Tutorial Tuesday: DIY Fluffy Fabric Flower Bouquet

Make your very own fabric flower bouquet just like you'd find in my shop! Here's how....

My Fluffy Fabric Flower Collection is a classic pom-pom style flower made with fabric strips rather than yarn. I thought I would share a DIY tutorial with you today so you could make them for yourself!!!

Step One: Gather necessary Supplies. For each bloom, you will need at least 12 strips of fabric that are approximately 3/4" wide by 40" long, a sharp pair of scissors, a length of yarn, buttons, chipboard circles, floral wire.

Now that you have the supplies gathered, you will make your pom-poms out of the strips of fabric you cut for this project.

Step Two: There are tools for this & some people use cardboard circles, but I like to use my hands. If you would like smaller blooms, you simply use two or three fingers instead of four. For even larger blooms, you can use the palm of your hand.

I simply wrap, wrap, wrap the strips around my fingers like so:

Just wrap wrap wrap until you have all the strips wrapped around your fingers.

Step Three: Now that you have all the strips wrapped around your fingers, it is time to tie it off. I like to do this a little differently than regular old pom-poms. I take two pieces of yarn & tie off each side. I run the bit of yarn under my wrapped up strips on both sides of my hand and knot it off. Hopefully these pictures will illustrate what I am trying to say.

Run yarn through one side of hand.

Tie the yarn into a double knot.

Once you have both sides tied into knots, gently slip the tied up strips off your hand. They will look like this:

Now you will want to take the loose yarn & tie both sides together so you end up with a big hunk of strips tied together in the middle.

Step Four: We want to cut down each side right where it loops.

Just take your time & cut through each layer.

When you are done cutting through each loop, you will end up with what looks like a stack of fabric strips all cut up like this (so tecnically you COULD begin at this stage if you already have a bunch of little strips laying around, but I don't recommend it cause it is a pain *smiles*):

Step Five: Now you need to pluck & pull to make this stack of cut strips look like a puff ball.

Just pluck and pull, yank and twist, and pluck and pull......until you like what you see. You might accidentally pull some of your strips out, but that's ok stuff happens :)

At this point you can add more yarn & hang it up as an ornament, but I simply must put EVERYTHING that resembles a bloom onto a stem.

You will need to gather the rest of the supplies to turn your pom-pom into a bouquet. You will need a piece of wire, a button and a piece of chip board. The piece of chip board is not a crucial step, but I like having a bit more stability to my blooms so I use it. I have prepared the chipboard by cutting it into circles & using a hole punch to put two holes in it.

Step Six: Fold a piece of wire in half & use the loose yarn in the puff ball to tie it onto the wire.

Thread the chipboard onto the wire & then the button.

Twist the wire.

Step Seven: Fluff your pom pom back up & then you may want to trim it up a bit to get it to look how you'd like. After I fluff and stuff, I like to hold the pom pom flower sideways & trim it up. This also gives it a bit more fray which is totally awesome.

Now for the easy step!!!

Step Eight: Enjoy your Fluffy Fabric Flower bouquet!!!

If you use this tutorial on your blog, I would appreciate a link back. Obviously, you can use your own fabric to make & sell these bouquets; however, I retain the copyrights to this tutorial so you cannot reproduce & sell the tutorial I have provided.

These are so much fun!! I used to offer them in a few of my online shops, but phased them out in late 2008. I am thinking of bringing them back. Well, I have this example one I will definitely list. Perhaps you will see more of them in the future.

I hope you have fun with this tutorial!! If you make a bouquet for yourself, I would love to see it!! You can also find a permanent link to the tutorial here:

http://kreatedbykelly.com/Tutorial_FluffyFabricFlowerBouquet.html

Here are the tutorials I am planning for future weeks: a cute pin cushion, journal cover, easy vendor apron, a few different fabric flowers. I'll come up with more too, but if you would like to see a tutorial please feel free to leave a comment & I'll see what I can do. Most projects will have my spin on it cause I do things my own way *smiles*

Hope you are all having a great week!!

Monday Mention: Casey Was Here

For my first Monday Mention, I want to introduce you to an artist that I don't think I have mentioned here before. I first met her several years ago when her business name was Funkenstein's & that really embodies the vivacious personality of Casey. She is spunky & sweet AND creative *smiles*

Casey changed her business focus to tote bags, purses, wallets and so on & also changed her business name to "Casey Was Here." This new name really suits her as well. She thinks about the story......the thoughts......the feelings.....behind the piece she is making so when you purchase the item, it is really true that "Casey Was Here."



Every item has a story that accompanies it, but even without that one can envision a story to go along with the piece -- that is the most beautiful thing about the kind of art that Casey does.



I wanted to show Casey off today because I can SO relate to her. When I make my clothing, wall hangings or other items that are applique-centric, there is so much more that goes into it than the procedure of sewing. She tells her stories so well. I encourage you to visit her shop, take in her pictures & read the stories that accompanies her art work.

Here's her shop:

Casey Was Here

Her finishing is impeccable & her material selections very high quality. I can personally attest to her work as I own some of her clothing. I also recently bought this cute coin purse & while I haven't received it yet, I already know it will be awesome!



Oh yes, and one more thing! Casey is mentioned in the most recent Woman's Day issue:

How the Library Can Save You Money

Scroll down to the essay titled "Fix it for Free by Cassandra Robbers, Almond, NY" and you will see Casey's smiling face right there & her essay. She is SO well-spoken!! It isn't often that you meet someone who is not only a talented artist but gives so much back to their community.