How To Hand-Make a Fabric Flower Accessory

I love cardigans. I probably have one in every color and all sorts of lengths from long to short and everything in between. Some I’ve had for years…so long I’m almost embarrassed to admit how long. And even though I love them all, I sometimes think it would be fun to change up their style a bit to make them feel new again.

So that’s exactly what I did.

I think these little cuties would be a perfect addition to a bride’s or bridesmaid’s cardigan if you’re the kind who’d like to hand-make some things for your wedding. The best thing about these is that after they’re made, they’re just pinned on…so you can take them off and put them on other sweaters or shirts as well.

What You’ll Need

Fabric
Scissors
All-Purpose Pins
Sewing Machine
Matching Thread
Fabric Glue (or Needle & Thread)
Safety Pin

STEP ONE

You can use any kind of fabric you want. As you can see, the first one I did here I used a chiffon. Cut your fabric. The length and width to cut really depends on how big you want the flower. The chiffon one above was 35 inches, but the length I cut for the other two and for this tutorial was 20 inches and the width was 3 inches. I wouldn’t cut any shorter than that, but if you want a bigger flower…go as long as you like.

STEP TWO

Fold the fabric in half like so. (If you’re using chiffon, you don’t need to do this step. But make sure your fabric isn’t going to fray.)

STEP THREE

Fold in a pleat and pin every inch or so the full length of the fabric.

STEP FOUR

Before you sew along the bottom edge, be sure to turn each end’s fabric inward so the rough edges are no longer exposed. Sew along bottom line to secure in place.

STEP FIVE

Start spreading the fabric glue in sections and fold over one edge of the fabric piece to start creating the flower shape. Repeat all the way through until flower is formed. (If you’d rather hand-stitch this part instead of using fabric glue, which is what I did for the chiffon one, by all means stitch away. It’s the same process. Roll, stitch in place, then roll again, stitch in place and repeat all the way through.)

STEP SIX

If you are gluing, be sure to let the glue dry completely before you move onto the next roll and after the flower is formed. By now your flower should resemble something like this.

STEP SEVEN

After the glue has dried completely, take your safety pin and pin from the inside of your sweater through to secure the fabric flower in place.

And there you have it!

Aren’t they cute? Don’t worry, the back side of the flower isn’t going to look pretty. If you’re the type who’d like to make it look pretty, next week I’ll have another tutorial to show other ways in which this flower can be accomplished as well.

For now, I hope you’ve enjoyed this!

Thank for stopping by!