This Emilio Pucci coat was about $2,200, but it has already sold out. Yikes! You have to admit it’s pretty, but it’s not a price tag many of us can grab at. However, there is a DIY alternative that’s much more easily in the budget this year…

There is a very similar coat still available over at Forever 21 for about 50 bucks, and a quick search on ebay reveals quite a few more like it for reasonable prices. Really all you’re looking for with this DIY is a nicely- shaped olive trench coat. You can even update the buttons if the ones on the coat you find aren’t nice and shiny like these.

What you need is the coat… and some awesome embroidery.

Let’s start with the shoulders. We’re only using two different embroidery designs, but they’ll be used multiple times, all in black. The embroidery you need is the elegant Cameo Mori and the Gather Ye Rosebuds design. The cameo in this case is stitched without it’s colored fill backing, to keep it just a little bit lighter and within our tone-on-tone look.

Mirror your two rose designs and position them so they slightly overlap, like shown. Then the Cameo Mori (without it’s fill background, remember) is positioned on top, just barley touching the roses. This combined design is stitched all in black on the shoulder of the coat. If you’re curious about how to open seams and stitch on sleeves, check out this tutorial. Repeat this combined design on the other side.

What’s nice is that even thought this combined design is a bit denser than what we would usually put on apparel, the thick wool will hold up your stitches beautifully.

Next, we’ll add a little more of those roses. Stitching the design by itself, position it so just a little bit of the roses and thorns peeks out from behind your lapel. Repeat this on the other side. If you’re lucky, hooping this part should be easy, and may only require opening up the lining a little bit.

And suddenly, your trench is transformed into something glamorous and new! Sturdy enough to take you from the end of winter into a cool spring, a regular wool coat goes from military to chic with elegant and dark embroidery additions.

Plus you saved yourself, oh about $2,150. If that’s not a steal I don’t know what is!

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psst… a little worried about opening up seams, and stitching on felt? There’s an easy design hack!

Stitch your design on black or similar colored organza as your coat. You can then applique it on to your coat without messing with hooping or opening up seams. You can see how we stitched similar heavy tone-on-tone designs on organza in this tutorial, and how we appliqued organza onto garments in this tutorial. 

You can see above an example of how it would look with organza underneath, and you can still applique it on with chic contrasting shapes that just add to the overall look. It’s an easy way to get nearly the exact same result with a lot less of the hassle, and without risking that pretty coat!

You have to admit, this Dolce & Gabbana piece is a pretty snazzy looking jacket, but for an eye watering $3,152 it’s not a look a lot of us are going to get to rock this fall. Still, this men’s embroidered blazer is a great jumping off point for inspiration, for lads and ladies alike. In fact, I imagine it’s the ladies that are more likely to go for a look like this, so let’s see how we could re-create this style for either gender easily, and on a budget!

It’s pretty simple really. All you need is a snazzy grey blazer with lapels large enough to embroider. A quick search on ebay brings up dozens for under 20 bucks, for men and women alike. This example is a lady’s jacket, because I could totally see myself trying this look out. After the jacket, all you need is Gather Ye Rosebuds design, and some metallic or coppery colored thread. Depending on the size of your blazer, I’d recommend the 5×7 size of the design.

Fold your lapels away from your jacket, secure them onto your stabilizer, hoop, and stitch away! You’ll want to mirror your rose design for the other collar. Un-hoop, trim away the excess stabilizer so it’s hidden by the collar, and shazam! A brilliant new blazer for about $3130 less. That’s a pretty good deal right there, no?

Lapels on jackets are always a cool place to add some embroidery bling. A classy dimensional one-color piece will keep your accent subtle and still let it make a real wow statement when you wear it out. So, guys or gals, you looking for a hot new look this fall? Up-cycle a thrift store blazer into something extra chic.