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.

Sewing Project - Fabric Vase Wrap - Butterscotch Yellow

Another stretcky and sparkly vase wrap from the fabric given to me by my sister.

I dyed this one with Rangers Alcohol ink in Butterscotch color. Beautiful warm yellow. 

The fabric measured 12" x 10" and again was folded in half on the width to ensure solid color for the full height.

I chose to put a flap on this one because the doing the side seam was much easier.  I did put a seam through across from the side seam after which would have been much easier before.

To finish the edge of the flap I cut it with pinking shears. This fabric will not unravel.

I added some French Knots in a random pattern on each of the layers of the flap then just added some stitches in yellow to keep it from opening.

Sewing Project - Fabric Vase Wrap - Hot Pink Sparkly

During my visit at my sister's on the weekend we sorted through fabric scraps.  We found a piece of stretchy white sparkly fabric which was no doubt part of a fancy evening dress at one point in its life.

I had been thinking of making adjustable vase wraps and this fabric was the ticket!  I brought it home.

I wanted to change the color so I checked the fabric dye I had and it indicated it would not dye polyester fabric.  So I headed into my paper dye inks.  I chose Ranger Alcohol Ink because that is sticks to shiny surfaces.

Into a yogurt container with tap hot water and several drops of Plum alcohol ink and I set the timer for 20 minutes.  My hopes were not high.

Well, once I pulled it out it was dyed!  It was pretty bright and I added some blue to change the color but it was not alcohol ink and did nothing at all to change the color.  I rinsed it thoroughly and dried it.  It is what it is!

I wanted clean edges so I decided to overlap the raw edges (which don't ravel) over each other flat against the glass. I pinned it well. Now, I needed something to over the one raw edge visible. I chose a piece of white double edged lace. I was not sure I could sew it with the machine because of the small diameter of the wrap. After at lot of hemming and hawing, I just took action.  It went better when I turned it inside out.  I chose a curvy stitch on my machine which is not really a stretch stitch but it's all I have. The stress will be horizontal so it should be okay.  

The embellishments could not be placed horizontally on the wrap because that would limit its ability to expand to larger sizes.  I added French Knots in the open spaces of the lace to repeat the color in the flower.

The fabric measured 12" tall and 9.75" wide.  I realized that I would have to double up the fabric with the join in the middle to have nice smooth edges on the top and bottom.  With about 3/8 inch overlap the final wrap measured 4.5" across folded in half.  It measures 5.75" tall.

2026 Slow Stitching Project - Page 11 - F1

I am following K3N Cloth Tales' slow stitch challenge for 2026.

We are working through the alphabet A-Z. First is her choice and second is the community choice.

K3N chose Feather but I did not. I chose Fish, Five Fantastic/Fabulous ones. 

I chose a bluish background cotton fabric and invisible stitched it to my thin white foundation layer.

I chose fabrics for my Fish from bright cotton scraps. I pinned them in place and used a running stitch to secure them to the background. 

I then decorated them in bright colors and stitch patterns. French Knots and running stitch in a variety of patterns.

I then used green thread to create plants in the water from the bottom and water pattern along the top of the piece in blue embroidery thread. I left space on the left for the eventual binding the piece into a book.

I think I got carried away with the stitching.  Decompressing from a very busy week. 

Slow Stitching - Extra Squares

Another extra square of slow stitching. I have used up the supplies I had packed for being away so I will have to dig out some more.

White cotton top layer on a foundation piece.  I did not learn my lesson about now covering the front with fabric as well which makes for a thick piece.  In all fairness, I did not have a plan when I started.

I chose strips of purple fabric in various patterns. I stitched the horizontal lines first in running stitch with purple thread from the ORTS tin.

Then I did the vertical ones with bright pink thread. Along the way I had found the lace flower I had dyed a while back and decided to use it.

I tacked it in place then added a purple circle which I over cast stitched to the piece. Then I added a lot of French Knots in yellow in the middle of that.  That was very thick with 4 layers of fabric.  Turned out nice.

Slow Stitching - No. 033 - Nature of Cloth

This week's prompt in the K3N Cloth Tale's Slow Stitching challenge is "Nature of Cloth".  

