Tribesmaid “Midgetskagem” has three different and equally awesome fabric flower making tutorials. So please to enjoy part one of a three part, fabric flower series and keep an eye out for parts two and three in the upcoming weeks!
The backstory to these posts is that I’m looking to make my bouquet for my wedding myself, and so I’ve been brainstorming ideas on how best to put together fabric flowers for this purpose.
This tutorial is based on some flowers that I started making a few years ago — the folding technique is Japanese (Tsunami Kanzashi), though I’ve never successfully perfected the art of authentically creating these flowers — instead I opt for larger flowers held together with thread rather than using rice glue. I love the effect from these flowers, and this is probably the style I will be using for my bouquet.
What you’ll need:
- fabric squares (my fabric squares are quite big — you can do them at pretty much any size)
- a needle
- thread
- scissors
- fabric glue
- malleable jewellry wire
- beads or some such to go in the middle
Step 1
Fold the square diagonally in half. If your material has a better side then this wants to be on the outside.
Step 2
Fold the edges down to the middle. Picture should explain better than my words here!
Step 2.5
…and repeat for the other edge.
Step 3
Turn it over and fold the outer edge (with all the edges) in- again photo rocks, words suck.
Step 3.5
…and the other one (ooooo it looks like a kite!).
Step 4
Fold what you just folded back onto itself.
And this is what it should look like the right way around.
Step 5
Sew! Take care to get all the layers of fabric caught.
Step 6
This method involves cutting, I do it now while the material is on the needle — you can see where I’m cutting — this is so the flower shall be a flower!
Step 7
Rinse and repeat five times (for a six-petal flower) four times (for a five-petal flower), sew through the first petal again, and tie to create the flower in the round. A little tighter this time around.
Step 8
This is the back.
Step 8.5
Here’s the front of the flower!
Step 9
Fluff out the petals by placing your finger into the petals like so.
Step 10
Choose your center embellishment. For these guys I threaded a button onto my wire.
Step 11
Glue on the button, and threaded through — flower is complete.
And here are some wee little alternatives and variants on the theme…
