Friday, April 1, 2011

Flowers On My Mind

Any crafty blogger worth her (or his) salt has a post about singed flowers.  So...here's mine.  I had lots of leftover silk shantung from my Flower Power Wreath and I had some headbands and such left  over from the craft day at church.  I needed to do something with them.  I decided to try my luck at making my daughter a headband to accompany her Easter dress.  Who knows if she will wear it.  She pretty much has no patience for accessories.  That is really too bad because she is nearly three and still doesn't have much hair.  Just last week someone thought that she was a boy.  *sigh*

OKAY!  A pretty, frilly, flowery headband is just the solution we need.  After some trial and error (and a small fire) this is the result:

How could anyone think that that button nose belongs to a boy?
Here is a list of what you need to complete this project:


  • 1/3 of a yard of meltable fabric (Silk was okay, but satin or polyester would be better.)
  • "Fun Fur" yarn (about a 6" piece)
  • One button
  • A small piece of felt (2" x 2')
  • Headband
  • Pattern pieces
  • Disappearing ink pen
  • A flame (I used a barbecue lighter)
  • Needle and thread
  • Hot Glue

Here are the directions:

First I cut out patterns out of leftover chipboard from here.  I found a flower shape I liked and sized it up and down using my printer and a little math.  Ironically, I was reviewing these exact math problems with one of the students that I tutor on the same day.  (See, you will use those math problems again.)







Just for fun!
 Next, I traced the patterns onto the fabric using a disappearing ink pen and cut them out.  I made two flowers of each size.  I cut each flower out separately.  I didn't want to make a stack an risk the flowers sliding and getting misshapen. 



This ink was a real bear to remove.  Dabbing with a damp cloth didn't work.  I eventually had to soak down the edges of the cut flowers with a spray bottle. 

All of the dabbing caused the edges to fray.  No biggie!
It was just luck that I caught this photo mid-spray.
Waiting for the flowers to dry.


I singed the edges of the flowers once the flowers were dry.  I did this part of the project when my children were not around to watch.  I do not want them trying this themselves.  Here is where I ran into some trouble.  The three smaller flowers worked well, but the larger flowers were tricky.  I got several black smoke streaks on the petals of the flowers (and there was the fire that I mentioned earlier). 

You can see the aftermath of the fire on the top petal on the right. 

I think that the silk just needs more time to singe than satin or polyester and the larger petals needed even more time.  Those factors compounded on each other to make some not-so-pretty results.  I decided in the end to use only the three smallest sizes to complete the headband.  I ended up liking the results.  A larger flower would have overwhelmed my daughter's head. 

I stacked the petals one on top of another keeping the matte sides up and stitched them all together.  After a few stitches to prevent slipping, I added the Fun Fur.  I took the 6" piece of Fun Fur and made several loose knots one on top of another at one end to form a core.  I wrapped the rest of the yarn around the core.  I made sure to keep the frilly strands loose.  I did this to mimic the stamens of real flowers.



Next, I sewed a vintage rhinestone button to the top of the flower leaving the "stamens" to flutter around the edges.  Several years ago my grandfather gave me my grandmother's button box.  She was a very talented fashion designer and taught many other designers when she was younger.  The button I used for my daughter's headband was from her box.  I love the thought that my daughter will be wearing something that belonged to her great-grandmother. 

That is one beautiful button!


All that is left is to attach the flower to the headband.  Take your piece of felt and cut a circle large enough to support your flower as it is sitting on the headband.  Mine ended up being around 2" in diameter.  (See, there's more of that math.)  Put the softest side of the felt down and slather (yes, I said slather) hot glue all over the top side. 

It is hard to see, but there IS hot glue slathered all over the place!
Position the headband over the felt disk and press it down into the glue at the place you want your flower to sit.  I chose a spot slightly off center.   

Slather more hot glue on top of the felt disk/headband combination and attach the flower to the headband. (I didn't get a picture of that.)  You can use more glue to attach the flower sections together, but I chose to leave them fluttery.  


Lastly, put the headband on your daughter and pray that she will sit still long enough to get a clear photo. 

Nope!  (But you can see the stamens and a lot of sparkle.)
Uh uh!
Still no! (It must be Tyrone's fault.)
Almost....
THERE'S THE MONEY SHOT!

Now we wait and see if she will wear it with her dress on Easter Sunday.  Anyone want to place a bet?  :)

2 comments:

LV said...

I will leave the making of these to you. You did a very nice job and they turned out great.

very merry vintage style said...

Great tutorial! Love that button in the middle. Thanks for linking up your post to my party--
Mary