Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Fabric carnation tutorial



You may remember my flowery bouquet I made a while ago. Making these carnations is quite simple and rewarding. Well, here's the tutorial.


You need light jersey with a lot of elastic in it for better looks and stretch for that matter.



Cut a long, thin strip. I had a metre of the jersey but in order to make the strip longer I cut all around it without stopping and the above piece has about 3,70 metres. The longer the strip, the thicker the flower. Remember, it should be about 1 or 2 cm wide.


Start wrapping it around your hand. While doing it, pull the strip tightly.
Jersey tends to curl up and that would add up to the looks of the flowers and make them more beautiful.

Here it is all rolled up.


Take it off carefully and holding it firmly tie a knot around it with a previously cut short strip.


When it is secured. Cut the upper part.




Like this.


Here's what it looks like. Cut the strips on the other side too.


Now, some of the "petals" will be bigger than others so here you do a little trimming until you make them all even.



A break in the steps for comparison. Here you can see what you'll get if you use a slightly wider and shorter piece of fabric (the pink one being a sturdier cotton).



When you finish trimming both sides, the flower will be left with the middle exposed, so you have to fix that too. Start by pulling the little strips to the other side but not very strongly because if the tie is not tight enough you might pull the strips off, and you also roll them up in your hands to get a nice round flower.



And ta-dah! Here it is!


Now you can take a bamboo stick (plastic stem, or whatever you come up with) insert it inside and make yourself a lovely flower.





And with a couple more of them you can make a bouquet :)





Or you can take a pin and make a brooch as shown in the intro picture.

28 comments:

Papgena Made It said...

very cool!!!
thank you for sharing!!

Maya Kuzman said...

Glad you like it!

eye_on_sparrow said...

Cute little carnations.

Fonda @Southern Scraps said...

Love these. Thanks for the tutorial.

Ophelia.K said...

Oh this is easy, yet so gorgeous! It's going to be on my to do list!
Thank you for sharing!!!

Dita Maulani said...

Found you via Tea Rose Home link party. Very gorgeous carnation, and easy to follow tutorial. Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

like it

Unknown said...

seriously genius.

Anonymous said...

very cool!!

Kelly said...

Hello there, loved these, linked them to my blog post which I posted them :) Thank you...
http://www.bluefrogslegs.com/2010/09/fabric-recycled-flowers.html

dana said...

oh this is so pretty and simple! I love it! thanks for sharing the link with us!

Kokeshette said...

What a good idea ! It's so cute :) Thanks for the tutorial !

Unknown said...

I have just found your blog and I love it. You have really good ideas. I follow you since right now. You might like my blog too.
http://farfaladecora.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the tutorial. :)

Blue Velvet Chair said...

I tried one of these today. Didn't turn out as well as yours. I think my cotton tshirt was too thick. Will have to try again with another type material. Thanks for the tut.
Michael
bluevelvetchair.blogspot.com

Theallamenta said...

Awww thanks for sharing, this is cute! I'm going to cut all my shirts... :)

OnePerfectDay said...

Cute!!

Day Thomas-Smith said...

Totally love. How did you make it into a pin with the fluffy part in the back?

Maya Kuzman said...

Corndog: I pinned it at the part where I tied it. Take a felted circle, put a little glue on it with a glue gun, open the pompom at the part you tied it and stick it. Press hard until the glue works.
For the carnation of the actual post I actually used a pin which I put through to the same spot (the tying spot). Hope this helps.

anaalbimoreno said...

Me gusta mucho y se ve muy sencillo con tu explicación gracias por enseñarlo.

staci said...

i've just found your blog.......let me say, "COOL!" Love this! Gonna teach this to my teen as a weekend craft to dress up her wardrobe. Question.....did you cut your jersey into bias strips or just straight cut?

Maya Kuzman said...

@ staci: thank you on the lovely comment. I believe the picture is quite clear about that. The jersey is cut into straight strips.

Aurelas said...

I think this is my favorite fabric flower project--it looks amazing! I can't wait to try it :D Thank you so much for sharing.

liliana said...

bella bella mi piace molto questo fiore di fettuccia lili

JoAnn SweetPepperRose said...

Very pretty and clever craft!

Unknown said...

Superbe idée, i love, j'aime beaucoup, je vais l'utiliser.

Sylvie

http://amielie.over-blog.com/

RandomGirl said...

This is so cute and easy! I was looking for a way to use an old t-shirt, that took no sewing, and this is beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!

Maya Kuzman said...

Glad you like it! Happy crafting :)

Daydreamerdesigns226 said...

So, this is just like making a pom pom!! I love it. I'm going to try to make a smaller one, for a baby headband!! Thanks!!