Monday, April 16, 2012

T-Shirt Flower...just in time for spring!!

Spring has sprung and with all the flowers are starting to bloom...fabric flowers that is! I love the look of these puffy flowers but don't love the $15-$20 that anthropologie and Downeast want for them. So I started digging in my craft "garden" to see what I could "grow." I was able to make a pretty good replica for the grand total of $0!!!
Below is a step by step if you want to do some fabric flower "gardening" too!

Start with an unwanted T-shirt, This lovely yellow number was in our bin to be given to goodwill

Create your templates. One 3" Circle and one 5 "petal" flower approximately 3 1/2" wide
(You can really free hand it, it doesn't have to be perfect)

Cut one circle out of coordinating felt and 9 flowers out of the T-shirt
(I found that you really needed to pin the template to the material when you cut, made it much easier!)

Fold one of the flowers in half

Then fold it in half again

Repeat with 3 more (You will need a total 8 folded flowers for the whole thing)

Glue four folded flowers to the felt circle.
 (I used liquid stitch glue but I am sure hot glue or even tcky glue would work too)

Now glue your folded flowers to themselves
(so the are glued to the felt then unfold that second fold and glue there)


Now add a second layer of petals perpendicular to the first
(Glue second layer to the first layer and again glue your flowers to themselves as you did with the first layer)

Next you'll create your center "bud." Fold your petal in half but instead of folding again this time roll it up. 

Your bud should look like this


Next trim the bottom third off of the bud

Use a LOT of glue and glue your bud in the center of your folded flowers.
(really push it into the center hard and hold it for a few minutes to let the glue set a bit)

Now to pull it all together. Glue the sides of your folded flowers to the bud in the middle
 (place glue were shown)


Glue your pin on the back. I used E-6000 glue here for a stronger hold

Fluff it up a little and here is your flower

Voila!! The finished product!!

2 comments:

  1. I love this and thank you for sharing it with us!! pennykitzmiller@charter.net

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  2. These are really cute. I saw your link on the Monday Motherload linky party and as I was looking around your blog I saw these. My friend Jamie just shared how to make a upcycled headband on our blog and I think we I try it out, I may put these on mine instead of rosettes.
    Lucy @coffeewithus3.blogspot.com

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