Wreath Wed: Felt Flowers

In searching for wreaths to make, I found a lovely one on etsy. They had sprayed a grapevine wreath grey and added felt flowers. I had a grapevine wreath in my stash, as you do, and decided I surely had enough felt, wool, and old sweaters to be able to put something together, all I had to buy was the spray paint.

I made the flowers based on directions from betz white (link when I'm back on my computer) (loopy flower, rosette (instructions for paper, work for fabric). I had a little vision for the blue buds. The big takeaway from making those is, if you are using acrylic felt use hot glue and not tacky glue. (Tacky works fine on 100% wool and mostly wool.)

I know it's not the spring or summer wreath I needed but I adore it!

Still More Fabric Flowers

Judging from your comments, yesterday's flowers were a huge winner! Most comments this month. So far...

Last night I went up to the craft room to start my new fabric flower. It was one I remember my mom making back in the day. Only, I had the wrong gauge wire for the project. Quick! To Pinterest! What can I make, right now?

I found this little tutorial on a new-so fabric flower (hot glue!) that appeared on Scattered Thoughts of a Craft Mom. She used these flowers as accents on a variety of projects. Fabric, buttons, hot glue...I had everything I needed!

I cut my circles (using framelits and my Big Shot) and heated up the glue gun. I started folding, but...wait...that doesn't look like a flower...(I actually like this one, and I'm going to find a way to use my little flower bud.)

Let's try this again. The folds are right, but with this busy fabric, you just can't tell.

Now that's better. Cute even. Now to find projects in need of little button flower accents.

I've gone off to the craft store for the right wire. Fingers crossed! (If you're tired of fabric flowers, sit tight. I made a run to the bead store and I've got some funky new things on the way!)
(I also purchased the eight items I needed to enter Joann's "Create with 8" contest. And I need to get that up on their site pronto.)

More Fabric Flowers

I hate to be ungracious. (Except I am.) I'm not the kind of woman who says, "this didn't come out well," so that everyone will tell me what I made is pretty. When I tell you it didn't come out well, there are great globs of glue on the front of the piece. It looks horrible in real life. I'm not fishing for compliments. If you can't see how bad it looks, there must be a problem with the photo. Whatever. Trust. Yesterday's flower looks like crap. If you really want, I'll send it to you so you can throw it away. But I'm keeping the rhinestone button.

Just for y'all, I am going to try that ruched ribbon flower again on Friday at the library. I will conquer this flower! (But there will still be another new craft on Friday.)

Last night's attempt at fabric flowers of a completely different sort went a whole lot better. These, I love. I want to fill a vase with them. I did get four done in an evening which is just a few shy of filling this little vase.

There were some problems with the directions which call for "assorted sizes" of felt circles. You know what would be great? If we could develop a system where we might be able to share with others a relative scale. Perhaps we could make a stick that had units on them, and when I made something I could tell you the units I used. Of course, we'd have to regularize this measuring device. That would mean the government would be involved. Forget it, it will never work. (If you are willing to use the government's measuring system, I cut my circles to 1", 1.5" and 2".) (You know who else acts like we have no capacity for measuring? Papercraft Magazine and the card designers. The directions always say something like, "adhere squares to card front" and you have to guesstimate what size the squares are from the finished size of the card. Really pisses me off.)

Ruffles in Ruins

This is not a success story. Partly, my fault. The directions clearly call for 1.5" wide ribbon. I bought 1". My bad. But I soldiered on. Ruched that ribbon to within an inch of its life. Then I brought out the hot glue.

Some crafters use hot glue like they are getting kickbacks on the stuff. Maybe they are. But it's not the best adhesive in every situation. First of all it shows. It may dry "clear" but it's is still very evident. For example, that lovely apple wreath I made has gobs of it on the back to hold that letter in place. If you look askance at the apples, you can see it there too. But it is really good for gluing big lightweight stuff to other big lightweight stuff where the bigness will cover the glue-ness.

Fabric, including silky ribbon, isn't that. I thought it was a bad choice. (It's always a bad choice for me personally. I mean anyone who has been reading long enough has read about a hand injury or six that I've given myself. And it's hot. It's hot for a long time.)

Quick glue gun story. I once left mine on for months. I made something, must have been in a rush. Finished gluing and then left the craft room. Into which I rushed only on occasion to get my clothes and shoes. Finally one day I turned on the radio and noticed two things were plugged into the wall. And there was the little glue gun still on. Not even sitting in a pile of hot glue. Nothing. Of course, when I went to use the glue gun to make the apple wreath, I had to extract great gobs of burnt glue from the nozzle. How awesome that little thing didn't burn down my house! How horrible that little thing burns me every time I turn it on. It's a love-hate relationship with us.

Back to the craft-of-the-day. I'm throwing it away once I pry that rhinestone button from the center. I do have 1.5" satin ribbon, so I may try again. Definitely with fabric glue too. Or, you know, needle and thread, which also seems to create connections between pieces of fabric.

Nine Divided by Two...

When I saw this wreath on pinterest, I knew I wanted to make something similar. I have plenty of October wreaths (three to be exact) but I needed one for September. (I'm also searching for June and July.) I thought apples would be a good substitute for the pumpkins. And even though the dude and I don't share a last name, we do share a last initial. That S is like Harry Truman's. It stands for both and neither. It stands for us.

I was a bit disappointed with the directions. They say to cut the 1/4 yard burlap to 2" strips and to wind them into rosettes. I knew I didn't need the whole 44" length but how much would I need? The directions don't say. But they do tell you to you to remove the pumpkins from the sticks and spray paint the letter. One friend suggested that the directions meant I should cut across, so the strips are 9" long but I don't think a 9" strip would give you a full rosette. (But if that's right, I think you'd get 18 rosettes.) Someone else suggested her strips aren't really 2", but closer to 1.5". In that case you'd get about 12 rosettes. Still not 13. Anyhoodle, buy more burlap if you're making this. Actually, my rosettes are definitely fluffier than hers, so maybe I've screwed up. Who is to say?

Despite the gloomy photo (try to imagine the door it's true color) I like what I came up with. I just wish there were a few more rosettes because I think 13 was exactly the right number for this wreath.

Not gonna lie. Working with burlap is super messy. It cannot stay woven. Stray bits end up on the floor and my craft room looks like a stable.

Peony, peeOnee, peoNEE

When I saw these fabric flowers on pinterest, I knew immediately I had to make them. My sister loves peonies. Even though she can never remember how to say it. "peeOnee," she says, and instantly I am thrown back to our childhoods, when she was so small that she still talked on the phone with her pretend friend "Soapie" and her white-blond hair was always in a rat's nest. You'd never know she'd grow up to be so sophisticated and stylish and unable to say peony. (I say this like I can get the word stamina out of my mouth without thinking long and hard. Every.time.)

Making these flowers is easy enough. Cut fabric, melt it, pile them up, sew. However, there is some technique involved in getting the edges to melt and not burn. Unfortunately, the fabric I used was so light pink, you can see the charred edges.

The poppies are cute too! (Until you get the hang of melting the fabric, it's no five minute project. Just sayin'.)