bracelet stack every day, I really do wear the ones I've made again and again. I don't actually track the wears of my bracelets (I know, surprising for me, right?) but I could go back to my outfit list and figure it out if I wanted to...which right now I don't, haha! This set is probably the one I've worn the most often, though.
Now for our Rabbit of the Day!
The palm fronds on this shirt have a bit of a wild and poofy quality...which reminds me of this amazing rabbit breed: the lionhead rabbit. I think the origins of the name are obvious, no? The wooly "mane" of the lionhead is the result of a genetic mutation during the crossbreeding of a long-haired Swiss rabbit breed and the Netherland dwarf. It's interesting...the lionhead's "mane" gene is different from the "wool" gene that creates wool coats in breeds like the Angoras and the Jersey Wooly. Though to complicate things, there are lionheads with both the "wool" and "mane" genes called "Teddy lions" that have wool all over their bodies! Our lionhead below has quite a lot of wool on his body, not just in his mane, so I wonder if he's a Teddy lion. He's a gorgeous cuddly fuzzy boy in any case.
Do you like wearing long-sleeved shirts in warm weather? Do you wear them with the sleeves rolled up? Do you like them better as a stand-alone top or as a topper layer/jacket?
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