How Your Scarf Can be used for a Fun Print Mixing Piece
A print scarf can be the perfect way to try print mixing! Having 2 or more prints in your outfit can look well planned and interesting! And I’ll walk you through how I varied all of our outfits to give you some great ideas!
Quote of the day: “It’s not what you look at the matters, it’s what you see.” Henry David Thoreau
Let’s start out by welcoming Jennie from A Pocketful of Polka Dots again! The best thing about including other women in our themes, is that you can see all different kinds of interpretations!!
As your step by step foray into this print mixing, we started by incorporating our print shoes, and then also used a print purse. Now we’ll work at the other end of the body, by adding a print scarf to our outfit. Just to keep it easy to get used to, I made sure that the print scarf was next to a solid shirt. The 3 of us then wore print pants for our other print!
Jennie from A Pocketful of Polka Dots: Just look at how fabulously Jennie incorporates her print scarf in this photo!
Even though we didn’t plan it, she’s showing us exactly what I didn’t do—put the print scarf next to a print shirt! And doesn’t it look fantastic? Maybe you need to see the rest of the outfit? Then click over to her site and check it out—and let me know what you think!!
Jodie’s (50’s) Outfit: So one of the ways to use the print scarf is to have it match your print pants. That’s the first method with the scarf. My neck scarf has the same blues, greens & yellows that you see in my pants. You don’t have any print pants, you say?
Well, glory be and call me crazy!! You should! And no, they don’t make you look fat! It’s the cut and style of the pants that can do that. A print is actually an easy way to camouflage any lumps and bumps that you aren’t ready to advertise to the public! If you don’t believe me then ask Nancy. She actually has a couple pairs of print pants and wears them more than I thought she would! The ones I’m wearing here were heavily reduced in price a couple of years ago. But don’t worry, I found some inexpensive ones for you to check out here and they aren’t super tight. If you prefer some wider legged pants, these are a great deal too!
The neck scarves are a trend that seem so perfect for any age group. They are like a lightweight fabric necklace and not very complicated to tie!! This one that I’m wearing was a gift from Sherry, who has worked with me for a year now on our collaborative stories! It was from a boutique in Seattle, but this one reminds me of it too! I linked to another similar one below; however, it’s a tad out of my price range!!
Since there was so much brightness in my pants, I did keep it simple with my white sweater!
Many of you have told me that they can’t wear white anything because they spill on it too easily. And I get that! But have you all tried OxyClean? Seriously…I just used it on a wine spill on my shirt sleeve and it came out fabulously! So no more excuses about not wearing white.
However the truth of the matter is that your white will still get dingy and need replacing over time. That’s a fact and also why I don’t spend a ton on these items! So just in case you really could use a refresh on your white sweaters, here is one that would work perfectly! An updated version of this type of sweater could include one with the interesting sleeves, like this one! Or if it’s your cardigan that needs to be replaced, having one that is perforated like this one, will keep you warm yet give you some ventilation.
I did try to coordinate my earrings and bracelet to the blues in the pants and scarf. I could have picked my turquoise jewelry, but I decided to wear other pieces instead!
The earrings were sent to me by a small boutique in Michigan who found me on Instagram. (Do you follow me on Instagram—I’d love it if you did! I try to post more than just my blog photos to make it somewhat interesting. And if you don’t have an account yet, just download the app and sign up!!) This boutique, called The Sugar Ribbon asked if I would show off one of their scarves (see it here) and then even sent me these earrings as an extra gift! Isn’t that so nice? Even though I usually wear longer earrings, it’s nice to have some bright colored studs especially for the times that I wear my hair up!
The bracelet is from Boho Betty and I do get a small commission if you order using my discount code. They only make bracelets, but their wrap ones can double as chokers too!! If you do want to get a bracelet from Boho Betty, make sure to type in jtouchofstyle for 20% off and then I get credit too!! And just so you know, I have a tab at the top of my site that lists any deals and discounts that my readers can get so you don’t spend more than you need to! They don’t have this exact bracelet anymore although this one is the same style, just darker. Or there’s this one that is close!
The hardest part of this outfit was picking out shoes. I didn’t want to be too matchy matchy with my teal shoes, but the white booties didn’t seem right either. Thus I ended up with my cognac booties.
The cognac color shoes are a great neutral that should work with most color schemes, in my opinion! I found these booties last year when I HAD to have a pair of peep toe booties for the spring time! Here’s a pair very similar but if you think peep toe booties are silly, then maybe you’d prefer perforated, like these? Of course with the warmer weather right around the corner, you could be itching to break out some sandals instead. In that case, I have you covered with these wedges or these espadrilles!
Pants: Banana Republic (similar here)~~Sweater: LOFT(similar here)~~Boots: Indigo Rd (similar here)~~Scarf: (similar here)~~Earrings: c/o the Sugar Ribbon (similar here)~~Bracelet: (similar here)
Nancy’s (60’s) Outfit: Another way to incorporate your print scarf with your print pants is for the items to coordinate. By this I mean, that the colors go together but not match per se! Like Nancy’s outfit below. Her scarf is a combination of blues & greens but a much lighter blue than her pants.
Let’s talk about this scarf of Nancy’s. Now she’ll tell you that she’s not very creative, but yet she actually dyed this scarf herself. Granted it was in a class to learn how to dye items of clothing, but I think it turned out fabulous! And who in our age group doesn’t love tie dye? If you want your own scarf with said design, then here is one for you! Or I found a colorful bandana style here, or a longer version here! Nancy’s scarf is a longer, rectangle scarf, so for this outfit we rolled it loosely and wrapped it around her neck twice!
We added the denim jacket over her white t-shirt, because it was still on the cool side when we were taking these pictures.
