Flower tutorial

I came up with a new flower idea and thought I'd share....

you could make this a pin and add it to whatever--headbands, sweaters, hats 

I've been making pillow slips in fall/winter fabrics...

 The one I made has 6 layers 
2 small (4 petals)
2 medium (5 petals)
2 large (11 petals)

 I started with the 2 small layers--you'll need a strip of fabric (for each layer) about 2" wide.  For the small ones I think mine are about 5" or so long.  Honestly I didn't measure :) The medium layers were about 6" long and the large strips are about 12" long.
You can make it as big or little as you want. Obviously it will change the size of your petals/flower...

Then accordion fold however many times you need...

4 times for 4 petals (5 times for 5 petals and so on)

Once you've folded cut an upside down "U" shape...remember you want to start and stop about 1/4" from the bottom so they all stay connected just like paper dolls :)

Another view...

Unfold...this is a 5 petal piece...

Thread your needle and knot your thread then use a running stitch about 1/4" from the bottom

All the way to the other end...

Bring your needle and thread back to the beginning and run a stitch or two through the petal you started with to make it into a circle. Knot your thread to finish.

Here I've layered the 2 small, 4 petal layers.  Just run stitches through the centers to keep connecting all of them.

Here it is added to my plaid, flannel pillow slip...I really like the mix of the girly flower with the masculine plaid...

This is one small, 4 petal flower made from the cotton flour sack.  I added some green, flannel leaves on this one...

And here's the whole pillow slip...there are 4 little flowers total.  I've been looking at all the cute little sweaters and shirts that have all the decorations around the collars to see how they do it :)

Then I decided to use a pointed petal shape instead of the rounded "U" shape and I didn't pull the large ones tight in the center...

Fun to play around with!  I love fabric and the change of seasons always inspires me to change things up at our house.  So hopefully I'll be making myself some new pillow slips for our living room soon...white flannel....some felted cashmere maybe...
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