Circular Ruched Flowers

“Butterflies In My Flower Garden” BOM #5

By Katie Sperry McMullen

You will need a piece of fabric that is at least 5 1/2”square and strong thread (like quilting thread) that matches your fabric to make a flower. Cut a 4 1/2” diameter circle out of heavy cardstock (like a folder) or heat resistant Mylar.

Center the template on the back of the fabric. Draw around the circle. Cut out ½” from the drawn line. Stitch, using a running (gathering) stitch, between the drawn line and the edge of the circle. Gather around the template and press. Knot off the thread to hold the gathering. Remove the template when it cools off.

Iron the circle in pie 1/8th wedges being careful not to iron out previous lines.

Fold the circle in ½ right sides together. Using your strong thread that matched the fabric, stitch with a running/gathering stitch across the fold very close to the edge starting and stopping 1/4” from the edge. Leave long thread tails at either end. Do not knot off. Repeat 3 more times on all fold lines.

On the front, mark the 8 wedges with a fabric marker on the edge. Make two more marks evenly between the wedge marks. Put a dot 3/8” from the edge between the marks (see picture).

The next step is to ruch the edge. Using your strong thread that matches the fabric (knot the end) come up in the fold at one of the marks. The front of the circle is facing you. Sew with a small running stitch to the next dot counter clockwise. Pivot and sew up to the next mark coming out through the front. Loop the thread over the top and come in through the back. Sew to the next dot. Repeat this zigzag pattern. Lightly pull to gather every two sections and stitch a few stitches in place to lock the gathers. Repeat all around the circle.

Pull the cross-circle gathering threads to pull in the center. Adjust the front to lay flat. Once you have adjusted the gathers to your liking, you can thread the tails into your needle, one at a time, secure thread (or knot it) and cut off the tails (optional).

Pin in place on your block. Tuck the gathering threads under the circle. Don’t cut them off. You could tie them together to insure that the ruching doesn’t loosen. Tack in place from the back around the circumference of, and inside, the circle. Be careful not to tack too much because that could flatten the ruching.

Enjoy! Katie