How To Make A Fabric Flower

The Ladies group in my church are making 300 of these fabric pins to give away at our annual Ladies Conference in Natchez Mississippi. I thought maybe you'd like to learn how to make these adorable flowers to.

Isn't it ironic that I didn't realize I took a picture of the pin in front a a picture of Low Dog an Ogalala Souix Native American. The conference is in Natchez. Natchez is named after the Natchez native Americans who were totally massacred and annihilated by the French during colonial times. I'm fascinated by Native Americans and tend to collect pictures and books about them. Oh well...

Here is a pic of the finished flower and here's how to make it...
Cut out five circles about five to six inches in diameter. You can make them all the same color or vary up the colors and fabric. Iron the circles then fold in half. Iron again. Then fold in half again to make a quarter of a circle. Iron again. Thread a needle with a fairly long piece of heavy duty thread. Tie a knot at the end.

Holding the point gather the outer edge of the quarter circle petal and sew several gathers from one end to the other about 1/8 th an inch from the edge. Then pull the petal to the bottom of the thread by the knot. Do the same to the rest of the petals.

When all of the petals are on the thread. Cinch them as tight as possible then begin sewing through all the petals again to make a complete circle of petals. Next sew several stitches across the center to tighten it up.

Pass the needle through the center and sew several stitches across to tighten up the back. It's important to stay close to the center. This allows the button center to completely cover the stitches.

Here's what it looks like. Next sew the button center on to the front and a bar pin if you so desire to the back. Excuse my not so professional stitches!

Then pin onto a sweater, jacket, purse, curtains, pillows,....I have also made these for my little girls to wear in their hair. I plan to make a garland of them in aqua blue and green for Christmas decor this year. It's a perfect way to use up all those little scraps you may have left from projects. I think the unmatched ones are charming.

If you decide to make one I'd love for you to send me a pic. If I get enough maybe I can post them all with a link to your blog. kbrivero at bellsouth dot net.

Here is another tutorial on how to make this flower Pink Paper Peppermints.

O.K. FPC Ladies only 250 more to go!

On a side. Here is my inadvertent fruit fly trap. Fruit flies are epidemic here and I hate spraying poisons. I noticed they loved the peach peelings in my compost bucket. So I put a bunch in the bottom of a tall coffee can. Every so often I throw a dish towel over the can, go outside, and release all the trapped flies. Most are gone now! A few more times and I think I'll be rid them. I like to save these cans and their lids for when someone gets sick around the house. They can loose their cookies in it, then I just top it and toss it. It saves a lot of cleaning.