Fabric Flowers - Singles 2

Fabric flowers made with circles which I have made before.

I chose this beautiful pink printed cotton and cut five 4 3/8 inch circles. These were folded in half and half again to quarters. I stitched along the raw edges of each petal with a strong thread.  Once stitched I pulled the thread to gather the petals to the center. Tied off the thread securely.  

I used a bit of black wool fabric to fill the hole in the center and stitched it to the cotton flower. 

The bronze wire stem was stitched to the black center through the hole at the top of the stem. 

I placed a yellow felt circle behind the black textured button and stitched them both to the black center.

A black felt circle was hand stitched to the back to cover the stitches and make it pretty.

Burlap Sunflower - I designed a pattern on paper then cut out the ivory burlap to match which measure 4.75 inch in diameter.  Then I cut a piece of brown cotton fabric about 3.25 inches wide with pinking shears.   Then another layer of ivory burlap fabric again just a bit smaller.

The brown cotton center measures 2" in diameter and was stitched with a running stitch around the edge and French Knots in the center with ivory thread.

The 12" bronze wire stem was attached with stitches to the front layers before the cotton center was stitched on.  

The brown cotton backer was stitched on the back to hide all the stitches.

The Purple Tulle flower was designed with strips of dark purple and light purple tulle.  The strips were 1" wide and 5.5 inches long.  Placed on a 1.75 inch ring with half hitch knots. It took about 60 which I alternated with light and dark.

I created the center with a circle of deep purple cotton fabric, some batting and 2" cardstock circles.

The silver stem was sandwiched between the card stock circles and connected with the gold paper fastener. This was stitched to the ring with strong purple thread.

A circle of purple felt was stitched on the back to cover the stitched and make it pretty.  The outside edge of the flower was trimmed with the pinking shears to even out the petals to the same length.

Turquoise felt centered flower has tulle, cotton and felt.

The center was create with stitching felt circles which had been folded in quarters. I put a yellow one in the center.

I added a circle of white cotton to provide texture and definition between the felt and tulle.

The tulle is 10 layers of white tulle which were stitched together. 

The silver wire stem was sandwiched between 2 chipboard circles to provide support to the heavy center. 

I did resort to hot glue to hold these layers together as I was running out of time to have them ready to take to the gallery.

These flowers are at the Art Gallery Gift Shop right now.

Note:  The flowers on average are quite heavy and needed stronger stems than the bouquets as they were just placed in a vase.  During the creation phase I was not thinking of the weight.  Buttons could have been replaced with felt circles. I used tulle to lighten them when I could. Even 8 strands of wire was challenged by some of the flowers. I wanted to make them all unique so that added to the complexity of the project.

Fabric Flower - Peach Organza

My aunt offered me some organza for making a flower so I went ahead with cutting circles.  I cut four 5" circles, four 3.5" circles and two 2" circles.  I sewed the layers together.  Started by folding the circles in quarters then overlapped the points of 2 of the circles and stitched then repeated that and placed these offset from the first set. Now I had a full circle of organza.  Repeated the same process with the 4 medium circles.  The small circles I folded in half and then in thirds to make the center. This was stitched horizontally to keep the petals pointing forward instead flattened.  Once this was done I secured my thread carefully. 

I added a 2.5 inch cardstock circle to the back of the flower with thread and then stitched the wire stem to the flower and card stock to ensure it would stay in place. I cut a piece of the lining fabric from the fern wrap and and hand stitched that to cover the mess at the back of the flower.

Sewing Project - Bread Bags

I decided to make myself some bread bags to bring home my Country Grain loaves from COBS because the plastic bags are stacking up.

I chose 100% cotton fabric in yellows, greys and white. This was a large piece of fabric that I have used for many projects.

I used the COBS plastic bag as a template - 18.5 inches tall x 11.5 inches W.

I wanted the seams finished on the inside and a generous gusset at the top so the measures were generous.

The first one I did was put together with out too much attention to measures of the beginning piece of fabric.

The second one was too large and had to be reduced to match the first one.  

The measurements of the fabric would be 26.00 wide to be folded in half and 20.00 inches tall with 1.5 inches for the gusset at the top.

I chose cotton twill tape for the string in the gusset.  

I added a buttonhole on the front of the gusset on the front of the back before I sewed down the gusset. 

A large safety pin to pull the twill tape through.

I added a tab of yellow cotton to the ends of the tape to give me purchase to pull the bag closed.

I then boiled them in tea for about 10 minutes to even out  the colors.   Once rinsed they were dried.

I added a "My Bag" tag to these bags and they are included in on my "My Bag Line" page.

I then chose to add some slow stitching to the front of the bags onto the light square.  There are 5 circles in different colors where the top was outline stitch and the bottom was the running stitch.

I don't know what the staff at COBS will think of the idea but we shall see.

For information on the line. 

Slow Stitching 2025 - Week 1

Here's my first piece for the Comfort Coverlet.

