Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Fabric Flower Tutorial

I know, I know! More flowers? haha Well, they are popular in the Adkins house. ;-) There happens to be one silly little 2 year old that loves these ones! And I've been getting asked a lot how I make them. 

There are TONS of ways you can make a fabric flower! There is the no sew kind, the Yo-Yo kind, the Gathering kind, Roses...You name it? You can probably make it out of fabric! haha. 

Well, my favorite these days has been a type of a sewed fabric flower. Mainly because I sell them and I use them for a lot of things I make for Allie. I want them to be sturdy and last...especially since Allie sticks hers in her mouth, runs over them...ext. So durability it key for me! haha

To start: you'll need an object that's round. The bigger the circle. The larger your petals are going to be. 
I used the bottom of my Mason Jar for the size I sell with my bags on Etsy. But for the headbands and magic wand pictured below, I use an old CD.
 Then you'll need your sewing machine, scissors, thread, glue gun, a needle to thread and an iron.

So you'll take your jar/CD/lid (whichever) and trace circles on the backside of your fabric. *Tip: One circle is 2 petals. In this tutorial, I used 3 different fabrics and only made 2 circles on each selected fabric. Followin'?
 M-Kay. So after you've traced and cut out your circles. You'll cut them all in half.
 Turn them wrong side out. Fold the half circle in half and sew down the straight edge. 
One right after the other...
 Continuing till you make a fabric "necklace"
 Once all your petals are sewed you'll turn them right side out...
 Step One:
 Step Two:
 Step Three: You might need to use scissors or something pointy to push the tip out better
 After all of your petals are turned right side out. You'll need to grab your iron (sometimes a little steam is good). Flatten your petal so that the seam is running down the back of the triangulated petal.
 (yes. my ironing board has been loved. loved. and loved some more ;-)
 Whew. Almost done. The fun part starts now! ;-)
 Okay. So you'll take your needle and thread. And make a straight stitch as close as you can to the edge.
 Your petal should bunch together and look like this:
 K- Once you've got all your petals stitched. You'll bunch them together as tight as you can. Without pulling out your stitch. ;-) And connect the first petal to the last.
 Turn your flower over and make a tight double knot...
 This is what your fabric flower should look like by this point...
 For a lot of the flowers I make. I like to make more than one layer to them. So for this one. I made two set's of the same 6 petals. I then made a circular straight stitch as close together in the middle. Sewing them together. If you look close enough in the center you can see the stitches.
Next, I take a button, something that's round or whatever fits the size of the flower. 
And cover it with fabric (and of course use my handy dandy glue gun to hold it in-place ;-)
Squeeze a TON of glue to the bottom of your "button" and glue it to the center of your flower! :-)

Last but not least. I take a little piece of felt and glue it to the back so it adds that finished touch!

And FINALLY you have one heck of an adorable Fabric Flower! ;-) 
Hopefully that wasn't to hard to understand?

Here's the one we just made together featured on one of the bags I sell...
The great thing about the ones attached to the bags is that they're only held on by a safety pin. So once the bag isn't being used anymore it can be glued to a head band and used for a toddler bow! :-)

Here's some more example's of what you can do with your flowers!

I made these flowers as part of party favors for Allie's birthday party this past year.
Another example of a head band with a bow...
And the favorite among the little girls is the Magic Wand! :-)
I just took the flower and attached it to a wooden dowel, wrapped in ribbon and Ta-Da. It's a Magic Wand! haha

The possibilities are ENDLESS with Fabric Flowers!
Want more ideas and tutorials for fabric flowers? Go here:

Whew. That was a long one! haha

Happy Stitching! hehe
Courtney

18 comments:

Molly said...

Way cute - you're so creative!!

Tündérviola said...

Thxs you for tutorial!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this tutorial. It's very easy to follow and I made a beautiful flower 1st time! to give to
someone who is not feeling the best at the moment.

Melanie C. said...

Clever girl, so lovely & yet fairly easy! Very good instructions, thank you x

Monica Curry said...

These are adorable. Thanks for the great tutorial.

Anonymous said...

Lovely fabric flowers and a great inspiring tutorial. Thank you for sharing.

Joan said...

Did you make covered buttons for your flowers and if so could you let me know how you did that?
Love your flowers and your tutorial is so easy to follow.
My 5 week old Granddaughters name is Allie.
Your little girl is so cute and I love her name!
Thanks, Joan

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to try them. Your tutorial is fantastic. Thanks for taking time to share your creativity. Linda A.

Glenda Sites said...

Love these fairly easy to make once you have the color combinations down. I made these for our Red Hat ladies group. Hence the red and purple together.

Robynm219 said...

This is my “go to” for headbands, dress adornments and for dolls clothes. Thank you so much for posting this tutorial.

Much appreciated, Robyn

Anonymous said...

Thank you for a beautifull but simple pattern .pat langford.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing!!! I’m doing a round robin wall hanging quilt with my mother and two sisters. A flower just might end up on one of their quilts. Your instructions and pictures sound very easy to understand. Thanks again for sharing your talents with others so we might grow and learn in our creations also.

Jeanette Wisdom said...

Thank you so much love the tutorial x

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Anonymous said...

Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for tutorial and ideas.

Anonymous said...

I’m trying this now if my great grandson doesn’t distract me too much.lol

Anonymous said...

I will be trying this! Thank you so much for showing us how to make these beautiful flowers 🌺

Anonymous said...

Could you tell me what size button did you use on the flower using the CD?