Make Fabric Flowers!

This week's tutorial is super fast and totally fun. And, the best part is, it helps turn those tiny, useless scraps of fabric into something cute....

All you need is a strip of fabric cut about 5/16" wide, and 6" long. Knit fabric works great.

(Oh, and in case you are still scratching your head about that 5/16", it's halfway in between 1/4" and 3/8" -- it sounds way more complicated than it is :)

Knot your thread, and start working a running stitch along the bottom edge of the strip. Your stitches don't have to be terribly even, just keep them as near the bottom edge as you can. 

When you get to the end, pull up the gathers so that the strip is about half its original length (3"). Tie a knot to secure your thread.

Now it's time to start actually forming the flower!

Fold over the corner of one end, to make a little triangle shape. This will be the center of the flower. Stitch the corner down, along the line of gathering stitches.

Then just start rolling the strip up on itself, stopping and stitching through the bottom periodically to hold everything in place. Here's a top view...

....and a side view.

Keep rolling and stitching till you get to the end. Then, tie off your thread, and there you are -- one completed flower!

Don't worry if your first couple flowers look a little weird. That's ok -- sometimes it takes a while to figure out how to place the gathers for the most attractive flower.

If you want a fuller flower, pull the gathers up tighter; for a skinnier flower, use less gathers. The 2:1 ratio (6" gathered down to 3") gives a nice medium-sized result. 

I love making these out of knit fabric strips, but you could also try a woven fabric, cut on the bias, for a different look. Here is a picture of a bias strip. :)

These three flowers were all made with different widths of strips! See what a difference even 1/16" makes?

(Left to right: 1/4", 5/16", and a shy 1/2".)

These flowers look great on headbands, purses, shoes, belts, tees, and -- of course -- tanks!

Have fun using them on your own creations!

Thanks everybody, and have fun with this!

For Pixie Faire,
Melinda

***GIVEAWAY UPDATE: We have a winner! By random number, our winner is Emma! She said, "my favorite is roses and carnations so cliche lol"