Tuesday 2 February 2010

Mini Crafts...

Ribbon or Selvage Edge Flowers

I was inspired to make some of these whilst doing some research into felt creations...they are simple flowers made from the selvage edge of some material I have been using to start a new patchwork (more of that to come later, but it is a gift, so will have to keep quiet until it has been given!!!)


I made these 2 different ways, the first being the more difficult way, keeping the selvage as a whole strip, folding it backwards and forwards and sewing it as I went to keep it in place. The flowers with the yellow and white buttons were made like this. I then tried a simpler method, which whilst nice is maybe not as fun. The 2 flowers with pink buttons and the green button are made by folding and cutting the selvage or ribbon in half until you have 8 pieces (3 times), then doubling those pieces over, threading the open end of each of the 8 pieces into a needle and thread and then sewing to secure. A button was then sewen over the top to hid the stitches!

I have sewen the back of this one with a felt disc and after sewing it on half way round, inserted a closed safety pin to allow it to be used as a brooch or embellishment on a handbag etc...


Zip Flower
I have seen LOADS of these in the shops, especially in America, on tops, shoes, bags, headbands and as broaches, however they always seem ludicrously expensive especially when you know how cheap a zip is. So i thought I would have a go myself!!! in the end it was pretty easy, although it took me a while to decide how best to make it. Basically I opened the zip and cut the bottom off to allow the zipper to come off. I then used one side of the zip to make the tighter middle flower which I basically twisted and stitched as I went. I then put a loose running stitch along the 2nd side, at the edge furthest from the teeth, pulled so it formed a circle and stitched it to the 1st half. Before I closed the circle I pushed the sipper back on and then secured it with a few final stitches. I then sewed a felt circle and safety pin on as before.

Anyway hope you like, I enjoyed making them all...hopefully will be back soon with more pretty things!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment