Project: Rolled Scrap Fabric Flowers
ByI was cutting and pinning some bags last night in preparation for a marathon session at the sewing machine when I noticed how many pieces of solid fabric scraps I had lying around. My mind, working the way it does, went straight to: what can I make out of those?
Answer: Flowers!
Rolled Fabric Flowers
These are so fun, and really easy. When you are putting these together don’t worry about perfection or exact measurements, you don’t even need to have a measuring tool at all.
Let’s get rolling…
You’ll need:
what you'll need
- long scraps of fabric, patterned or solid colors (my scraps were about 30″ long and I cut them to 3.5″ wide)
- scissors
- thread, needle and thimble
- felt
- hot glue gun or fabric glue
- pin backing, headband, magnet (whatever you want to adhere your flower to)
That’s it. Seriously.
First, Fold the fabric in half lengthwise and pin. Sew a running stitch (what I call the in and out stitch, but is also known as basting) Along the entire length of the fabric.
running stitch along long raw edge
As you sew, the fabric will gather on the thread:
the fabric will gather on the thread and start to curl
To make a more open flower, more of a blossom (see the purple flower) for a tighter rose-like flower don’t pull the fabric tightly on the thread.
When you get to the end of the length of fabric leave the thread and needle attached. Start to roll the fabric in on itself, sewing through the base of the roll until it is too thick to sew through. When it is too thick start to sew the outer layers to the inner layers and they will be secured.
on a roll - start the center of the flower
sew through the roll to secure
sew outer layers to inner layers
When you have reached the end of the fabric you can do a couple of different things: one, tuck the raw edges of the fabric in on itself and sew the end closed or two, the technique I prefer, fold the raw edge down and sew into the base of the flower.
side view of raw edge before fold
fold raw edge down and sew into base
When you have knotted and cut off your thread you are essentially done with the flower. If you are going to put it somewhere permanent the you can go ahead and glue it or sew it to your chosen place. If you want to turn it into a pin or have a clean “bottom” (not see the crazy stitches) then use the felt technique used in the flower pin project.
Boom. You’re done. I am going to make a ton of these and make a belt. I think…maybe a headband. It would look very cool to cover the front of a pillow with multicolored rolled flowers. Ahhhh, there are a million ways to use them – what will YOU do with yours?
