Fabric Flower Friday

First I couldn't resist taking this picture.  The leaves are beautiful now.  But if you look on the ground you know we will soon "pay" for that beauty by raking... well leaf blowing actually.

A while ago I found this book on making Kanzashi flowers. To tell you the truth I don't even remember where I got it.  But I just love the look of the flowers and so...obviously had to have it.

I found this Kanzashi  flower maker somewhere.  No stickers on the package so not sure.  I have had them for a while and only just now decided to use.  You don't need the little makers if you have the book.  They show you how to do it without it.  But I always seem to need the "gadget."

Below you see the fabric, the maker and the package.  Also the first two petals.

I did finally get the petals all done and joined together.  This is the back side, I glued them to this plain button.  I plan on attaching a pin back to the flat surface of the button.

 And here is the front.  I used a fancy button for the center.  I simply used my glue gun because I didn't have anyother heavy duty available when I decided to finish these.

So I did make one and I probably will eventually make more.  But I have to tell you, with my very arthritic thumbs it was very show going.  I hope the way without the little maker will be easier.  We shall have to wait and see about that.

And below here are some of the other little "kits" Clover makes... they may be available at JoAnn's I think. Or google them.  Clover also has yo-yo makers.  Lots of fun

Don't know if I will be back next week or not.  Have some family plans that may preclude that.  But check just in case.  Do however join me for Tea Cup Tuesday.  It is always fun.

Fabric Flower Friday #5

Welcome to another Fabric Flower Friday blog entry.  
Today's flowers were inspired by something I saw on the internet and then added to the idea on my own. 


I am going to show you the finished flowers first and then how I put them together.  I don't have a "home" for them yet, maybe next week.  Or maybe not.  You never know with me.  LOL
They are pretty simple to make.

 

The flower base is a piece of 3 by 20 inch fabric, folded in half, gathered up into a circle and tied off with the remaining gathering threads.   
Next I got out my die cut machine and cut some flower shapes out of felt using a couple of flower dies from Spellbinders and Tim Holtz.
Here is a picture of the first flower and its parts.....

   And the finished product with a button added to the center, holding it all together.

 

 And the second one..... showing its parts....

 

And the completed flower including the button to hold it together. 

And the final flower.............

and here is the finished project....

They are easy to make.  If you don't have a die cut machine you can probably just find some patterns of flowers on line and cut them out yourself.  I am thinkiing about adding them to a wall hanging that I still have to make. We shall see as time goes on.

If you have any questions you can email me.  Or any better ideas for what to do with them, add a comment.

Be sure to check in here on Tuesday for Tea Cup Tuesday.

Flower Fabric Friday with some Flea Market Fun thrown in!

 Welcome to another Fabric Flower Friday.  This week will be a bit different.  I will show a couple of fabric flowers but mostly I wanted to show some pictures from our favorite flea market in Leesport, PA.  It may be our last visit for the season... or not.... with weather here you just never know.  And the indoor part is always open.

Before I do that, here is what I did with one of the flowers I made last week.  I made this journal, used the word journal from the fabric which I used to make the flower, added some brown felt behind it and then added the flower from the French fabric.  Don't know what I will do with it yet.  But it is ready!

While at the flea market I came upon a couple of fabric flowers which I decided will be featured this week.  It is my blog, I can do that, right?..  LOL

The flowers were probably sold retail somewhere. No telling where they were made but they look to be a quick and easy project if you want to make them.  They are made of painted canvas, glued together with some puffiness under the center and placed on a stick. Each of those petals are separate so you can adjust them.   I then put them in bottles I keep in my kitchen window that also have primitive stars hanging around their necks.  (They also came from the Leesport Flea Market a while ago.) 

These might be cute if you put little faces on them.

And now to the flea market itself.  We went later in the day than normal because the weather was not too great early.  But it got better and better.  

One of the first places I always head at the flea market is to the Old Glory Coffee and Bagle Co.  They have the best coffee and because I go so often they even know some of my favorite mixed coffees.  I buy coffee beans there too.  And my husband and I have been know to share one of her dessert goodies, like the yummy carrot cake. Their other speciality is Bagels!

                               We usually look for items to sell in our shop at this market but this visit was mostly for all the great Veggies and I bought some plants as well.   This first picture shows a couple of new, or fairly new hybrid echinacea.  I bought one of each!

 This next picture was at the same vendor.  I thought everything he has was great looking.  I did buy a Sedum plant that is shown in the lower left hand corner.  It will go up in my rust garden I imagine.

