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:

handmadespark.com

Whew. That was a long one! haha

Happy Stitching! hehe

Courtney