Saturday, August 28, 2010

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.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, Andrea, this is great. How do you adhere the hair clip to the flower? I saw you used some felt?

Andrea said...

I'll update it on the blog! Thanks Krystal.

Unknown said...

Brilliant! Thanks!

Jan said...

Impressive! Love the step-by-step instructions!