Gathered Flower Tutorial

My new obsession is making flowers with ribbon and fabric (as I'm sure my hubby can attest as he wades through mountains of material, beads, and glue sticks...).  I've been so inspired by all the great tutorials I've seen online, and now I've come up with one of my own that I'd like to share with you!  I think this method is great because it is easy to do and you can come up with all kinds of looks depending on the material you use.  For this one I used some super light-weight material that I found at DI (our local thrift store) -- a huge amount of this and the blue stuffed into a ziploc bag for $1.  Can't beat that!

Gathered Flower Tutorial

Materials needed:

• A long piece of fabric or ribbon (satin or anything similar – anything that will melt or “scrunch” when heat is applied)  (Mine is about 45”) 
• Needle and matching thread
• Felt circle the size you’d like your finished flower to be.  (This one is about 3”) 
• Glue gun 
• Heat gun or candle
• Embellishment for the middle of the flower (optional -- I had this pretty little angel button in mind, but by the time I finished I decided I liked this one better without)

Step 1

Heat edges of your fabric or ribbon so that it begins to curl and scrunch.  Don’t go too far, but you want it to have an interesting texture.  If your fabric or ribbon already has an interesting texture, feel free to skip this step!  If you don't have a heat gun, you could also just run it over a candle flame.

Step 2

Sew a straight basting stitch down the center of your fabric and gather as you go along.

Step 3

Fold the fabric in half so that the stitch is now the bottom (kind of in a V-shape – only the part you’re holding will stay folded, so don’t worry about the rest right now).  Stitch that to the center of your felt circle.

Step 4

Put a bead of hot glue around the center of your flower, where you’ve tacked down the beginning of your fabric.  Folding the fabric in half as you go (so you get that V shape), press the stitched line into the hot glue.  Continue to spiral around the center in 1-2” increments until you’ve glued down your whole length.

 

Step 5

Finish however you like – I like to add both a pin back and an alligator clip back so I can use it however I feel like, but you could also add it directly to a pillow, a headband, or whatever you’re accessorizing!

 

You're done!

 

 Now doesn't that look fancy?

Just in case you're wondering -- here are the different materials and measurements I used for these particular flowers:

A little of this, a little of that...

As you may have noticed, I changed the title of my blog!  It used to be "I Love Pretty Paper," and while that is still most assuredly true, I decided that it just didn't tell the whole story anymore.  I have been discovering and loving a whole lot of other kinds of projects, too, and I'm excited to share all kinds of new things with you.  Also, now I have three kids and a lot more other "stuff" on my plate, my crafting time seems to get smaller and smaller.  I know you all feel the same squeeze that I do, too!  So this new title seemed especially appropriate -- aren't we all trying to just squeeze in as much as we can?

This project highlights things that I really love:  pretty paper (of course!), a fabulous flower accessory, and getting a lot of bang for your buck in the shortest amount of time possible!  This is a gift I made for my sister's birthday.  I LOVE how this card turned out -- it's the perfect design for using up scraps of coordinating papers, and it was so quick to put together.  I designed it on my Cricut Gypsy, and because the pieces are so small, I designed it to cut out enough for four cards.  It took almost no time to put the four cards together, and now I have extras in my stash.  Yay!

I made the lace flower accessory based on the tutorial HERE at Aly&Ash, found via UCreate.  Have you checked out UCreate?  It is a fantastic site for crafters -- she sifts through all the fun projects and tutorials in blogland and shows off the cutest stuff.  Following a blog like this one is a great way to make the most of the time you have!  I added some tulle to the bottom and top layers of my flower, just to boost the glam appeal for my super-fabulous sister.  I added an alligator clip and a pin-back, so that she can wear it any which way. I love it!

I hope you are all having a terrific day, and that you find some time to squeeze in a little creativity yourself!

Cricut Chirp! (More on cutting felt with the Cricut...)

Exciting day for me!  I was spotlighted in the Cricut Chirp, a newsletter for Cricut owners.  After doing more experimenting with cutting felt, I put together some pictures and more tips for cutting felt and submitted it.  Since this answers a few questions I've gotten since my first post about cutting felt, I thought I'd post the little segment here, too.  Fun stuff!

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Tomi Ann Hill
About: I'm a 31-year-old mother of three and a certified Cricut addict. I've been papercrafting for about 13 years, but it's only been a passion since I first got my hands on a Cricut nearly four years ago. Now I can't get enough, and I've expanded from papercrafting to using my Cricut for all sort of fabric crafting as well!
Tomi Ann's Project: Fabulous Felt Clippies
Cartridges Used:
- Home Decor
- Mini Monograms
- Plantin SchoolBook

Instructions: I am willing to admit that I have an addiction to cute little accessories for my little girl, and a whole new world has opened up to me now that I learned how to use my Cricut to cut felt for creating little clippies!

Here are my best tips for cutting felt:

1. Only use wool felt. The cheap polyester stuff from the craft aisle, or that you buy on the bolt won't work. Wool felt is actually a blend of wool and rayon, and it is much stiffer and nicer than the polyester stuff.  The best source I've found for wool felt is www.woolfeltcentral.com.  They have over 70 colors, and the price is the best I've found.  I've also bought wool felt locally at a quilt shop.

2. Use a stabilizer, just as you would to cut out other fabrics. But peel the backing paper away before you load it onto your cutting mat. That backing paper sticks to the mat terribly and isn't needed during cutting. You'll save your mats and your sanity if you just take it off beforehand! (This works for other fabrics as well.)

3. Load the felt onto the mat adhesive-side down.

4. I cut mine at blade depth 6, speed and pressure at max. You may need to adjust for your machine. Check your blade housing frequently to remove the felt-fluff buildup. You may need to use the multi-cut function to get a finished cut.

5. Make sure you run a lint roller over your mat after cutting so get any remaining fibers off. For the projects pictured here, I used wool felt in a variety of colors and cut it using the Plantin Schoolbook (for the flowers), Mini-Monograms (for the scallop circle), and Home Decor (birdie) cartridges. I also used buttons, beads, and big brads for extra embellishment. I mounted the finished shapes to alligator clips, snap clips, or pin backs. Voila! Fabulous custom accessories, made in minutes with my Cricut!