How to Make Fabric Flowers

Based on a Handmade Paper Flower Tutorial, I decided to make some fabric flowers.

The first thing you need to do is cut up some circles. The size of the largest circle depends upon how big you want your flower. Since I'm "ragging" these like I do with rag quilts, I cut a little larger than what I want. Then I cut slightly smaller and smaller circles. They don't have to be perfectly circular. In fact, I couldn't cut a perfectly circular round thingie, even if I had a big black line to cut around!

Plus, when you "rag quilt" something, your imperfections are covered up. Neat, huh! For extra interest, I added a couple different fabrics and/or turned the jeans fabric upside down.

Next, cut slits into each circle. These I made about 1/2 to 1 inch in and about 1/4 inch apart. That's the measurement for the largest circle. You'll have to adjust according to size, especially on the smaller circles. You don't want to clip too closely together because, since these are circles, the cuts are going to be closer together towards the center. If they get too close together, they'll just rip right off.

Then stack 'em up, going from the largest size on the bottom to the smallest on the top.

Since you're going to throw these in the washer and dryer to rag like you would rag quilts, you can't use glue to hold them together. I decided to sew a button in the middle instead. You do have to watch, though, if you work with thicker fabrics like denim. If you're going through 6 or more thicknesses...oh boy! Watch your fingers, cuz that's gonna be a toughie fighting to get that needle through all the fabric.

The final step is putting them in the washer and dryer once or twice. I would put them in one of those protective lingerie bags since they're a bit on the delicate side.

And voila!

For the above, I actually couldn't put these in the washer and dryer since my friends returned from their travels, so I no longer had access to a washer and dryer. I just wet these, hung them up by my heater vent, and they still turned out pretty good!

This tutorial has been shared with Today's Creative Blog, A Little Knick Knack, as well as the following link parties: