Remember Michonne’s super cool vintage rockabilly hotrod wedding from last week? She generously offered to share a tutorial of her pretty fabric flowers she used to decorate her tables. And Jen Rau sent over a few more lovely photos of the finished products.
Michonne’s inspiration came from Emerson Made’s line of lovely fabric flower accessories. You’ve seen them around the blogs right? They are sooooo pretty.
Tools:
Craft needles
Fabric (100% cotton and tulle, cut into the shape of petals)
Scissors
Thread (She used a darker thread for the tutorial so you can easily see the stitches)
Now we’re going to let Michonne do the explaining since she’s the expert here:
“A few notes before you get started:
Take the small/bottom part of the petal and make a small overlapping fold. By adjusting just how deep the overlap is, this will adjust how dramatic of an angle the petals will have. When I start out, my initial petals are very perky and stand nearly straight up.
I like to thread my needle with both ends of the thread. This gives a sturdy stitch (two threads thick) AND it creates a loop at the end to thread through for anchoring instead of having to knot which creates bulk and frustration in tiny projects.
Sewing on the first petal. Don’t be afraid of stitching at this phase. The inner ring of petals needs to be relatively sturdy. The structure of the flower is dependent on these stitches, if they are loose, the flower will be floppy and look weird. Besides the stitches are easy to cover up later.
Sew on second petal making sure to overlap neighboring petals.
Sew on third petal, I add petals to the left of the previous petal (either direction is fine, this just works best for me) making sure that each petal overlaps the previous petal.
By the fifth petal, the first row of petals should be approaching a full circle depending on how large of a a flower is being made. I do not like to make the center too small because it gets hard to work around when adding the outer petals.
After the center row of petals is firmly attached, start adding petals to the outside. Place the newest petal on the backside of the flower where the the previous row’s petals overlap. I find that the spiral-wise additions keep the flower round.
It’s ok to add extra petals wherever they look needed. Sometimes the flower will look lop-sided because certain petals are closer together than others.
To add dimension and fullness quickly, use two different fabrics in the same petal. Place them on top of each other (displaced slightly – mother nature isn’t perfect) and then fold the bottom, eyeball for placement, and sew into place.
For the center of the flower (to cover up all that stitching) Take one or two fabric circles and fold them in half and then in half again (you’ll end up with basically a quarter of a circle). I like to use the same colored fabric + tulle.
Then sew the final fold together making sure to incorporate each fabric. The stitches will end up on the underside, so it does not have to be beautiful.
Then with another circle, just place it inside the center of the flower, covering up the stitches. I kind of twist the center. At this point I use a hot glue gun – for covering up my stitching.
And then after many late nights of folding and sewing and gluing, you end up with an entire army of beautiful fabric flowers. So worth it!
Thanks so much for sharing Michonne! And thanks Jen Rau for more of your beautiful photography!
Michonne also has a little blog about all the projects she did for her wedding that you can read over here.
50 comments
Simply beautiful! My friend is looking for ideas to decorate her wedding car and so we may try this out! Thanks!
Awesome tutorial, unlike a lot of fabric flower instructions, these ones I actually get! Thanks for sharing.
These are gorgeous! (oh – and i’m a huge Emersonmade fan)!
So lovely! These would be so fun to incorporate into a bouquet. Can’t wait to try it out – thanks!
These are so sweet!
Michonne, I asked and you delivered! Thanks so much, girl. You rock!
Such a beautiful, crafty idea! I’ve opted to do a vintage brooch bouquet for my big day…but these come a close second! Thanks for sharing!
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for to decorate our tables! Thank you!
fantastic. you had me at the HOT GLUE step, by the way. what on earth did we do before hot glue?
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michonne is a goddess.
etsy store now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad everyone understands the steps! If anyone is interested I am opening up an Etsy.com store
I do not have anything listed yet, but will be taking requests….
http://www.etsy.com/shop/michonnej
so pretty and delicate.
wow, i´m impressed with the things you do!!! all those weddings look like a dream!! cris
I can’t wait to give these a try, so lovely! Thank you!
Hi! I wanted to let you know that I loved this post! In fact, I featured one of your pictures on my blog (www.theblushingbakeshop.com/blog in case you would like to check it out) because I used it as an inspiration to create one of my cupcake fashions. Hope that is okay – I added your blog’s website address so that others can be inspired by your beautiful work as well!
Simply beautiful!
great step by step instructions – I know my sister-in-law will be looking at this shortly. Thanks!
These are absolutely adorable! I am going to try some myself. Thanks for sharing this info with everyone!
These flowers are so sweet. The possibilities are endless. Thank you!
I will be posting these on my blog and making a link. Let me know if that is a problem.
Thanks again!
Absolutely beautiful! Makes me want to get married again …
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great tutorial – thanks!
Lovely – I just can’t wait to try this! Everyone knows I love fabric flowers… I can see my workshop will soon be covered in them!
I love it. Surely enlighten me.
I make fabric flowers as well, but not as pretty as these
Thanks for this tutorial.As someone who loves trying my hand at everything crafty..I find this the perfect thing to do with all my scraps.
I’ve been wondering how to do this FOREVER! Thanks!
I just made one in about an hour while watching TV! So easy and such pretty results!
adorei as flores,poderia me ensinar a fazer rosar com fita de cetim,desde ja agradeço e aguardo anciosa.haaaaaaaaaaaaaa……….eu não falo nem escrevo nada em ingles…………………………………………obrigada
Thanks a loooot!!! that´s what I was looking for.
María
How many petals and are there 3 different sizes? If so, then how many of each?
I really love flowers, so very thank you, for this!
I wanted to let you know that I loved this post! In fact, I featured one of your pictures on my blog (www.theblushingbakeshop.com/blog in case you would like to check it out) because I used it as an inspiration to create one of my cupcake fashions. Hope that is okay – I added your blog’s website address so that others can be inspired by your beautiful work as well!
I can’t tell you how much I adore this! Thank you so much for the fabulous tutorial!! I featured this tutorial today on my blog with a roundup of flower tutorials. Here is the link:
http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2010/07/wednesdays-wowzers-3-dozen-plus-four.html
Thank you so much for inspiring me. Have a wonderful day!
~Alison
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Que lindas essas flores,parabéns.
visite meu blog- sou brasileira
http://www.ritartes-floreseflores.blogspot.com
beijinho e um ano cheio de realizações
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I love this, sweet idea.
Man, how the heck did you figure out how to do make those! The result is beautiful! Yet another way of customizing a beautiful wedding! Wedding stamps are another simple way of adding a custom touch to your wedding. They make your invitations stand out for sure!!
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Uma maneira muito prática de se fazer flores. Elas ficaram lindas!!! Obrigada
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the flower has the touch of elegance and sophistication! Thank you for the tutorial!
OLA, EU SOU A ETÉLIA DO RIO DE JANEIRO…ADOREI ESSE PAP DE FLORES…OBRIGADA…UM ABRAÇO…
Beautiful FLWOERS!! Some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever laid eyes upon! THANK YOU for posting this, this blog has given me so much inspiration for my very own wedding. This blog and this site: micah-jones.com -(look for justin and amanda, specifically) have the most amazing,creative, and beautiful wedding flowers! thanks again! I will be sharing this site with my friends!
this is lovely! Thanks for the wonderful tutorial. I’m inspired to try it myself!
Beautiful FLWOERS!! Some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever laid eyes upon! THANK YOU for posting this, this blog has given me so much inspiration for my very own wedding.
I am having the WORST time understanding these instructions
I’m so bad with crafty stuff, but I’m trying so hard here. Is there anyway to get a little more elaboration on the first steps?
The flowers are beautiful! Thank you for the tutorial, am going to try it for my sis wedding.