Sunday, May 8, 2011

Greetings From On Board The SS Tesla 05/08/11

Happy Mother's Day Team FESTers!

Since I will be busy making some really cool crafts with my mom, I think this would be the appropriate time to encourage everyone to make some really cool crafts with mom. Since flowers are always fun to do, I am going to provide you all with a tutorial on how I make my kanzashi flowers brought you by the nice folks at
bitty bits & pieces:

You will need the following to make one Kanzashi Flower:

  • 7 Squares of fabric measuring 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"
  • Starch
  • Straight Pins
  • Needle and Thread
  • 7/8" Covered Button
Instructions:

1. Cut and starch your 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" squares. The size you cut your squares will determine how big your flower will be but for this tutorial I will use a 3 1/2" square. You can also make your flower with 5, 6, 7, 8 or even more petals but, for this tutorial I will be using 7 petals.


2. Fold the bottom corner up to meet the opposite corner. Make sure that the wrong sides are folded to the inside so that the right sides will appear on the outside.


3. Now bring the left outside corner and the right outside corner up to meet the top corner as seen below.


4. Flip the fabric over and fold the outside corners into the center as seen in the picture below.


5. Fold in half making sure the folded points you just folded in the previous step are now on the inside.


6. Push a pin through the middle making sure to catch the folded points in the middle as seen in the picture above and below.


7. Repeat this process for the six remaining squares of fabric.


8. Line up the 7 Kanzashi petals.


9. Trim off the triangles at the end of each petal (raw edges) as seen in picture below.


10. String all of the Kanzashi petals on a needle with thread that has been doubled and knotted at the end.


11. Here is a front or top view of what the Kanzashi petals look like threaded together.


12. Here is an underside or bottom view of the Kanzashi petal. Click picture to have a closer look.


13. To finish off your Kanzashi Flower you will sew the petals to each other on the underside of the flower.


14. Now sew the petals together on the top side too.

15. With your iron, give the Kanzashi petals a blast of steam. This will soften the starchiness of the fabric and allow you to play with the petals until you have them just how you want them.


16. Lastly, you will make a covered button for the center of the flower. Just follow the directions on the covered button package. I used a 7/8" covered button.


17. Here's the finished flower.

Finished Flower Size:
3 1/4" x 3 1/4"

You can add these adorable flowers to just about any sewing or craft project you could think of.

Here are just a few ideas:
  • Headband
  • Purse
  • Blouse
  • Skirt
  • Dress
  • Coat
  • Jacket
  • Apron
  • Sweater
  • Hat
  • Shoes
  • Quilt

If you would like to take a look at some other kanzashi flowers, you check out my shop or you can also google some of the images for different flowers.

Good Luck, Godspeed and Happy Mother's Day.

xoxo,
Captain Maricruz




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