You can make this flower out of fleece scraps.
Fabric and notions:
1. Polyester fleece remnants. Petals: approximately 6"x12" strip. For the leaves, a 6"x3" strip. Vary sizes according to taste.
2. A button for the center.
3. Green thread for leaf veins, and thread matching petal color.
Pattern:
You'll cut 6-9 peanut-shaped (figure - 8 shape) petals out of the petal fabric, and a double-ended leaf out of the green. See:
I folded the fabric in half, and cut the petals on the fold to save time. The first 2-3 petals that you cut will be bigger and longer. Then make the next 2-3 petals a little shorter, by about 1/2 an inch. Then name the final 2-3 petals shorter yet, by another 1/2 an inch. The longest petals will go toward the bottom of the flower, and the shorter ones toward the top.
Then cut a double-sided leaf. It should be just long enough for the leaf ends to peak out from under the flower. Sew leaf on first. I used the stitching pattern shown, which is to sew a seam from tip to tip, and then some parallel "leaf veins". But a nice variation might be to only attach the leaves on the part hidden by the flower, so that the leaf ends are free to move and lift off the fabric.
Next, you'll arrange the petals in a spiral:
On the biggest petals, I stitched down about 1/2 to 1 inch along the center/skinny area. So I stitched one petal, added the next, stitched it, added the next, etc. The last 3 petals I added at the same time with stitching them down separately, and used a machine tack to hold them down JUST in the center. If you are hand sewing, you could probably JUST use a single strong tack to hold all of the petals on, with good results. I wasn't sure of my ability to keep all the petals aligned and get all the petals with the single machine tack - I was afraid they'd shift, and then one petal wouldn't be attached properly.
Last, I machine sewed on my button. The button needs to be slightly bigger in diameter than the skinny center of the petal. Make sure the button is sewed down tightly so that it can force the petals to fluff up around it.
Once everything is sewed down, you might need to trim the petals some to correct the length. But that's it!
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Great tutorial! Thanks!
1/13/09 12:37 PM
It was me that asked for a tute. Thanks for getting it done so quickly. It makes perfect sense. In fact, I really like that the leaves are stitched down. It makes the flower look more like part of the hat than just an after thought pinned on.
1/13/09 12:47 PM
I really think that is cute. Always looking for ways to use up fleece scraps. Thank-you.
1/13/09 3:46 PM
Beautiful and very clever. Thanks for a really excellent tutorial.
1/14/09 3:33 AM
Great idea!
1/14/09 7:17 AM
Very cute! How did you know I was starting a fleece project? /grin/
1/14/09 10:25 AM
So clever! and beautifully explained, thanks SO MUCH!
1/14/09 11:12 AM
Great idea and very good directions. I love this!
1/14/09 12:39 PM
Thank you.......these are really nice!
1/14/09 4:03 PM
Wonerful use for Polarfleece scraps; I'm going to run make some now.
1/14/09 11:01 PM
Wonderful! Thanks.
1/16/09 8:53 AM
Did you read my mind? Last night I bought some felt because I want to make some hair clips for my daughter. Thank you.
1/17/09 11:29 AM
it is very cute thanks
1/18/09 9:44 AM
Thanks, Cathy! I love this and am bookmarking it now for future use. I remember the review of this hat and your lovely daughter (with gorgeous red hair) modeling it. I also love the stitching on the leaf which is both functional and artistic in the way it mimics veining in leaves.
1/19/09 8:06 AM
Cool! I'm definitely going to use this!
1/21/09 10:55 AM
Thank you- like all the best projects it's deceptively easy, when you know how, and very effective. Thanks again.
1/28/09 12:56 PM
what a wonderful idea! Thank you for sharing!
6/14/09 10:39 AM