DIY Fancy Fabric Flowers

March 24, 2011 at 9:36 am | Posted in crafts | 5 Comments
Tags: diy fabric flower, fabric flower tutorial, flower hair clip

My little sister is getting married in May.  The fabric flowers that go in your hair cost $25-70 each!!  I found matching poly satin fabric at Hobby Lobby for $3/yd, and made a dozen flowers and a vest for my son from one yard.  They are incredibly simple to make, and you get to play with fire.  These would be cute for using at a wedding, with an Easter dress, or instead of a bow on a gift.

I followed simplyvintagegirl’s tutorial to make my flowers.  Poly satin fabric works well for this, since it is synthetic it will melt and curl.  Cotton will burn, so try a small scrap to see how your fabric works before you cut a dozen flowers out.  I couldn’t find any organza at my store, but that would have been lovely too.  Tulle will not melt and curl, it will melt away.

First, you will need to cut circles out of your fabric.  I used paper templates to trace four circles (2″, 2.5″, 3″, and 3.5″) onto the back of my fabric with an ink pen.  Larger circles made the flowers too big.  The 2″ + 2.5″ circles made  cute little flowers that would be good for scattering around as decorations.

Cut 5 lines around the smaller flower circles to form petals, and  6-7 lines on the larger flowers.  Be sure to leave the middle third of he circle intact.

Light a small candle, and hold the fabric flower over the flame.  The edges will melt and curl.  Carefully rotate the petals over the flame until you are happy with the results.  Be careful not to dip your flower in the melted was – it won’t come off if you do.  I used tweezers to hold the smaller flowers since I kept burning my fingers.  And the melted edges can drip, so be careful not to drip molten fabric onto your hand.

Layer the flowers on top of each other, and sew together with a needle and thread.  You can include layers of tulle and organza in between the flowers too.  Add a bead, button, vintage brooch, etc to the center of each flower, and attach to a clip, bobby pin, etc.  Easy, fun, and much cheaper than buying them.

I made a few flowers by cutting flower shapes out instead of circles – they didn’t turn out as pretty [the flower on the left.]  I also tried just plain circles – pretty, but not what I wanted [the flower on the right.]   The flower in my hair isn’t sewn together – I put a hole in the center of each flower layer, and ran a button shank through them all.  I stuck a pipe cleaner through the button shank to keep it on place, and wrapped it in my hair.

[Please excuse the background – it is really hard to take a photo of the back of your own head!  I finally sat in the bathroom sink and used the mirror to see what I was doing.]