Project: Rolled Fabric Roses Lickty QUICK

Can you make this project in 10 minutes?

 YES!!!

I have been begged and begged to do the Ribbon Momma spin on how to make these. I give up. Here ya all go! I have also added some secret tips and tricks in there that help quite a bit.

Supplies:
Fabric
Glue Gun
Felt Circle (optional)
Fabric Glue (optional)
Needle and thread (optional)

Can you believe it? Today we played with NO sharp objects or fire. I make no such promises for the rest of the week!

You can use any scrap fabric you have laying around. You can use old shirts from the thrift store. You can make this to match a special outfit. Really you can make this from just about anything. Because we're in the middle of a sewing project on a test pattern for a kids outfit we used some of this fabric to make a flower to match it. We figured the frayed flower look would be ROCK'N with this print! Sure its a little punk-a-licious for a tot but she wants to keep up with her teen sister and we pick our battles.

For this flower we used a 30 inch strip of fabric that was 1 inch wide. If you like your flowers uber frayed cut a starting point on your fabric about one inch into the cloth, then ripppppppppppppppp. Honestly, this one of my favorite parts of this project. If you have a day that you just really need to destroy something to release some energy this is the project for you! If you aren't so keen on the super raveled look you could cut the full length of your fabric instead of ripping it.

Our finished flower was just a bit less than 2 inches wide and it was only about a half inch tall. If you want a taller flower rip your fabric more than 1 inch wide. If you want a flower over 2 inches wide, cut your fabric longer than 30 inches long. You can also "fuse" extra pieces by just hot gluing two 1 inch strips of fabric together to add to the overall length of your starting strip.

Take your fabric and fold the 1 inch strip in half lengthwise so that your strip is now 1/2 inch wide. If you fabric is patterned make sure the pattern is on the outside facing you. You could break out the iron here but do you really think we would add a dangerous step? I do what is commonly referred to by my mother as "finger pressing". I call it cheating. Whatever, it still works like a dream. As you fold your fabric run your fingers firmly over the crease or I like to use a pencil to run firmly over the crease.

Before we start shaping the flower we need to talk about glue guns. For this project you will NEED a hot glue gun with a low temp setting. Please do not use a high temp glue gun for this project unless your goal is removing your fingerprints. I know some crafters do need some sort of witness protection service but even we aren't this extreme. We have a vintage multi temp Surebonder glue gun with both a high and low temp setting. If you have one that looks like the picture and you need to find it a home please give me a shout. I am willing to adopt it! I LOVE this glue gun and I have been dreading the day is gives out. It’s been with me for almost 20 years. Crazy huh? I will surely be lost without it.

If you are planning to use the finished flower on washable clothing you will need to use the optional items listed above in each place we use hot glue. Where we say hot glue, you will need to stitch in place and use your choice of fabric glue.

To start your flower, point the frayed edge down. Start to roll the end up tacking it in place where ever you feel like it needs to be secured. Roll several times over to make a nice little roll that will become the center of your flower.

Once you reach enough layers for the center part of your flower tack in place with hot glue. Next we will start to twist the fabric in fairly long twists and continue rolling this around our center. I twisted away from me because it seemed more natural to me but you could twist the fabric either directions. I did these first few layers fairly tight. Wherever the frayed edge came up was where I tacked the fabric being rolled up to the previous layers. As I built more layers I made each additional layer a little less tight. This helped built the width of it faster but if you don’t like this look you can continue to roll them tightly and increase the length of the strip of fabric you begin with.

Once you get to the end of your strip of fabric take the last 2 inches of fabric and flip it under and glue it to the back of your flower rosette. I still felt that the flower was a bit unstable so I added a felt back to it. You could skip this part and add extra hot glue and smear it around and let harden if the back will not be visible. If you are sewing the flower for use on washable things I would suggest using fabric glue to add the felt circle, then sewing the finished felt backed flower to your project.

I really did finish this flower in 10 minutes while waiting for the school bus to drop a kiddo off this afternoon. 

 Way to multitask momma!

If I can do it, you can too!