Flowers for hair, crafts, etc.

I just learned how to make the cutest flowers to put in your hair, or on a hat, or a purse, or wherever you want.  Here's what you'll need:   

                                 Solid fabric (8"x 8" square is enough fabric for one flower and I like to 

                                                     use a  shimmery / satiny type fabric)

                                 Sheer fabric/netting that corresponds/matches the solid 

                                                     (5"x 5" square is enough sheer for one flower)

                                 beads or a button for the middle

                                 needle and thread

                                 1" by 2" rectangle of felt 

                                 hair barrette

                                 candle

                                 hot glue gun

Okay, first cut out of all your circles* according to the following measurements (you can make smaller flowers by leaving off the biggest circles):

 

4" circle - solid fabric            (you can cut out the layers however you want....more

3 1/2 " circle - solid fabric        or less sheer depending on how full you want the flower)

3" circle - solid and sheer fabric

2 1/2" circle - sheer fabric

2" circle - solid fabric

1 1/2" circle - solid and sheer fabric

*It's probably easiest to just get a piece of paper and draw your circles on it and then cut them out and use them as a pattern.  Then it's easy to see if you can fit the circles on to scraps of fabric that you already have. :)

Now comes the fun part.....burning the edges.  The type of fabric you have will determine how fast it burns, so I would practice on a scrap of fabric first. You can burn the edges of the sheer fabric like I did in the example above, but if you use netting instead of sheer, DO NOT BURN THE NETTING!  It will disintegrate and burn your fingers, because it burns so fast.  You don't have to hold the fabric directly in the flame, the heat about 1/4" to 1/2" above the flame is hot enough to curl the edge of your fabric.  Don't worry about getting it perfect, the different amounts that it curls is what adds to the character of the flower.  

After you've burned all of your pieces, layer them up in size order.  Sometimes I burned a piece so much that it turned out smaller than I thought it would so it fit in a different order than originally planned, but it doesn't really matter, you can layer as much or as little as you want.  You can have the sheer between every layer of solid, or only add two layers.  With the netting, since you don't burn the edges of it, it adds a different look that is cute, and it's kind of fun if you don't line it up exactly with the other layers, so that the netting sticks out here and there.

Take your needle and thread and do two or three stitches through all of the layers to hook your flower together and then sew your beads in the middle, going through all of the layers to further secure the layers.  If you're putting the flower on a bag or something, then you're done!  But if you want to make it into a barrett for your hair, or to clip on to a head band or a hat, then do this last step. 

Cut out the felt to be just slightly bigger than your barrette and sew the felt onto the barrette on each end as shown in the picture.  Then hot glue the felt to the back of your flower. These flowers may sound complicated, but they go together really fast and look adorable!  Have fun!