Do you have a denim jacket yet? They are the perfect jacket for casual days out when you need another layer! The nice thing is you don’t have to spend a ton on this item and there are many varieties. Varieties like the distressed version here, or a little embroidery detail here, or even some lace trim here! And even if you’re wearing a dress or skirt, this topper is making a comeback no matter what else you’re wearing.
One of the styles I really enjoy seeing is layering your scarf over a necklace. This may seem like too much going on in the front of your shirt if you’re a minimalist! But for those of us who think the opposite, it’s really about wearing more of what we have, right?
Besides, these accessories can be used to tie in the colors of the scarf since they don’t “match” the pants exactly! We grabbed a turquoise pendant and earrings to bring out the lighter blues from the scarf Nancy is wearing. And once again, I need to thank Jude for sending this pendant to Nancy. I know it was meant to be for keeping that one necklace in place in the middle of her chest, but it looked so perfect with this scarf, that we had to style it on a plain chain!!
Now if you’re like me you love the unstructured turquoise pieces that I’ve seen like this! I know it’s not exactly like Nancy’s necklace, so if that’s more your style then you might enjoy this one. The other option that I linked to below is one that is smaller and is a ladder pendant!
So let me address the shoes in Nancy’s outfit right after we check out the pretty crocuses that we found in the neighborhood! It’s a sure sign of spring when the flowers start blooming! I went the safe route for this look and matched Nancy’s shoes with her pants! I thought that would make some of you feel more comfortable, am I right?
These lace up shoes are definitely a modern take on the ballet flat! Adding the laces makes the shoes so fun and interesting. If you agree then you would love these too! But they also come in every color imaginable like tan, silver, pink and even perforated! Being the shoeaholic that I am, I bought these shoes for both mom & Nancy so we could style an entire series around them last fall here, here & here.
Pants: H&M (similar here these are a maternity version. Now don’t laugh. If you’re experiencing the middle age bump, then these could be perfect. If you don’t believe me, then listen to Julia here. But if you just can’t consider that, here’s another pair!)~~Jacket: Merona (similar here)~~Top: Casual Corner (similar here)~~Shoes: Sould Out (similar here)~~Scarf: (similar here)~~Necklace: (similar here)~~Earrings: (similar here)
Charlotte’s (70’s) Outfit: The last variety I had us showcase is to match the scarf to your shirt, but not the pants! Mom’s scarf brings out the purple from her shirt, yet her print pants are black and white.
So I have to tell a funny story about these pants! I know I should only make funnies about myself in my blog, but who doesn’t love snitching on their mother at times? My mom just bought these pants at a thrift store recently. And she showed them to me after she lengthened them. Because they were ankle length when she purchased them, and she knew I’d wanted her to keep them that way. Like I did when we purchased the ankle pants she wore here, here & here! I want her to keep them shorter because that’s a modern length and then we can show off her cool shoes. But she tells me that she doesn’t like to show her ankles! And as the smart ass daughter that I am, I tell her that doesn’t make sense since she still likes to wear skirts and dresses. LOL!
So the struggles of what mom wants and what her daughter wants her to wear continues…ha ha! If you don’t mind the ankle length pants, then I’ve heard nothing but good things about these! But if you side on my mom’s view, then here’s one option–a little louder in its print, but longer none the less. Truthfully, there are a ton more selections with the ankle or cropped length pants available right now.
This gorgeous scarf is one that my mom made from leftover material. This is one of her favorite tricks to use up the material that is remaining when she shortens dresses, skirts or tops!
Therefore, her scarf is quite the original. Just like a couple I found shopping. There’s a site called The Real Real that is an online consignment shop for higher ends brands. That’s where this scarf is available or even this one. What that means, is there is only one like it available, but, they have some beautiful items! I linked to one below that has many in stock in case these sell out before this post goes live!
It’s just not an outfit without some jewelry, but we did try to keep it relatively simple since we had two prints in the outfit already.
I even let mom wear bracelets on both wrists. There are really some fun bracelets available right now. The beaded ones are everywhere, like this one, or if you like pretty stones, there are the Bourbon and Boweties ones that are so stunning (and that one is even on sale)!! On mom’s other wrist we went with a simple silver one that has a little glitter like this one!
Mom’s purple top is a basic t-shirt. If you’re a solid colored, t-shirt kind of girl, then a scarf is the perfect way to add in some pizzazz, I think! For example you buy this shirt that is less than $10 and add your scarf to it, and voila—you look like you planned your outfit for days! Another reason you might love wearing the scarf, would be like my mom does. To cover a neckline that you might consider too revealing (like this) or a neckline that’s not revealing enough (like this)! See? There is no end to the solutions for which a scarf can be used!
And even though we talked about the lace up shoes with Nancy’s outfit, I still want to touch on mom’s version for two reasons. One because we matched her shoes to her top instead of her pants.
Not that one is better than another, but it’s another way to put together your outfit. So I’ve given you not only 3 ways to wear your print scarf with your print pants, I’ve also shown 3 different variations in the selection of shoes. My shoes were a neutral color, Nancy’s shoes matched her pants, and mom’s shoes matched her shirt!
The other reason I wanted to spend a moment on mom’s shoes even though they are similar to Nancy’s is because they are a different height of heel. I love that my mom still loves her heels, and I’m sure she’s not the only older woman out there that does. Besides, we all know that shoes are a girls best friend, so you should consider some of the different styles of lace up heels that are out there. Of course, I’ll show you a couple to get the juices flowing, like these in a sandal version or here with a chunky heel!
Pants: Merona-thrifted (similar here)~~Top: Acorn (similar here)~~Shoes: Calico (similar here)~~Scarf: Mom made it (similar here)~~Earrings: (similar here)~~Bracelet: (similar here)
So what do you think? You’ll try this method of print mixing, right?
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