fabric flower tutorial - blessings overflowing...you can quickly create a bouquet of flowers. or...

Fabric Flower Tutorial www.blessingsoverflowing.com


Learn how to make a bouquet of flowers that will never wilt by using our fabric flower tutorial.

Materials

Fabric (5 inches by 44/45 inches per flower)

Green Felt

Scissors

Rotary Cutter & Mat (optional)

Ruler

Sewing Machine

Thread

Small Dowel Rod (12 inches by ¼ inch)

Floral Tape

Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

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Fabric Flower Tutorial

Step 1: Choose your fabric. The fabric needs to be 44-45 inches wide, so “fat quarters” won’t work for this project. One yard of fabric will make 7 flowers.

Here is a small remnant of 44-45” fabric that has been folded in half and is ready to be cut.

Step 2: Cut the fabric with either scissors or a rotary cutter so that you have a strip of fabric that is 5 inches by 44-45 inches. Cut as many strips as you want in as many colors as you wish.


Step 3: Fold the strips in half – lengthwise – so the right side of the fabric is on the outside. Step 4: Press the strips to make a nice folded edge.

Step 5: Trim the ends of each folded strip so that they are tapered like in the picture to the left. The longest part is the folded side.

Step 6: Set your machine to the longest stitch length. (Leave long thread tails at the beginning and end of the seam.) Step 7: Sew a gathering stitch along the cut edge all the way from one tapered end to the other.


Step 8: Pull the gathering thread, which should probably be the bobbin thread, and gather the fabric until it is as tight as you can make it. Pulling the gathers together as tightly as possible will make the finished flower look fuller.

Step 9: Since the cut edge of the fabric is not finished, trim off any ravels.

Step 10: Tie off the gathering threads and cut them off of each end of the fabric strip to keep them from getting in the way.

Now you are ready to hot glue the fabric to the dowel rod (stem). Step 11: Run a bead of glue (about 2-3 inches) along the cut edge of the fabric at one of the tapered ends along the stitching.


Step 12: Insert the dowel rod a short way into the fabric and wrap the fabric around the rod. (I switched to a picture of a blue/purple flower because the picture with the yellow flower was hard to see.)

You should be able to see the center of the flower beginning to form. Step 13: Continue gluing the cut edge of the fabric and wrapping it around the dowel rod – layer upon layer.

You are almost finished.

You did it!


You have just made your first fabric flower. It really wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be, was it?

The bottom of the flower looks unfinished and after making 50 or more, I came up with an idea of how to finish that off to make it look neater. (Note how the tapered end of the fabric seems to form a smaller flower petal.)

I have found that if I cover the underneath side of the flowers with felt, the flowers look more finished. So I make a sepal or calyx. A sepal (or calyx) is the outer part of the flower that encloses the developing bud. I wouldn’t have known what this was called, but my husband was a science teacher and he told me. The color of felt I used is really a moss green, but it looks gray in the picture.


Step 14: Cut a star shape from green felt. (You can use the template at the end of this tutorial.) Step 15: Cut a small hole in the center of the star and insert the dowel through the hole

Step 16: Hot glue the inside of the felt star to the sides of the flower so the raw edges are covered. See how much more finished the flowers look now?

We’re still not quite done. Step 17: Cover the dowel rod with floral tape. Now you really are finished.


I have tried a few variations, like using a smaller piece of fabric to make a rose bud.

I have also made fabric leaves, but they don’t hold up as well with children.

For a different look, you could gather the folded edge of the fabric and clip the cut edge to make your flower look like a mum. Use your imagination and be as creative as you like!

You can quickly create a bouquet of flowers.

Or have a single flower in a bud vase.


Star Templates Use the templates below as a guide for cutting the green felt that is used for steps 14-16. There are two sizes to choose from. Alternatively, you can make your own shape.

fabric flower tutorial - blessings overflowing...you can quickly create a bouquet of flowers. or...

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