I made the fabric 12x12 inches and tea dyed it.

I have made several circles on it and stitched them with the stem stitch in several colors.

I am planning on adding elements on the circles to loosely represent women in my family that are important to me.

Not sure what to use for the elements.  If it turns out to be a comfort cloth they should be soft.

Options:

Buttons, beads, sequins, felt shapes, and probably many more.

See what this week brings.

Inktober 2024 - 28 Spheres

Inktober 2024 Challenge

28 Spheres

A black permanent marker to go over my pencil drawing.

I realized that I had used very little red so I wanted more of it in this sketch.

Lines with a ruler.

Stippling with the marker.

Slow Stitching - No. 041 - Scrapplique - Odd circles

 K3N Cloth Tales Slow Stitching Challenge.

Week 41 - Scrapplique

I did an odd number of circles which were cut by hand with no template.

I dug in the stash and found my background fabric and selected a foundation layer. 

Then I chose 5 cloths and made the circle to match the size of the scrap. Folded in quarters and just cut from edge to edge. I did a bit of extra trimming as needed.

I love the colors. 

Now, Kathryn had indiciated we should cut out the back of the image to reduced bulk but I just was on rote and had blind basted before I knew it. I was not prepared to undo that. It did make stitching a bit tough towards the end.

Just thinking about it just this morning I could have cut out the middle before I stitched the next circle. It is what it is.

Card - Watercolor - Belated Birthday

A large watercolor card for a teen who is heading into her last year of school in the fall.

The birthday was back in April but I got to deliver this card in person and it included a bit of mad money.  There is a big trip coming up in July so it will come in handy.

I used left overs from my senior show entries and cut a piece tall and narrow.

I added circles with a small glass vase dipped the same color that was still sitting o my palette.  How handy!

I then added petals, stems and leaves.

Then a bit of spattering.

I mounted it on a single layer of card stock in Stampin Up Lovely Lilac. 

I added a single sheet of insert on the back and tucked the moola behind it.

Loved the visit with this family.

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holder Coasters

A car coaster collects the drips, drops, spills, crumbs and other stuff that ends up in our car cup holders.

I made up some with supplies I had on hand. These were made with felt circles.

I started with an 3.25" circle which was hand cut.  I stacked onto it 3 more circles of various colors and sizes.  I took them to the sewing machine and stitched in a spiral manner from the outside to the center of the coasters. Since the circles were felt buttons I added a coordinating thread through the whole coaster and knotted it on the front.  This can be used to remove the coaster from the holder.  These can be washed and reused. 

I made 10 sets so we will see how things go.  I mixed and matched a bunch of colors.  Red and White Canadian in the top left corner, the Elks one in position three in the top row with a few summer colors and Christmas red white and green.  The tags are 2.5 inches with rounded corners and it was placed between the 2 coasters which are back to back. They are stitched on with white cotton thread. 

Round Thank You

I started with a Stampin Up Always Artichoke card and I selected the In the Spotlight stamp set.  I cut the large circle from the Painted Blooms DSP with a Spellbinder Smooth Circle Nestabilities thin die.  I then stamped the circle from the set with Purely Pomegranate ink on Rich Razzleberry card stock.  I cut it with a Nestabilities die.  I then stamped the circle greeting with Pacific Point on white which I punched with a 5/8" punch.  I punched a .75" circle in the same blue. I layered them together. I stamped the dotted border in the same blue on white.  I trimmed it evenly on both top and bottom and flagged it's right hand end.  I stamped the same dotted border in Always Artichoke onto the card front creating a working space for my trio of circles.  I then adhered the largest circle in the top left hand corner then the medium Rich Razzleberry next to the right of the first one.  I glued the blue dotted banner parallel to the green one.  I glued the blue greeting over the left hand end of the banner.

I'm submitting to the following challenges:
Come and Get It - Round Things

CAS Colors & Sketches

 - #137 Sketch

Pals Paper Arts
- Color PPA263

Card Club - Sept - DSP Strips

This is a great versatile design.  You need Doubl e Sided Designer paper where the both sides work well together.  Cut a piece to 4" x 5.25" then cut it down to seven .75 inch strips.  Decide which will be the center strip and reassemble the paper flipping every other one and tape together on the back. This can then be adhered to coordinating card stock.  Rip a strip of coordinating cardstock and glue across the bottom third.  Glue the centres on the flowers then place the flowers as you choose.

Challenge - Christmas Ornaments

I made this card for the Christmas Card Challenge at Holly Jolly this week.  The theme is Christmas Ornaments. I chose to upcycle an old Christmas card.  I punched the glittered snowflake out with the Stampin Up! Ornament punch.  I aligned the color printed greeting in Island Indigo with the hole already in the card.  Once printed, I glued the upcycled card onto the card front.  I tied the string to the ornament and then glued the ornament to the card front.  I then pulled the string up to the top fold.  I used a push pin to make a hole in the fold and pulled the string through and taped down the end on the inside of the card.