Fabric Flower Tutorial #3 Gathered Raw Edge Flower So today its all about the Gathered Raw Edge

e Flower.

Again, start with a long strip of fabric. This one was about 22 inches by 1 inch. I also put in a strip of tulle for added texture and interest. (Wow. I just realized that it looks like I have glue or water spilled on my book. Nope. Its my highschool yearbook, and that s a raised image of North America. And you thought it was gross looking!)

Now fold that bad boy in half, and baste along the FOLDED edge.

See how its basted along the folded edge?

Now pull your basting threads, and gather it all up! Start to roll it, and then secure by stitching through all thicknesses on the bottom. You roll and stitch, roll and stitch, u ntil youve got the gathered raw edge flower of your dreams.

See all those stitches in the bottom? Nice and secure. Good thing this isnt the front.

This is! Done. I actually trimmed down the vertical height of this after I took the picture. FYI, so you know thats an optio n. These two were made from the same method, this first one is from Chiffon, which I thought looked like a carnation. Hmmm.

The Gathered Folded Edge Flower.

This little ditty is exactly like the Gathered Raw Edge Flower except, yep-you guessed it, it has a FOLDED edge exposed, rather than a raw edge. Youre very astute today. So of course youre gonna start with you long strip of fabric. This one is about 1 by 22.

Then fold in half, and with your machine baste along the RAW edges.

See?

Now gather it all up.

And start rolling it at one end to make a little bud.

And the on the bottom youll secure it with a couple of stitch es through all thicknesses.

Now keep rolling it,

and keep securing it at the bottom, until its all rolled up, and you secure the flower by taking stitches from the center to the outer edge, all around the bott om.

And thats it folks. The Burnt Edges Criss-Cross Flower

Cut out oval-shaped petals in descending size. Cut 2 of the larger ones. I have 11 total here.

Burn the edges of each of your petals. Nest the petals on top of each starting with the first 2 largest petals. Arrange them in an X, and then take the second 2 largest, and arrange them on top in another X, that balances the first set of petals. Repeat this until youve arranged all the petals. *N ote I ended

up using only 9 of my 11 petals.

With matching thread, knot on the bottom and make several whip stitches through the center to secure all the petals.

Without moving my computer even... I busted out my teal felt, my Sizzix Circles #2 die (the very one I used yesterday) and within 15 minutes I had a totally fabulous flower! I don't even have it framed... I just made it cause it was totally awesome and totally EASY!

If you don't have a Sizzix or this particular die... the size of the circles you need are as follows: 2 inch, 1.5 inch and a 1 inch. 5 of each one. As my finishing center, I cut a 1 inch circle, beaded around the outside of it and glued two buttons (one on top of the other)... and KABOOM!

A while back I posted a similar tutorial, but it's such an easy way to wrap a present, I thought it was worth posting another one. Not to mention, it's wedding shower season. Have you noticed? Top your present with a flower like this - the bride will love it! Tissue Paper Flower Supplies: - (5) sheets tissue paper, cut to 7" x 12" - 1 piece floral wire, 12" long

1. Cut your tissue paper to size and place short side in front of you. 2. Fold accordion style in 1" folds until your tissue paper looks like this:

3. Cut ends of tissue paper into half circles, like I did in photo below, or cut into points for a different effect.

4. Fold floral wire in half and place in the middle of tissue paper. Twist ends to secure.

5. Carefully pull up the first layer of tissue paper.

6. Continue pulling each layer up toward the top until all layers of tissue are separated and flower is formed. 7. Now, to wrap the present. I've mentioned it lots of times before on the blog - my favorite way to wrap presents is with simple Kraft paper. I just love the natural look of it and it makes a great background for almost any color of ribbon or bow.

theres how i make pleated fabric flowers! you can makes these pleated fabric flowers in all sizes. heres how:

1. cut a strip of fabric to be 2 inches by 24 inches. fold in half and sew wrong sides together.

2. get coordinating thread and a needle ready.

3. start at one end and fold the bottom {the edge with the seam} over to create a pleat. pinch with your fingers to hold in place.

4. sew a single stitch through the pleat to hold in place.

5. make another pleat next to the first pleat and sew a single stitch. repeat until youve made a circle.

6. continue making pleats behind the first circle or layer. on the second layer, make the pleats slightly farther apart. *do not stitch layers together yet* dont worry if youre pleats arent perfect! it adds to the character of the flower .

7. should look something like this.

8. when youve reached the end of your fabric strip, wrap layers and arrange how you want it to look. by doing it this way, you can easily adjust the size of the overall flower a little big bigger or a little bit smaller

9. sew the layers together and tuck under the unfinished edges at the beginning and end of your flower and stitch in place. -if this is the size of the flower you want {approx 2}, then proceed to step 10. -if you want to make a larger pleated flower, skip to step 12.

10. cut a small circle of matching fabric {or felt, whichever you prefer} and hot glue to the back.

11. add an embellishment to the center- jewel, bead, rhinestone, button, etc. using hot glue. the attach pin, clip or whatever you choose to use it for.

12. cut a strip of fabric 3x18 and repeat steps 2-5. {hide unfinished ends under pleats}

13. then layer the two pieces together and sew in place. then do steps 10-12. this makes approx 3 flower. as you may have noticed, i {heart} *flowers*. especially fabric flowers! so it was natural for me to incorporate a few fabric flowers into my master bedroom makeover to add a feminine touch. keeping Davis in mind, i didnt go too girly. i thought t hese pleated flowers were a good fit. and Davis approves!

14. for giant pleated flowers (8-9) like the one above i made for my Master Bedroom, youll want to repeat steps 2-7 with fabric strips measuring 4x44, then 5x44 and then two 6x44 strips. cut off any excess. then stack your layers starting with the smallest and hot glue or hand stitch in place depending on how you plan to use your flower. {like if you re putting on a plate like i did, hot glue is just fine. if you plan to put on a pillow, youll want to hand stitch everything together}