Fabric Flower Wreath

So I made some (like 12) fabric flowers. I love my MIL, she is not going to wear one much less 12. So onto the making of a wreath.

I had a wire wreath in my stash.

I placed it on some green felt and marked around the wreath about an inch away from the edge.

Then I cut out the felt.
I snipped ease into the outside and inside curves to make it easier to glue.

Use a hot glue gun to attach felt to the wire.
Start on one exterior side, then attach a flange on the opposite side, then to the top, then to the bottom.
This should help keep it wompus instead of caddy wompus.

Looks pretty good if you don't check the back.

Evenly distribute your fabric flowers ( I only used 8) and hot glue them down to the felt. I am pretty in love with this I need to make a few in my favorite colors.
The tutorial for the flowers is here.

Fabric Flowers For Mother's Day

What to do? What to make for the super mom in your life? I am not fond of dead flowers, more commonly known as cut flowers. It bothers me that they are chopped off at their prime and stuck in sugar water for my personal enjoyment. If you want to give me vegetation it should have some roots. So to that end, every year I purchase my mom & myself a new (old) antique rose. I usually visit our local nursey Hastings. If you are in the Metro Atlanta area and have never visited, it is a treat, my kids love it: turtles, fish, parrots and sometime even bunnies along with many hard to find plants. The antique roses are amazing and they thrive with no spraying or extra work. They make me smile for months instead of days. This year after they bloom I am going to try making some rose cutting and see if I can make more of my antiques roses to share.  I have successfully rooted only one rose and it was an important one. I took the cutting from the roadside of 515 near Blue Ridge during one of the many round trips I make 3 years ago during my mom's chemo. This rose has not bloomed yet but it has buds this years and I will share as soon as I have pictures.

Wow, What was this post supposed to be about? Fabric Flowers! Let me get back on topic!

So since I don't give cut flowers and fabric flowers last forever here is how to make some.

Pick out your favorite (or their favorite) colors. My MIL loves lavender / purple. Cut out some circles.
For each flower you will need
4 large (5.5 inches) 
4 medium (4 inches) circles,
1 small (2 inches) circle Brown or Yellow Fabric,
1 small (2 inches) circle Green Felt.
Thread, Glue and a Pin back.

Cut the large (5.5 inch) circles in half. Making 8 half circles.

Fold the half circles into quarter circles RST and stitch down the straight edge (1/8 inch seam allowance). Snip apart.

 Flip right sides out and make a bunch of cute tents.

 Fold Down the cone so that the seam falls in the back of the petal.
Using a strong thread, like upholstery or hand quilting thread, begin to gather the raw edge. The bottom may not line up perfectly, do not worry, just be sure to catch both layers.
Sew 8 petals together. Form a circle by sewing the last petal to the first petal. Tighten up your gathered edge and take and extra stitch then tie of your first layer.

 The second layer of petals uses the medium full circles.
Fold the circle in half WST and start gathering on the curved raw edge. Make sure to catch to top and bottom layer. Using the full circle makes a soft rounded petal. Sew four petals, sew the last one to the first one. Tie off BUT don't CUT your thread.

Place the smaller layer on to of the larger layer.
Stitch them together through the hole in the middle.

 Center Stuffed yoyo.
Use the 2 inch circle. Sew around the entire circumference of the circle, place a small bit of poly fil and gather up your stitches. Tie it off but don't cut the thread.

Sew the plush yoyo down to the center front of the flower.

Using Super Thick Tacky Glue put a bead of glue on the green felt.
 Place it on the back of the flower, thus hiding all the raw edges.

Glue down the pin back.

Cut a scrap of green felt the width of the inside of your pin back.
Glue the rectangle of green felt over the bar of your pin back

Hot glue could be used if you need instant pin backs, I prefer the Super Thick glue.

 This option has a covered button in the center, I found those a bit of pain to put in, since you have to wait until the green felt circle on the back is dried.  If you want to try a covered button we did a tutorial on making covered buttons you might want to see.

This example uses only full circles 5 large & 5 Medium, it is the sample for my students' MD project.

This example uses 5 large full circles and 5 medium half circles.

This is the tutorial flower with a yellow center.

Other ways to use your flowers:
Use a wreath form and make a fabric flower wreath for the door. Last year we made a wreathe of paper flowers that was a hit.
Attach a thick pony elastic to the the back (sew this in a I doubt the glue would hold)
Glue / sew it to a headband.
Sew it to a Farmers Market Tote

Singlet Grocery Tote

 I have a confession to make. Sometime I start a project and it never gets done. Some folks call these UFOs:Unfinished Objects, some WIPs: Works in Progress. What ever you call them, at some point in time you need to finished them, throw them away or donate them to another fool. Yesterday I spent the entire day moving, cleaning and reorganizing my multi craft room. I found a lot of unfinished items.

