Fabric Flower Tutorial

Here's the easiest way to make fabric flowers...in my opinion...and I am not the inventor of this...and I guess there's tons of these tutorials out there, but I wanted a tutorial on my blog, so let's throw one more on the pile, shall we!

You'll need:

Fabric, Felt, Scissors, Needle and Thread

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Cut out the following: 

4 large circles

4 medium circles

4 small cirlces

 Remember, I don't measure things. 

Here's what we're making...

I also cut out some random extra pieces to fill in gaps if needed...

This is the dyed fabric from the previous post...I love it!

Step One: Fold a large circle in half. 

Then fold in half again, and sew to the center of your felt base. 

One stitch is plenty..as you will be layering on top to reinforce later. 

Repeat until you have all 4 large circles stitched to base. 

Step Two: Build up the second layer using same folding techniques with your 4 medium sized circles. 

I like to stagger the petals in between the cracks. 

Step Three: Build up your last layer with your smallest circles folded twice then stitched to center. 

Next you get to experiment with your "centerpiece". Here's a Rick Rack Rose as a center....probably a hot glue situation. 

a pearl bead...

Another bead...

Or you could just ball up a small circle and stitch it to finish off the flower...

Here's a variation with different prints...all hand-dyed in "wine" color. 

Small Scale Dying

I've had this bottle of Rit Dye in "Wine" for over a year now that I bought for a fall themed Martha corn husk wreath project that I obviously never followed through with. I was trying to be "productive" over spring break so I decided to dye some fabric for making flowers. 

"Wine Dyed" 

I used a tupperware container (sitting in two plastic bags for extra protection) and kind of read the directions, but basically used about 3 cups hot water to approximately 2-3 tablespoons of dye....I am not a measuring kind of girl...so who knows if this is right...but whatever I did seemed to work just fine. 

I started by trying to dye this rick rack I stitched together to make Rick Rack Roses (from a previous post)...but it's too synthetic and didn't absorb the dye very much. 

As you can see, I was smart enough to wear gloves. 

Next I had these pre-cut circles for fabric flowers that I tossed in there...

And some silk from a scarf that really took the dye...

And kabob sticks look really good dyed...wish I had some clothespins to throw in there. 

Here's the stack of stuff I used....I cut small chunks from these to dye...