Fabric Hair Flower Tutorial

I just love these hair flowers for my daughters and myself!  Several months ago I had run across them on a blog, and have not been able to find it again...luckily they were easy enough for me to remember, so here I am showing all of you how to make them!

First, pick out 2 fabrics...I usually use leftovers from a project.  Then you will want to get a circle you can trace...I like to use my favorite shrek glasses I got a few years back!  They are 3½ inches in diameter.  Use a pencil and trace around whatever you are using.

For the bottom flower you will need 5 circles, and for the top flower you will need 3. 

Cut out all the circles.  

Fold each of them in half and press with your iron.

Cut each circle in half along the crease.  You will have lots of half circles like this:

Fold your half circles in half, right sides together, one at a time...

Sew together along the straight edge.  

Just keep sewing one after the other...

And when you are done you will have a long chain!  Next you will cut them all apart from eachother.

Turn each petal right side out, I use a skewer that I trimmed the point back on so it doesn't poke through my fabric.  Make sure to push the point out the best you can.

My kids think the petals look like barbie party hats.  If you sewed all 10 of the bottom flower petals you will have an extra one...you only need 9 for the actual flower.  So they really do work as a hat!  Haha...ok, I'm a dork!

Next you need to thread a needle and begin sewing the petals together (I double over the thread to make it a bit stronger)!  Stitch along the bottom of the each petal...make sure you put the seam to one side of the petal and keep it on the same side for all the petals you sew.

For the bottom flower sew 9 petals, for the top flower sew 6.  Here is my bottom flower once I had all 9 on.  Next I will tie the ends together in a nice knot (don't pull too tight or your thread could snap...that is really frustrating, believe me!  So be careful).  Trim your strings.

Here are both of my flowers all sewn together.

Now I am going to glue them together to make a darling hair clip!

I have both of my flowers, an alligator clip (which I got at Sally beauty supply...a box of 100 for only $5), a small circle to cover the back, and a fabric button I covered to match.

Put a small line of hot glue across the back side of the circle.  Clip the alligator clip right onto the glue like so:  

You can't really tell, but that is the back side of the fabric facing up.  Cover it with hot glue now, and the top of the clip, and glue it to the back of your bottom flower.

Flip it over and put some hot glue in the center of the bottom flower and stick on the top one.  Glue on the button or whatever you want to use for the center of your flower and you are done!

Here are some others I have made:

You can do the fabrics however you want...On the top flower I used 3 different fabrics, and just alternated them on both layers.  I love how it turned out!  Have fun with it! :)

Easy Girls' Tiered Skirt Tutorial

Do your girls have any old pants laying around that have holes in the knees? How about pants that are too short but still fit in the waist? If not, head to the thrift store and pick up some for a few dollars a pair. Remake them into these fun skirts! How cute would these be in red, white and blue for July?

Start by cutting the pants off right below the zipper and the back pockets. Even them up a bit until they look similar to this:

You will need three quarter yards (not fat quarters...you want the quarter yard to run the width of the fabric so that you get 45" strips) of fabric for this project. Each quarter yard will be 9" by 45" inches.

You will cut each in half lengthwise which will give you two 4 1/2" by 45" strips of each print.

Cut the two strips you will be using for your top tier down to 23"

Cut the two strips you will be using for your middle tier down to 33"

Cut the two strips you will be using for your bottom tier down to 43" (I actually didn't trim mine at all, they were already so close to the correct length.)

You'll end up with 6 strips, like these:

Sew matching strips together, right sides together, then press the seams open.

Next, sew a 1/4" hem the edge of the bottom tier.

Set your machine to its largest stitch size (this will be your basting stitch) and stitch around the top of each loop of fabric. Sew from seam to seam, leaving a tail of thread at the beginning and end. You will pull the top thread to gather your tier (after the next step).

Pin the top edge of this hemmed bottom tier to the middle tier at the seams, right sides together. I also pin the middle of each layer together.....it helps get the gathers even. Pull the top basting thread until the length of the bottom tier matches the length of the middle one.

Loop your thread around the pin to keep it in place.

Spread the gathers out gently with your fingers until they are evenly distributed.

Sew the two layers together. Right before you get to your pins, pull them out and pull the basting threads to the side. This will help you to more easily pull the basting threads out after the layers are sewn together.

Follow the same method to attach each layer to the one above.

To finish the skirt, topstitch each layer. Where pants meet skirt, topstitch below the seam. On the others, top stitch above the seam.

Enjoy!

I am thinking of using the scraps to make some matching hair flowers. Tutorial soon to come (and many, many more)!