Halloween Chic DIY: Festive Fabric Flowers

Wow, I cannot believe Halloween is less than 2 weeks away; the month has flown by super fast! I have been amazingly lucky to coordinate a wedding for Jon & Sara, launch a Holiday Line and crochet tons of scarves for the kids of the Plaza District through Rethread. The time is ripe for a little me-time! I get to teach myself how to make a chiffon flower, then share it with you!

I had some trouble actually deciding what I was going to do with the flower, so I came up with a few uses, and these were my 2 favorite:

 

Table Adornment 

OR Super Cute Headband!

 

 

So I will leave it up to you what you would like to do with this fun little project, but here are the super easy instructions.

 

Materials:

Chiffon in black and orange

Cardstock

Pencil

Pins

Scissors

Needle

Black Thread

*Floral Wire

*Headband

*Glue Gun

 

*Depending on what you want to do with the flower, you might not need this

 

Step One:

Using your pencil, draw a flower about 4-5 inches in diameter. I drew spokes so as to get my petals evenly spaced; I am terrible at free handing and this helped a lot!

Step Two:

Fold your chiffon so you have at least 8 layers. It's a pretty thick amount without it being difficult to cut through. Then pin the card stock through all the layers of the chiffon on each petal. Chiffon is very slippery so this is necessary for your sanity. 

 

Step Three:

Cut out the flower. It is easier if you cut a circle around the flower first, then the finer details. There is less fabric to be managed and again, it will save you some sanity.

Step Four:

Unpin the card stock and repeat as many times as you need. I recommend using 8 layers per flower so consider one cut to be one flower. Do both black and orange all at the same time; it will be easier to get this step over and done with. 

 

Step Five:

Layer 3 black pieces then 5 orange pieces, with the orange on top.  Make sure the petals don't line up, then fold in half.

 

Step Six:

Thread your needle with black thread. Then start sewing about 4 stitches in the middle bottom of the flowers. (Sorry I forgot to use contrasting thread... I will remember next time!)

 

Step Seven:

Fold in half again and sew a few more stitches until you start to get a little knob at the bottom of the flower. Once you've got a nice little knob, tie a knot and cut the thread off.

Step Eight:

EITHER YOU CAN grab your headband and arrange the flowers on the headband in a fashionable and pleasing way, then hot glue them to your band. Instant awesomeness. 

 

 

OR YOU CAN take your floral wire and wrap it around the knob at the end of your flower, make sure to start wrapping above the knob and as tight as you can. (It took my a few tries to get it really secure, but if you start above the knot, that will be your best bet) Then you can attach it anywhere you'd like!

 

There are a million things to do with these flowers, so let me know if you have any other ideas!

 

Hope you have fun, be creative and get inspired!