easy fabric flower tutorial

Having a baby girl brings with it lots of pretty dresses and pink EVERYTHING (and worries about those teenage years!) it seems but despite all of this there are still occasions when we’re out in full girly effect and someone will say 'what a cute little boy’ or ‘he’ on occasion.  And while I KNOW that she doesn’t look like a boy with her long eyelashes and dainty ways and that sometimes people just aren’t really looking, it makes me cah-razy.

As a result, anytime I can buy or make a cute flower for headbands or her outfits I jump at the opportunity.  Most of my purchases have been made at Katie’s Etsy shop, but with all of the fabric and felt, buttons and crocheted flowers I have laying around, I’ve recently started making them as needed when I have an outfit that needs some embellishment.

I LOVE this fabric flower from kelly joy boutique, and while the price is really decent, I wanted to attempt my hand at it first.  The seller may make them in a different way from how I’m going to show you, and mine is MUCH simpler that hers, but I think it turned out pretty well!

 

Materials:

Scrap fabric
Buttons
Needle & Thread
Hot Glue Gun

1. Cut out 5-8 circles of your desired fabric(s).  You can use a different fabric for each petal, alternate two, or use one for the whole thing.  I went the extra classy route and used a martini glass to trace my circles.

2. Fold the fabric in half and then in half again with the right side of the fabric facing out.  Iron the now quartered fabric so that it lays flat.

3.  Stitch along the cut end of the folded fabric, ensuring that you start and finish on the same side of the fabric on each petal.  Does that make sense?  Here’s a photo that hopefully helps clarify.

4.  Using a single (well doubled up) strand of thread, stitch through all of the petals in the same way, scrunching them up.  Once you have your desired amount of petals, stitch your final petal to your first petal to form a circle, tightening it up.

5.  Pick a fun, coordinating button and hot glue it to the centre of your flower.  You can pick which side of the flower you’d like to have facing out.

6.  Attach it to a headband, a pin to wear as a broach, or to your favourite purse.  Enjoy!

 

Not knowing how it would work out, I decided to try it out on one of my least favourite fabrics and picked a button that matched it’s vintage feel, but I actually really like how it turned out!  I think next time I’m going to try it out with the leftover fabric from the car seat cover, or in some pretty hued solids to match her summer outfits.