Fabric Flowers

 I have been sewing since I was a young girl. I have always had a love for fabric. I have never been much of a quilter, but totes, bags, toys, clothes, pillows and things for my home have run under the feet of my sewing machine. 

Collecting fabric has been something I have always done too. My collection started when my older sister Lou would send me fabric scraps and remnants from her sewing projects. 

Oh the fun things I could create from all those pretty fabrics! 

Fabric collectors are just like scrappers who love their pretty paper! And I love to collect that too! 

And now you can buy the same pretty prints in fabric and paper! Both Moda brand or Stampin' Up sell fabric that coordinates with scrapbook/card making papers!

So I can also use those pretty fabrics in my scrapping and card making too. 

Below are three cards where I have used fabric to make the flower embellishments and a fourth where I have used a standard sewing staple, a zipper, for a flower too!  

The easiest flower to make is the fabric YoYo. 

Cut a circle of fabric about twice the size of the finished yoyo. Find a circle twice the size you need and trace it on the back side of your fabric. Fold over about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch along the edge. Hand sew with a knotted, doubled thread along the fold with a running stitch. Keep folding and stitching until you go all around the circle. Pull up the thread until tight and you have a small gathered circle in the middle. Make a    couple of small stitches to secure your circle. Trim your thread and you are done! Simple!

For the twisted fabric flower, you need to start with a circle of heavy duty tacky tape. A quick way to cut a circle is to use your die cutter. A link is here for Glubers, pre-made adhesive circles. There is a tutorial on the site to make these flowers. I did not follow this tutorial so check it out. I had lots of adhesive sheets, so I made my own.

Once you have your adhesive circle peel off one side of the backing and place the circle on a scrap of any used sticker backing paper. I used the empty sheet of Avery address labels. Set this aside.

Next tear a 1" strip of fabric. For a 2" flower you will need a strip of fabric 1" by 23". Tear along the crosswise grain of the fabric. "Fat quarters" (18"x23") are an easy source to buy for fabrics. 

Pinch the end of the fabric strip and center it on the circle of adhesive. Twist the fabric strip around on itself several times and slowly adhere the twisted strip to the adhesive in a spiral working from the center out until you fill up the circle. If you have extra at the end, trim off all but about 1 inch. Fold back the backing and tuck the fabric tail under the circle. 

Then you are ready to attach it to your card or scrapbook page. 

 The next flower is made from zipper. You can buy zipper ribbon now, but there is no shop in my area that sells it. I went to my local fabric and craft thrift store, The Legacy. They sell new and used zippers any size from 10 to 35 cents. And I showed up on 50% off day, so I paid 5 to 17 cents each!!

I separated my 22" zipper and used just one half, so I can make two flowers for 17 cents! 

Start with another doubled, knotted thread and needle. Fold under the end and start a running stitch. After about 3-4 inches, pull up the thread to slightly gather the zipper. Tack the circle together from the back side. 

From the back side fold and pinch and tack the zipper edge around the circle until you reach the end of the zipper. Tack a few stitches at the end of the zipper to the back of the flower to secure. 

Place a circle of heavy duty adhesive on the back of the zipper circle and you are done! The zipper coils are often painted to match the fabric, so you can spiral the zipper with the color side up or down. 

All papers used on the cards are from Stampin' Up. 

Thanks for checking out my blog, any questions?? Leave a comment. I love to hear from you!