Ditch The Produce Mesh — There's A More Glamorous Way To Arrange Your Cut Flowers

A recent hack for flower arranging in which a piece of mesh produce bag is stretched over the opening of a jar or vase to serve a DIY flower frog for holding cut flowers in position has gotten some buzz. Now this hack has a more elegant sister. This charming new variation on a DIY flower frog is the brainchild of Andrea Vanzo, who posted the hack under her Instagram handle, @makinghomematter. Vanzo noted that her years of collecting fabric swatches as ladieswear designer has come in handy, as she selects an open lace to transform into a flower frog. The real genius of this design is what she chooses to stretch the lace taut and place it on a jar or vase for flower arranging; she has found one of the creative ways to repurpose embroidery hoops.

Unlike the mesh bag hack, which is almost entirely functional with the mesh barely seen when flowers are placed through its holes, Vanzo's design treats the frog itself as a decorative object rather than something to be hidden. Even without flowers, a jar or bowl topped with the lace in the embroidery hoop is attractive. The hack requires very few materials and could not be easier to put together.

To make this elegant flower frog, Vanzo cuts a piece of lace in a circle a few inches wider than the embroidery hoop she uses. Centering the lace in the inner hoop, she puts the outer hoop over the lace and tightens the hoop. She then cuts off the excess lace. It doesn't appear that the hooped lace on top of the jar is secured in any way, but the flowers poking through the lace should hold it in place.

You'll want to match your embroidery hoop to the mouth of the vessel you want to use as a vase; luckily this is easy to do because of the range of hoop sizes available. Mason jars, trending in home decor, are time-tested vessels for projects like this, but many vessels are candidates for this treatment. Find lace in fabric stores, vintage stores, or thrift shops. Many kinds of lace are available, from floral designs to beaded, but for this project, you want a lace with openings, known as guipure lace or Venetian lace, rather than lace integrated into a mesh fabric background. Lace comes in different colors, too, so you could choose a color that complements your flowers.

Once you've placed your pretty lace flower frog on a vessel, insert your flowers, perhaps deploying the floral arrangement trend that allows you to play with no rules: the eclectic arrangement. An arrangement made with a lace flower frog would make a lovely gift or wedding decoration.