Kathryn explored her bundle of fabric.  How does it feel? Does it pass the needle test? Does it ravel? Does it have texture?

Once we had selected our fabrics then we were to make a fabric collage.

I chose a corduroy, wool plaid, orange cotton, yellow cotton and a small triangle of mustard colored silk. 

I placed a circle of stitching around the intersection of these fabric pieces.  Then random running stitching, seed stitching, with a sprinkling of French Knots.  This was a lot of fun to make.

Slow Stitching - No. 032 - Inspired by Judy Martin

I am catching up on my slow stitching now that the floor has been installed and all the furniture is back in place.

This is week 32 of K3N Cloth Tale's Slow Stitching challenge.  Prompt - Inspired by Judy Martin. K saw Judy's show in Birmingham but was inspired by an older piece.

The piece took 3 years (over 1000 days) to complete and was over 200 feet long and titled "Not to know but to go on".  The idea to stitch every day and take things as it comes. 

I chose the items to couch from one of my scrap bags and just laid them down as they came along. Started with one color and just changed as that one ran out.  I couched yarn, ribbon, rickrack and cording.  I really loved how the tiny rick rack looked couched. All kinds of ways to stitch it as well. Of course, there is as many colors as the rainbow.  I then stitched in between the couched rows till I was happy with the whole piece from either side.

Not sure how this will make it into my squares as it is too long.  Can I fold it effectively, I am not sure.  

Slow Stitching - No. 027 - Stitching a Leaf

Week 27 of the slow stitching challenge on K3N Cloth Tales.

Prompt: Stitching on a real leaf (pressing and waxing leaves)

It was designed to help us be mixed media artist and have the experience of stitching on material which is not fabric.  

I did not create a hole in mine though I could have but after putting the time I decided against it.

Kelly green felt one layer.  I chose matching thread for the veins, darker for the central rib and blanket stitch in the same kelly green around the edge.  The French Knots the same color.

I stitched my patterned cotton fabric strips onto a navy square with navy thread. The leaf was stitched with leaf green thread so they would be more visible.

K3N had posted on Instagram last week that she would be using a pressed real leaf in her piece this week. She recommended we press one if we did not have one at hand.

I knew that a real leaf was not going to work for my end project so I decided to create myself a felt one. It was designed with no idea what the final challenge would be.

I regret not having a hole in it but I did not want to cut the thread for my knots.

It is supposed to be an Aspen Leaf.

Card - Slow Stitching - Flower

I love the colors in this fabric.  

I chose an ivory thread to outline the flower and a light green to outline the stem.

I added several French Knots in the center of the flower.

The stitch I used is the back stitch.

This was a long one which took 2 evenings to complete.

I chose an Early Espresso card base in the A2 size.  

A quarter sheet insert and an envelope added it is now sitting under a pile of books to ensure the double sided tape sticks the fabric on very well.

Card - Slow Stitching - Red Flower

This fabric was thinner than the others I have stitched.  I had to add a bit to the right hand side to make it wide enough.

Outlined the flower, the green leaves and added French knots to the center of the flower.

The thin fabric I added is a Crushed Curry color and matches very well.

This got a quarter sheet insert and an envelope and will head for my card box. 

Slow Stitching - No. 007 - Held together by scraps of LOVE

I am following the slow stitching challenge hosted by Kathryn - K3NClothTales.

The prompt for week 7 is: Held together by scraps of LOVE.

Here is my piece. This is a tribute to my Mom who passed away a year ago. Her favorite color was blue.  I traditionally made Mother's day cards in pink but changed it up to make them blue because that spoke to her a lot more.

In this piece, I  added a light blue layer of cotton to my foundation fabric with white shiny Viscose thread and a running stitch because these pieces will be eventually put into a larger fiber art piece.

I cut a foundation piece of cotton cut into a heart shape. I stitched various blue fabrics to the heart. I then used blanket stitch to attach the heart to my light blue fabric.  Then I added white French Knots to add some femininity to the piece. 

My Mom did a lot of work with scrap fabric and re-purposing fabric.  She sewed all our clothes when we were kids, she taught all her girls to sew, and made many quilts in her life time.  She put love in all here sewing pieces. She took her sewing machine to the lodge because it was a life line for her. She did embroidery and knitting as well.