Fabric flowers tutorial

When asked to do some tarting up of the fabric display at work, I remembered back to a time when I made fabric flowers to adorn little toiletry bags that I used to make around 23 years ago (how long??!!)

It's funny how you never forget simple instructions, even years later, mind you, that could be because I made loads of the little blighters and it is probably burnt into my memory.

So, in case you would also like to make some here are a few instructions.

You will need:

• Fabric of your choice
• A good strong sewing thread
• Sewing needle
• Scissors
• Largish button

The fabric I used was from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and came with a warning that you cannot sell items made from the fabric.  So make sure if you are selling that you look out for that, it might be the case with a few branded fabrics.

Cut the fabric into exact squares, the bigger your square, the bigger your flower.  My squares were about 3" and I used 6 squares (6 petals) for each flower.

Thread your needle with about a meter of thread, doubled up for strength and give it a good few knots at one end so it has no chance of pulling right through the material. Fold the square in half to form a triangle and do a large running stitch as shown along both raw edges.

Pull gently and the whole petal should gather together at the bottom. 

Add a securing stitch so it doesn't come loose on the thread, then start on your next petal in the same way.

Continue until you have all 6 in place - or 5 if you prefer odd numbered petals.

Pull the thread as tight as you can, this is where you need a good strong thread, otherwise you might find your thread snapping.

The hole is quite messy as you can see, so cover it with a lovely large button. Pulling in the sides as you sew the button in place.

Now make some more  ;)

And perhaps some out of voile?

And what about a large one our of both material and voile?

Makes a funky sash waistband.

If you do make some please feel free to comment on this post with a link so I can go and have a look :)

Have fun.