Fabric Flowers

Fabric flowers are super easy to make and very chic right now. 

1.  Just cut a strip of material about 28 inches long and 2 or 3 inches wide (you can play around with length and width for different size flowers).  You can cut the material in straight lines or put a little wave in it for added texture.

2.  Fold your strip in half

3.  Start wrapping your flower.  Put some scrunch into it to create some body.

4.  Sew the bottom of the flower together as you go.  Each wrap/layer will need to be sewn together.  Continue wrapping and sewing until you reach the end of the fabric.  You are done!

One alternative is to create a ruffle with your fabric.  Use your sewing machine and sew down the middle of the fabric with your largest stitch setting. Pull one of the ends of the thread to create a ruffle.  Use the same colored thread as your material (I used black for illustrative purposes). 

Continue with step 2 above-- fold material in half, wrap your flower (you don't have to add any scrunch because that is what the ruffle does) and sew all the layers together.

Done!  You've got a cute accessory now.  Sew it on a shirt or put a hair clip on the bottom for a cute hairpiece.

These are hair clips I've created.  Same technique but I used cotton t-shirt material for the white flower and a gauzy material for the beige flower.  You can hot glue or sew a button or sequin in the middle of the flower for extra bling!

***

UPDATE: To make a hair clip- I trace the bottom of the flower onto a piece of felt and cut it out (make sure the felt is slightly smaller than the bottom of the flower). 

Hot glue the felt to the bottom of the flower- the felt gives it some stability, a finished look and seals up any frays.  Then I took an alligator clip and hot glued it to the felt. 

Note: You have to open up the alligator clip and put a small strip of felt in between the clips so that the hot glue doesn't glue the whole clip together.  

See how the felt is smaller than the flower (this is a crocheted flower, but it is the same idea with fabric flowers)

Hard to see, but there is a strip of felt in between the clips of the alligator clip to prevent the hot glue from gluing the metal clips together.

Any questions?  Just let me know.

Refashioned outfit

I've seen a lot of neat blog posts on refashioning t-shirts and other clothes.  I've been wanting to try my hand at something like that but had to wait until I had the right pieces.  Well, not too long ago I got two pieces of clothing that I would just never wear out in public.  One was a Banana Republic skirt, so I hated for quality material to go to waste. Refashioning was the only option!

I hate long skirts- I look like a pilgrim or something. 

So I took the bottom layer, cut it off and sewed it to the liner so that it hit me right above the knee.

End result.

Next I took a rather large and unflattering shirt that had pretty lace details and took various parts of it to create fabric flowers.  (Someone gave this shirt to me for free- I have never worn this in public)!

I got a pretty but plain tank top from H&M- it needed to be spiced up a bit.  I attached the three flowers and a bit of lace to the H&M tank.

(tank top with flowers attached)

Finished product!

Coraline Quilt

So, I finally got around to making a quilt for Coraline. I love how it turned out.  I really fell in love with the pattern when I saw it at the Moda Bake Shop.  A very simple pattern that really shows off the fabric.  I used the Wonderland series by Momo for Moda Fabric.  I've had this fabric for awhile and am glad I got to use it.  I have another quilt in the works with some of the remainder of the fabric.

Her new tummy time blanket!

I think she likes it. 

My baby has huge

EYES.

She looks a little like an anime cartoon.

I love summer

Especially lazy days by the pool . . .

Eating watermelon . . .

with family (and rootbeer).

Nothing could be better!

Hair

Coraline . . . with hair.

The windblown look--

(It's Andrea's hair- so she really could look like that one day)!

Cantaloupe

This cantaloupe, by far, has been the most fulfilling thing we've grown in our garden.  There's just something about it that makes me happy!

It was pretty good too!