Fabric Flower Tutorial

There's been a request for a tutorial on the fabric flowers I used on the "example" journal cover for our swap on Craftster, so here ya go!  (And you can find the tutorial for the journal cover if you click right here!)

This is the original journal cover.  I will use a similar color palette for this tutorial because I like it so much!

This is what my finished flowers will look like in this tutorial. 

1.  Start by choosing your fabrics.  Even though the flowers are "scrappy" and have raw edges, careful color choices make the difference between something awesome and something so-so.  Each flower will be made of two fabrics, but you could use more, so I gathered together the ones I thought looked best together; I didn't actually use all of them, though.  It's better to start with more than enough, and eliminate extras as you go along.

2.  Start cutting.  There are two circles that go under the group of flowers; the larger (black) one is 4" across; the smaller (turquoise) one is 3 1/2" across.  I cut them with pinking shears and will leave the edges raw.  The sizes don't have to be exact, so if you have something circular that you can trace around (a jar, a spool of ribbon) that is a little bigger or smaller, that's fine.

Each individual flower will be sewn to a base, and I used cheap, non-wool felt for mine.  Cut them approximately 2 1/2" across for the large flower and 1 1/2" across for the small flowers. These will not be seen, so your circles don't have to be perfect.

Free-hand cut two leaf shapes.

Your fabric strips should be about 2" wide (a little more or less will work fine).  Total length for the large flower is about 20", and for the small flowers about 15".  (I'm really just estimating here, but it is easy to add strips to your flowers, so don't worry if you come up short.)

3.  Make your first flower:  tie a knot in the end of the fabric strip that will be the center of your flower.  You can fold the edges in, or let them show (even if you fold them in, some edges will end up showing).

Sew the knot to the center of larger felt circle with a few stitches.  Then, twist the strip and start sewing it down around the knot. Continue twisting and sewing the strip, stitching it every half-inch or so.

When you are ready to add your second fabric, cut the first strip and tuck the cut end underneith.  Don't knot the second fabric, just tuck it under too, stitch it in place, then start twisting and stitching it until the felt circle is completely covered.

When the felt is covered, tuck the fabric underneith and stitch in place.  Done!  Here's the front:

Here's the back--this side won't show, so it's okay if it's messy:

4.  Sew the remaining flowers the same way. For the journal cover, I stitched the leaves and flat circles on the sewing machine, then I used fabric glue to anchor the flowers, but you could hand-sew them down around the perimeters.  In this picture they are not yet sewn or glued (because I haven't decided what to put them on yet!)

  That's it!  You can use these flowers in lots of ways--on a headband, on the front of a tote bag, on a t-shirt...let me know if you do something else with yours!