Making Fabric Flowers

The last two years have been nothing short of challenging, but many people have embraced the situation and found creative ways to occupy their time with crafting and gardening. Of course engaging in craft and gardening projects is also great therapy as well to help manage stress and stay healthy.

New crafters and diehards alike are now interacting more than they likely would have in person prior to the pandemic via special interest groups on social media platforms like Facebook to share ideas and inspiration and ask for tips and advice. A post in one of those groups I read this morning had me thinking of an article I'd published a while back on teaching children to sew. This led to my looking for said article and looking at all the salvaged pieces still waiting to see the light of day, and here we are. 

The following article was previously epublished in May of 2013 on a platform that did not include images.

Create Beautiful all Occasion Fabric Flowers

Fabric flowers are lovely to give and receive and just like their fresh, natural counterparts, can serve for almost any occasion when chosen carefully.  There are many ways to make fabric flowers, but for the finished flower to be suitable for any occasion the key is to stick to flowers that are not associated with specific events such as funerals.

Another thing to keep in mind when creating all-occasion fabric flowers is color. Roses are a prime example of flowers that can have different suitability based on their hue. If you really want to go all out, you can make your fabric flowers based on perennial growers that bloom year-round.

One great all occasion flower which is easy to make in fabric is roses. There are two ways of making fabric roses; one method involves making individual petals, and the other uses one long piece of fabric wound around a central base.

Of course you can avoid flower type casting all together and stick to craft flowers that do not necessarily resemble any known bloom found in nature.  These all-occasion flowers can be made of any fabric and in any color, though if they are meant to be worn as accessories, it is probably better to use fabric in solid colors rather than prints that may clash with an outfit.

Make your fabric flowers from scraps, remnants, old T-shirts or other clothing, old scarves or bandanas, ribbon, or fabric trim such as ric rack. Depending on the type of flower you create, you’ll need scissors, a product that prevents fraying, floral tape, wire, buttons, needles, and thread.

For a unique fabric flower that can also be functional, you can make fabric roses from folded handkerchiefs or towels to give as gifts. These can be presented on a variety of different occasions from birthdays to bridal showers. You could also fold a silk scarf into a unique fabric flower by following an origami diagram.

Generic fabric flower how-to

Did you ever made tissue flowers from stacking squares of paper when you were a kid? You can use the same technique to create pretty all-occasion flowers in solid or multi-colors. Use pinking shears to cut squares of fabric that are five by five inches. If you don’t have pinking shears you will need a product to prevent fraying to use on the fabric’s edges. You could also use a serger on the edges or just leave them be to fray as they may over time.

Stack three to five squares one on top of the other with the “right” side of the fabric face up. Next, carefully accordion fold the fabric (ever make a paper fan as a kid?) taking care to smooth out the fabric with each new fold. Be sure lift and turn the fabric with each fold so that it doesn’t bunch up. Once it’s folded, hold the folds in place with a clothespin, bag clip, or extra-large pin.

Depending on how your fabric flowers will be used, you can secure the folds in the center with tied string, thread stitching (baste and gather), or floral wire. While it’s tempting to use a rubber band, over time rubber bands can become gummy or even break.

Once the middle has been secured, fan out the folds so that you almost flatten the pleats. Slowly peel back the top layer of fabric, carefully pulling it towards the center. Repeat for each layer of fabric until you get to the bottom of the flower which you will pull downward slightly.

If you secured the center of the flower with floral wire, you may want to cover it now with floral tape. If the fabric flower is to be used for a nosegay or boutonniere you can save this step for later. If you decided to sew or tie the center to secure the flower, you can now attach it to a pin back, barrette, headband, hat, or whatever you like. 

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UPDATE: This was a simple how-to article created for a now defunct web site that shared it's ad revenues with content creators. At the time there were no images included with the articles. If you are a visual person and would like to see images of flowers you can make from fabric as well as see instructions, I have a number of links bookmarked to Pinterest. You can find them here: Flower Crafts

Note that as I update boards (organizing into folders didn't exist back in the day) some pins may move. 

Crafting a New Direction

Well, it's finally happened. It started out as a great thing and gradually began to decline over time, and now Helium has just announced to all its writers that the site has reached the end of the line. I'd been thinking of migrating my articles off the site to a new location for some time now, but with over 300 titles, and well, a life, it's a task that's easier said than done.

Last fall, Helium had gone through a major restructuring which included migrating all content to a new web site which meant new urls. That may not seem like a big deal, but for the writers it meant going back to places they'd previously shared links to their content and updating or re-sharing - a very, very, very time consuming and tedious project.

Alas, that was then... Now, in just one short week, Helium will revert to read-only, and thousands will scramble to decide which of the many titles they've contributed over time to scrap, revamp, resell, or even re-post to their own personal blogs. Just thinking about the task ahead makes me want to take a nap.

Over the next several weeks I'll be one of the ones re-sharing (and possibly revamping) articles to my own personal blogs. (In the beginning, I never really liked posting how-to crafting content without photos) Since there's no time like the present, I may as well get started now.

One of my first articles for Helium was for the Yarn and Needle Craft sub-channel. It received so many views and was such a good earner (back then) I decided to do more craft title articles, and crochet articles in particular. I'd originally planned to write about wine and music, two of my biggest passions, but those topics were not quite as popular and didn't pay as well.

The funny thing is, crochet was always something that presented a challenge for me when I was younger. I was first introduced to crocheting via my great aunt, Inez when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. I can remember her showing me something and then later me attempting to make something on my own, but beyond the basic chain stitch and the adding on of rows I was pretty hopeless.

My mother's sister also crocheted, and in the 70s crocheted corkscrew hair ribbons were quite popular, but alas I never made any. I (didn't see my aunts that often to be able learn from them, and) I wasn't able to make much sense of crochet patterns until a few years ago.

That's why it's kind of ironic that I would have my first success on Helium with a craft article about crochet. It's really not all that complicated, once you realize that everything is just variations on rows of single, double or triple crochet, everything sort of clicks. Above is a one of my favorite photos of me with a very simple crocheted shawl I made a few years ago. I think a friend of mine owns it now...

I've digressed somewhat, but I can't decide where to begin - that is which article to re-post first. Oddly enough, I can't remember if that first article was of a "how to do..." or a "where to find" sort. It could also have been "Easy Crochet Patterns For Beginners," but the point is now moot as it seems impossible to sort through my list of titles under the new site format. (Sigh)

This is not going to be as easy as I thought. Things may seem random in the coming days and weeks, but know there is a method to my madness - to share as many of my articles (which are mostly archived on the hard drive of my old computer which has to be sitting in front of a fan to operate and barely boots up) as possible before they disappear.

Stay tuned...