Easy Fabric Flower Tutorial

I decided to make my girls shirts to go along with their twirly skirts for Easter.

Fortunately, my husband had 2 shirts the exact same blue color that he was getting rid of.

 So...much like their Christmas dresses, I made Easter blouses from some old dress shirts.

I used the same pattern, but kept it short for shirt length instead dress length.  I also had the girls choose fabric that had been used in their skirts so that they would coordinate.

I thought the shirt by itself was cute, but missing something.  So I made a flower to add to it.

It was exactly what I was looking for as a finishing touch.

The flower was super easy.  

Here's how I made it:

Materials:

Scraps of fabric

Scissors

coordinating thread

Button (larger in size)

Step 1: Cutting

You will need 10 half circles in order to make this flower.

Mine have a diameter of 3" and a radius of 1.5".  I cut out each half circle individually, but it probably would have been easier to cut 5 circles (each 3" in diameter) and then cut them in half.  You can make your flower smaller or larger by decreasing or increasing your diameter.

However you do it - make sure you end up with 10.

Step 2: Sewing

Put 2 half-circles with right sides together and sew around the curved edge.

Repeat for remaining petals.

Clip the curve of each petal every 1/4" or so.

Turn petals right-side out.

Press.

Step 3: Attaching and Gathering Petals

Set your machine to sew a gathering stitch.

Sew across the bottom, straight edge of a petal.  Without breaking thread, continue to sew a gathering stitch across the bottom of the remaining 4 petals.

Now all of your petals should be connected.

Pull on the ends of the thread to start gathering the fabric.

Pull until the petals are bunched nice and tightly and form a circle.

Step 4 - Attaching the flower to the shirt

Place the flower where you want it on your shirt.

Tack it in place by hand.

Take a button.  I used one of these.

  You will want a larger-sized button in order to cover all of the raw edges in the middle of the flower.

Sew through all layers and through the button.  Make sure the button and flower are on nice and tightly.

And there you have it!  A beautiful flower to embellish any shirt or dress. 

I think it adds just the right touch.

And here is the other shirt.

Now to work on something for their brother. :)