Fabric Wire Flowers

A few months ago, when I wanted to attempt making some wire flowers, I ordered some thin wire online. I received my order in April, but finally found the time and energy to work on them this weekend. I'll share a few pictures (the best part of blogs, IMHO) then scroll to the bottom for the "how to" instructions.

By the way, if you love these vintage books, you can purchase your own set of three at this adorable shop for only $15! 



First attempt. A little sloppy, but still so cute!



Fun zebra print. I was getting better by this point.



Here's a side view of this little pretty.

 

Oh. My. Gosh. I made some "mini me's" using the same
technique and absolutely fell in love. I'm thinking of
using them for hair clips, headbands or just making a bunch
of them into a bouquet.

 

Yep. I definitely love these. I want to put them on my nightstand so they're
the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning. Except my darling husband,
of course.



Here are all the fabric wire flowers I made. I can't wait to
makre more!



 

 Ok, now for the directions!

 

You'll need:

• fabric scraps (the super nice thing about these is they make excellent use of your scrap fabric)
• white cloth covered floral stem wires, 26 Gauge (I bought mine from this site in bulk - they are pretty inexpensive)
• floral pins
• floral tape
• tacky glue or elmers glue

After making my first flower, I decided the wire was much too long. You can use the entire 18" and have a longer stem, or you can do what I did and cut the wire in half first (which also gives you twice the flowers!).

1. Wrap the wire around something circular that will form the shape of your petal. I used a jumbo size permanent marker for the large flowers I did and a regular marker for the smaller flowers. Twist the short end around the stem enough to secure the loop (about 3 or 4 twists should do it). 
2. Grab a pencil and pull the end of the petal enough to give it an oblong shape. 
3. Squeeze a quarter-size amount of glue onto a scrap of paper and apply a thin coat of the glue on one side of the petal with a paintbrush. Bend the stem so it stands at a 90 degree angle from the petal and place firmly onto your scrap fabric, right side up. I used the other end of the paintbrush to roll over the wire to ensure a firm, flat bond on the fabric. Repeat steps 1-3 a total of 5 times. 
4. Once the glue is dry, cut closely around the wire. Bend the stem 180 degrees and shape the petal using a marker or something else round that gives you the amount of bend you want on your petals. You can use your fingers for this if you want, but it will be more uniform and "nice looking" if you use something as a template. 
5. When you have all 5 petals, take the first two and start wrapping the floral tape around them. Add another petal after each pass until you have all 5 petals together, then move down the stem with the tape until you reach the bottom. Tear or cut the tape and secure firmly. 
6. Insert the floral pin into the center of the flower and voila! Variation: You can add the floral pin when you start wrapping the first two petals instead of inserting at the end. This method works well if you are having trouble getting the pin to sit in the center without poking out of the stem.

 

 



Wire Flowers - An Experiment

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my discovery of the coolness of fabric yo-yo’s. After looking around for some new ideas, I found out the company who makes the plastic template I use also makes a myriad of other products for cool looking fabric things such as butterflies, flowers and hearts. They even have a four-leafed clover (apropos, considering that is the name of the company who manufactures the products: Clover).

Anyway, this got me thinking. I had so much fun making my Kusudama Flowers…how can I incorporate the paper flowers with the fabric flowers? I decided to try and make some fabric flower petals and insert some floral wire into the ends giving them a molded look.

I wanted to start by cutting two tear drop shaped pieces of fabric for the petal. Then, I would sew them right sides together with a 1/8” seam allowance leaving the bottom unsewn for turning. After that, I’d take some floral wire and fit it around the inside edges of the petal so it would keep its shape and structure. Once I had 5 of these petals, I would attach them by winding the excess wire in the center, like a “stem”. To complete the look, I’d wrap the wire in floral tape and glue a button or pearl in the center of the flower.

I haven’t actually tried this yet, but I think it will work.

By the way, we’ve had more snow in the last week than we received in the entire month of February. How ridiculous is that? We started spring cleaning last weekend during the middle of one of the snowstorms. It just didn’t feel right.

Kusudama Flowers

Kusudama Flowers
 I've always loved the art of origami. My step daughter and I decided to make some paper flowers for her mom last Mother's Day so she could keep them forever instead of having them die. It would also be something pretty to show off instead of a card that would eventually end up in a drawer.
After googling high and low, we found this site. Emilee and I worked on the Kusudama Flowers. We made a bouquet for her mom and a Kusudama Ball for her grandma.

These are so fun to make! Our fingers were pretty sore after making 36 flowers, but the end result was definitely worth it. We used a pop can as the vase and prettied it up with some transparent paper.