So, get ready for a bunch of posts about flowers. It's going to be a bit of a fabric flower week, I'm afraid. I'm making a necklace with a whole slew of fabric flowers, so I decided to do mini tutorials on each kind of flower I do. I'll just keep posting 'til I'm done, and then I'll slam all those tutorials into one fatty fabric flower post.
A word on my photos. I live in a basement, and hence my lighting is crappy, and all my pictures turn out pretty crappy. If anyone has any tips on how to make basement-lit photos look better, I'm all ears. Until then, don't judge me.
This first flower I'll call the..Loose Lollypop Flower. Go with it.
Start with a strip of fabric about 1" by 22".
and a small square cut from tulle.
put your needle through the end of the strip,
and secure it with a few whip stitches in the center of your tulle.
Make a loose twist, and secure by bringing your needle up through the tulle, around the fabric, and back down into the tulle, making sure you do so CLOSE to the center. You should have made a loose curve arch with your fabric--it's secured at the base AND the end of the curve.
Now just keep going. Make loose twists, with some puffy slack, and secure at the end of the little poof, close to the previous poof. Sorry, I'm having a hard time explaining this... Always make sure your needle goes up through the tulle, around your fabric and back down through the tulle. Sometimes one loop around with my thread doesn't secure it tight, so I go around again.
Keep going 'til you have a flower the size you want, and then tightly secure the last poof. Cut your tail, leaving a half an inch or so, and then hide it by tacking it down behind the flower.
Done. If you want you can burn off little frayed edges poking out with a candle starter fire thing. You know, those fire starting things?? You may want to keep your excess tulle, especially if you're going to put it on a shirt. It's easier to sew around the flower, on the tulle, with your machine than it is to hand stitch the flower on. FYI. Good luck making pretty flowers.
this is going to sound like a lot of work but here is how to take a decent pic in a basement apt:
either open your window or set up shop with every light in the place aimed at subject. turn off your flash and use a tripod. if object doesn't move then this works great especially if you leave the shutter open a little longer. if object moves-as in is a small child-then you'll have to use the flash to capture the frame.
I love these flowers. I have been experimenting myself lately and I hadn't thought of a couple of these so I will have to add to my repetoire (SP)
Wow, thanks Beckie. I guess I need a tripod then.
Thank you for this! I love how these look on headbands for newborn baby pictures and am going to try making some on my own. I realize this is an old post, but my tip for taking better pictures in your basement would be to play with the white balance settings on your camera. Correct white balance will make a huge difference!
Thank you Sarah! I will definitely give that a try!