Friday, May 14, 2010

Poppies Embellishment Tutorial

Recently, I thrifted this simple gray top with satin trim, for $2.75. It called out to be improved upon.

It seems that everywhere you look this season, you'll see flower embellished tops like this and this. Since I wanted to hide the slightly uneven empire waist seam, here's my version...
It's easy to make your own poppies. Start with any fabric that includes synthetic fibers (such as polyester). I used a sheer formal wear fabric in grey.
Cut out a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect, in fact, they look better if they're not perfectly round.
Cut out more in various sizes. I use 6-7 per flower.
Safely light a tea light (or something with a low controlled flame). Hold your fabric edge near the flame and rotate. The heat melts the synthetic fibers to seal the edges and curl your petals. Tip: keep the fabric moving to prevent over-synging. This may take practice on a few circles to get comfortable.
Lay your petals together to start forming your flower. Stitch beads, sequins or buttons to the center to hold all your petals in place. Apply everywhere! They can be stitched in place or glued, depending on your application. (Keep in mind that hot glue will also melt the synthetic fabric.)
Make a little or a lot!

8 comments:

meridiansmom said...

Hold the phone. That's something I might actually be able to do! Oh my, the girly child in my family would LOVE those on, well, just about everything she wears! Hmmm... got me thinking!

G. R. said...

Well, Diane, I was going to say that you are a very crafty person, but when I looked up the word crafty, it said, cunning, sneaky, sly, shrewd, devious, and wily, which don't apply at all, except maybe shrewd, but in a positive way.

casch said...

Love this idea. I know a sweet little girl who might like one for her hair. (Trying again)

Millie's Bows said...

Just LOVE it! I should make a few of these and see how they'd do on headbands and/or bows :)

Jan said...

Terrific idea.

java girl said...

Diane,

I love this little flowers you added! What a nice touch!!

The little tea set came from Target from their "specialty" toy area. They have a lot of vintage style toys. This is a little metal tea set and my girl loves it!!

Have a wonderful week :O)

lera said...

Cute!

Jenny said...

What a NEAT idea!

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