Today I'm heading over to the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City for a live interview & some crafty kibitzing on KSL's Studio 5 with hosts, Brooke & Darin. We're making fast, fabulous, fabric flowers. Fashionable too -- and friendly.
The spicy flower above turned out perfectly for the red & olive reverse of my red Marlo Bloom bag (shown on the cover of the Marlo Bloom sewing pattern). It takes my handbag right into Fall, all wooly & frayed, with felted houndstooth leaves and raw silk at the center.
I also played around with some of my favorite vintage buttons & millinery supplies, such as these green ceramic flower stamen. On the show, we're making medium-sized flowers, but as I couldn't stick to one size for the samples, I'm listing measurements for the large purse flower and the small, blue headband flower as well. Of course, make whatever size flower you wish & stitch it where you like.
I say everywhere.
Pop Garden Scrap Flower Tutorial
Medium Flower
1. Tear a strip of printed cotton fabric 3" high by 20" wide. Pop Garden works.
2. With wrong sides together, fold fabric strip in half, as shown. Stitch long, gathering stitch along matched torn edges, through both layers. (For a torn-edge flower, stitch along folded edge, through both layers.)
3. Gently pull stitches as you sew, to gather fabric into a circle. Fasten fabric circle at center with a couple of stitches. Secure & trim thread.
4. Of felt, cut three tiered circles -- 2" wide, 1.75" wide, and 1.5" wide. Notch edges of large & small circles. Remove all 'hanging chads' of felt -- we'll have none of that. Stack felt circles as shown.
5. Onto gathered fabric flower, layer stacked felt circles and a decorative button or brooch. Stitch layers together at center several times through button to secure. Conceal gathered edges at back of flower by whip-stitching a circle of scrap felt to the back of the flower. Then, attach a sew-on pin-back, hair clip, ponytail elastic, TT headband, bobbypin or barrette. And that's it. Easy-peasy.
For your reference, the following chart shows the measurements used for the other flowers featured in the photos above. The large flower is made by stacking a folded piece of silk on top of the folded cotton print with folds aligned. Gathering stitches are sewn through all layers, near the fold. And the large flower spirals into several layers, unlike the other two shown.
I'm looking forward to meeting many of you at Friday's Start-up Princess event. If you're interested in last-minute registration, I've got a present for you -- use code STUDIO5 for $10 off the registration fee. Or tune in to the show today, as two viewers will receive free tickets on air, valued at $99 each.
Also, there is an all-new category at The Heather Bailey Store. See if you can spot it. I'm eager to post more, but need to rush off to the station. Let's just say the new category ties in perfectly with this tutorial and with more projects to come. I'll spill the beans in my next post.
