DIY fabric flowers are both a very easy and fast craft and a very nice way to whip up some romantic decoration or embellishments. It won’t cost you much! Just use some fabric scraps in assorted colors. You don’t even need to get out your sewing machine, a hand needle and thread and some scissors is all you need. And when it comes to hand sewing, it is just your basic up and down hand sewing, and a straight stitch to gather the fabric. Very Easy!

With these flowers you can make garlands, or embellish different home decor projects - for a wedding, for valentines day or even mother’s day. And, frankly, who doesn’t like flowers? Bonus: These flowers won’t perish!

Gather some fabrics and sewing thread to make the flowers and a pair of fabric scissors and a hand sewing needle. No sewing machine, or special sewing skills or experience needed.

• The fabrics you use can be light-weight but heavier soft fabrics can also make cute flowers. I used different cottons, fabric from an old knitted sweater, soft fleece and some silky synthetic fabrics.

• When you are selecting scraps from your fabric stash, choose the longer strips. For lightweight fabric the strips should be at least 20 inches to make a cute flower. If the strip is too short, your flower won’t have any volume. The strips from heavier fabrics can be shorter. You can also combine different fabric strips into one flower, for example, strips from the same fabric or different fabric colors, types or prints.

• Know that when you use fabrics with a print, the backside of the fabric will also show. Maybe that is something you want to avoid?

You can use regular fabric scissors or shears. To cut the strips fast, I like to use a rotary cutter (with a ruler and mat)

• Some paper, a pen and a fabric marker

• Take a hand sewing needle and sewing thread that matches the fabric. It can be any kind of needle and thread, just makes sure it is not anything too thick

1. Cut your fabrics into strips of 2" x 20". You can doublefold your fabric when you cut the strips with a rotary cutter, ruler and mat.

2. Prepare the pattern on paper. If you want to experiment with shapes, you can cut directly into the fabric. To get the petals like my red flowers, I would make a pattern first that you can copy as many times as you want. Use cardboard or stiff paper to make your pattern more durable.

• Draw a line of ½ inch along the edge of the paper.

• Grab a medium sized thread spool and use it as a shape to draw the petals.
Draw the circles close to one another on the half inch strip you’ve just drawn. Make sure the circles overlap the strip enough so they won’t tear off.

3. Copy the pattern on the fabric strips with a fabric marker. I used a heat erasable fabric marker by Madam Sew. Repeat the pattern on the fabric as often as needed. When the whole strip is covered with petals, you can start cutting out the pattern.

If you haven’t used the rounded petal pattern, you can freestyle and cut the petals pointy or more scalloped. Look at the image below for inspiration for different shapes. Just try various shapes to get different styles of flowers.

You might have to go back to a strip of fabric and cut the petals a bit more to make them neater but the petal shapes you cut don’t have to be uniform so don’t worry about inconsistent petals.

4. Thread a needle with a matching thread. You want the thread to blend in as much as possible. Tie a knot at the end of your thread. If you want to know how to do this the best way, check out one of our tutorials about hand sewing basics.

5. Weave the thread through the strip with a running stitch. You just go up and down through the fabric from one end to the other.

6. When you are done, pull the thread tightly and make a knot. End knot it a few times making sure it stays secure.

To finish your flower, pull the petals apart to make it more full and luxuriant. And that’s it, a beautiful fabric flower

Arrange the handmade fabric flowers in any way you like and use them for different textile applications and decorations. Use them for various occasions like a wedding, valentines day, etcetera, to decorate the table, gifts, wall hangings. Make fabric flowers for your friend, mom, daughter, granddaughter, or grandmother. Sew them on a bouquet, a wreath, napkins, make a flowered garland, a floral backdrop, a flower arch, .. Or attach them to a pin to make a brooch, on a hair band, hair ties and other hair accessories, embellish a dress, a costume, jewellery…

An

Blogging for MadamSew.com

Download the printable PDF of this fabric flower tutorial here