This particular unfinished project was started back in December of 2008. I wanted to make reusable bags for all of our gift giving. The tutorial up at Craftster is amazing.  I started out great, made a prototype, finished it . Then I decided to make 25. The difference between one and twenty-five is HUGE. Just washing and ironing all of the fabric took a day.

Well it is now the spring of 2010 and I finished 15 of the bags today (where are the other 10?? I am not sure). I simplified and skipped steps and used my serger. They don't fold up cute and fit into a pocket because they don't have that pocket.

I did the side and bottom seam differently, mostly because I wanted to experiment with some bottom/side finishes.

To make the triangle fold in the side seam you sew the bottom seam first then you fold the bottom seam up an inch so that the bottom seam is caught up in the side seam. 

When you flip it RS out you have this cool triangle flap. I had to do this 3 times before I got it right. My first time the flap ended up on the bottom, then  then second try was still not right. Third time a charm.

As a Stash Buster this is truly great, I used about 3/4 of a yard for the exterior and 3/4 for the lining. It is perfect for all the weird novelty fabrics you purchase for a special someone, then you don't know what to make with the strange turkey, cartoon, frog, Strawberry Shortcake fabric.

Mother's Day is right around the corner and I know what my moms will be getting.

"Stash Buster" Zippered Wallet

Got right on this tutorial since Dollar Store Crafts stash busting event wraps up on my husband's birthday, I mean Earth Day.

1/2 inch Seam Allowance.
Supplies Needed
Scraps of cotton fabric
7 inch zipper
Split ring
Pellon Fusible Fleece

Using Scraps cut the following:
Front top
4 x 8 Cotton
2 x 8 Fusible Fleece
Front Bottom
8 x 8 Cotton
4 x 8 Fusible Fleece
Middle Divider (optional)
11.5 x 8 Cotton
Back
12 x 11.5 (or 2 pieces 6 x 11.5) Cotton
No Fleece in back.
Strap
3 x 8 Cotton

Fuse the Fleece (refer to manufactures' instructions) to the top & bottom front pieces.
Fold the top & bottom front pieces over the fleece and press.
Fold the Middle divider in half  (4 x 11.5), press & top stitch.
Fold the 12 x 11.5 in half (6 x 11.5), if you cut two pieces just lay them out WST.
For Strap fold in the raw edges, press and top stitch both long sides of strap (.75 x 8).

Putting in the zipper! Don't sweat this, I did not even use a zipper foot. The fleece give the 2 front pieces some depth which makes it easier to sew in the zipper.
Place the finished edge of the bottom front piece up right next to the zipper teeth. The zipper tape should be 8 inches long just like your front piece. Slowly sew down the edge of the fabric about 1/8 inch away from the zipper teeth.

AS you get close to the zipper pull, put your needle in the down position.
Lift the presser foot.

Use a chop stick to push the zipper pull past the presser foot. Some zippers will only move if the pull is going in the correct direction, so if you are struggling just flip the pull over and try again.
Lower the presser foot and continue to the edge of the fabric & zipper tape.
Line up the  finished edge of the top front piece with the other side of the zipper and repeat.

Zipper Done!

Make a sandwich with most of your parts.

Lay the front piece with finished zipper down first.
Layer the folded back piece or the 2 6 x 11.5 back pieces, ALIGN to one of the short sides.
add the folded divider align to the same short side and to the bottom.
THE BACK PIECES ARE LONGER THAN THE FRONT.
Sew the sides with the zipper side UP!!! Sew one of the short sides. Watch out for the metal ends of the zipper. You should miss them, but move past them slowly cause they will snap your needle right off.

There will be a bump in the back fabric.

 Trim (if needed) and finish the seam. I used my zig zag stitch.
Look, the edges of the back poke out and you can see them from the front.

If you were to flip it to sneak a peak, this is what it would look like . BUT don't do it cause you will just have to flip it back to finish it up.

Put the strap into the split ring then slide into the sandwich, pin to the front top on the same side as the zipper pull when the zipper is closed.

Please note that the slightly wider back is folded and extends past the front pieces.

Pin the top and the bottom. This is a view from the back.

Here is view of the front.

!!! Make Sure the zipper is open before you continue to the next step!!

 Sew the top and bottom egde. Finish the seams.

Turn right side out. Poke out the corner.

I added a few strands of dmc floss to make a zipper tassel.

All Done.

In retrospect: for my next tote and wallet I will make the wallet first and then attach it to the top edge  with 2 straps from the top of the wallet, while I construct the overall tote. I will not need the ring and clasp. OR if I really want to have the wallet removable I will shorten the straps, cause as it is now constructed the wallet will drop into the bottom of the bag and perhaps end up under my veggies.