 We enjoyed seeing all the fruit and vegetables in the produce section.  

We bought so much the fridge is now overflowing,  

 So many choices!

 Aren't the cauliflowers pretty.

And there were a LOT of gourds and pumpkins.

These last two pictures were taken at a primitive decor vendor I like to visit at this flea market.

Don't you love the look of dried flowers and baskets. 

So that is the end of this weeks sort of different fabric flower Friday.  I have two flower projects in the works so check back next week.

AND......  while at the flea market I did buy two teacups and saucers that I will be featuring on Tea Cup Tuesday over the next two weeks.  See you then.

Fabric Flower Friday #2

Before I show you what I made for this week I thought I would show you what I have done with some of the flowers I made for last week's blog post. If you didn't see that post lick on this link.


These show a couple of felted wool pocketbooks I bought a while back from  Joggles.  They are a fun craft site where they have supplies, books, classes and more.  I don't think they still have these bags but if you ask they might know where to find them.

I took the first picture on the back porch.  It is so much brighter using outside light.

 The color is actually somewhere between the two.

 And the color on the second bag didn't change much... strange........

I put these flowers on with pins so they can be removed for other uses.

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The flowers I have chosen to show you today are ones I will probably make as broaches to wear on a dress or shirt.  I found the pattern at this site so won't repeat it here.  You can go there to get the pattern and directions.

http://blairpeter.typepad.com/weblog/2006/03/fabric_flowers.html

 Here are the two flowers I made.  I found the fabrics at my local quilt shop and they seemed appropriate for the flowers I wanted to make. The centers are vintage buttons I got while I was visiting in Maine this summer.

 This flower was made from some special fabric that was filled with french wording and designs.  It also has the word journal on the fabric though not on the part of the flower.  I will probably use that on a journal cover one of these days.

 This black and white design, while not lettering gives you the same idea I  think and I thought the red button gave it a bit of a pop.  I can wear it with my black and white checked blouse I think.

Remember to come back on Tuesday for TEACUP TUESDAY and next Friday for another installment of fabric flowers.  See what I have created this time.

Fabric Flower Friday

 Crazy about fabric flowers......

I have decided to start a little series of blogs featuring fabric flowers and I will show a different one every Friday....  hence a not so original....  Fabric Flower Friday. Don't know how many weeks this will last.  Probably until I get a new interest.

It started a week or so ago when a project I was trying to work on wasn't working out so well but I really was in the mood to make something.  For some reason the idea of making fabric flowers seemed like a good idea.  I have been sewing a lot lately, making little quilty things and have plenty of scraps of the right size.  So off to my search engine to locate some tutorials.  Not that hard as it turns out. Apparently everyone is wanting to make flowers from fabric.

So here is a quick list of some that I found...........

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/03/22/10-beautiful-fabric-flower-tutorials/

http://tipnut.com/fabric-flowers/
http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/08/make-fabric-flower-and-flower-tutorial.html

The first set of flowers I made were probably the easiest.  They were made from felt which, for some reason, I have an abundance.  All you really have to do is cut a 1 inch length of fabric.  Mine vary because I have different amounts.  Felt generally comes in either 60 inch wide fabric or in squares.  I suppose you could do this with the squares, just have to cut out a lot of lengths.

You cut the fabric, then cut little slits every 1/4 inch or so all along the edge.   I do this watching tv.  I haven't made flowers out of this particular batch of felt yet.  Just wanted you to see what it looks like.

Then roll it up.  I put glue every couple of inches to make sure it doesn't come undone.  And basically that is it.  I sort of push down and cup the circles at the same time to make them look sort of like mums.

So for my first batch, here they are.  I will be making a lot more.  They are fun to do and great to do while watching tv!  You can glue a hair clip on the back to use in your hair, or glue on a pin back to wear as a brooch sort of thing.  The gal I copied the idea from made a belt from hers.  I am pretty sure the ideas for their use is as endless as the list for use of any fabric flower.  I don't know yet.You could use them in some of the various forms of altered art, art journal covers, what ever!   I may put some on tote bags.

Next time I may make the cuts a bit closer together.  I can't say for sure. Since they were done at different times over a two day period and from different lengths of felt they vary a bit.

Come back next Friday for another flower idea.  I have already done some for that blog entry.  And of course, don't miss Tea Cup Tueday.

And here is a picture showing why I sometimes don't get as much done in my sewing room as I would like.

Asleep on the Job