How to Make a Fabric Flower Free

I found a few tutorials on how to make this type of flower, but most of them required a paper pattern where you had to cut out the flower using the pattern, and I wanted something quick and easy.  Here is the quick version.

Materials needed:  glue gun, glue sticks, alligator clip or any other type of clip, fabric remnants, scissors, and something to glue them onto, such as a piece of felt.

First, cut your fabric remnants. You will need four 3"x3" pieces for the bottom layer, four 2.5"x2.5" for the middle layer, and four 2"x2" pieces for the top layer.

Cut your felt or whatever you are using into a circle. I used a piece about 2" wide.

Start with the bottom layer and fold it in half, wrong sides of fabric together.

Then fold it in half again.

Now fold it diagonally, and you are going to cut the raw ends the way you would if you were making a paper heart.

Open it up and it should look like a heart.  Repeat for the other three pieces.  Glue them onto the circle base that you made.

 

Repeat the folding and cutting steps with the middle pieces of fabric.  Stagger these when gluing them on.

Repeat all steps for the top layer, glue a clip on to the back and you are done! You can put something in the middle or leave it as is.

 

Free Tutorial Child's Head Scarf

Here is a short tutorial on how to make a child's headscarf  (pictured below) and how I make my bias tape.

Here's how I make my bias tape and headscarf.  Start with a perfect square.  I used an 18"x18" piece of fabric and used my selvage as one side to make sure I was cutting correctly.  To make your bias tape it has to be cut on a 45º angle.  If you cut your fabric diagonally across your square, which is a 90º angle, you will be cutting your fabric at 45º.

You now have two triangles.  Place one triangle on top of the other and match up the longer sides together.  Use the straight edge of the longer side of the triangle as a guide and cut a  2"strip, then another 2" strip.  I cut twice, then before I cut the third strip, I removed one of the triangles to use as the headscarf and then I cut the remaining triangle a few more times.

For your triangle piece, fold both of the shorter sides 1/4", then another 1/4" towards the wrong side of fabric.  Leave the longer side as is.  Edge stitch both of the folds on the triangle about 1/4" in, backstitch when beginning and ending.  Cut off the excess fabric at the end of both sides.

To make your bias tape you will probably need to sew two or more pieces together to make a longer bias tape.  To sew two pieces together, place one piece on top of another, perpendicular, and right sides of fabric together.  It is easier if you cut off the angles at the ends to square up the fabric.  Sew a stitch across diagonally, backstitch when beginning and ending.  Cut off the excess fabric.  If you want a longer piece, repeat these directions to add on another piece.  Cut to desired length.  I used a 24" piece for my 15 month old.  You will probably want to measure your child's head to see how long you want to make it, leaving extra fabric to tie in the back as well.

Press both of the shorter sides of the bias tape 1/4" in towards the wrong side of fabric.  Then press your bias tape in half, lengthwise, wrong sides of fabric together.  Use the center crease as a guide to fold both of your sides in towards the center and press. Then press it one more time and you should have a piece of bias tape that measures 1/2" wide.

My beautiful daughter decided to decorate my mat with pen

Fold the triangle in half and the bias tape to find their center points.  Match those up and pin the bias tape onto the raw side of the triangle, making sure the bias tape is on both sides of the triangle.

Start from one side of the bias tape and sew an edge stitch about 1/2" in or as close to the edge as possible.  Make sure you are catching both sides and backstitch when beginning and ending.  You are done!  For more free tutorials, visit my blog at http://www.pinkpoodlebows.blogspot.com

Wipe Covers free tutorial

I mentioned a few weeks back that I was going to do a wipe case cover tutorial...so here goes!  There may be other ways to do this, but this is how I do it. ;)  These are great gifts to give, no sewing required!

First gather your materials. You will need a wipe cover first of all- the green one that I am using is free in my diaper box, but I have also seen the white ones sold separately.  You will also need, a fat quarter of fabric (no pre-washing necessary), ribbon to decorate the cover and you will need 3/8" ribbon to go around the wipe cover to finish the sides, hot glue, hot glue gun, scissors and fiber fill.

Cut out two pieces of 5 1/2"x 9" pieces of fabric

Place hot glue onto the top of your wipe cover and place a handful of fiber fill on top.  You want to do your best to try to spread it out evenly.

Find the back of the lid where the top and bottom are joined.  There is a slight lip there, place some glue above it and place the center of the longer side of the fabric onto the glue.

Place another dab of glue onto the front of the wipe cover where you can open the lid.  Pull your fabric as tightly as you can over the fiber fill to "smash" it down and place your fabric onto the glue.  You do not want any extra fabric hanging over the edge, so you can tuck some of the excess fabric under itself before you place it onto the glue...or cut the excess off afterwards.

Mouse Ears Headband Free Tutorial

I've been having so much fun getting things ready for our trip to Disneyland!  I made my daughter  a little outfit to wear on the first day with some socks to go with it as well- you can find the tutorial to make these socks in my tutorials section.  I used my Madison and ruffle bottom pants patterns to make this outfit. I just cropped them both to make them as a shirt and capri set. Now... on to the ears!

I decided that I was going to make some "mouse ears" for her to wear on the way up.  I bought some black felt that had a self-stick side and found some other items in my craft tub to use: black ribbon, red polka dot ribbon, a headband, glue sticks, glue gun, string, scissors and a lighter.

I made myself a template for my mouse ears by just making a circle and added a rectangle to the bottom of the circle to use to attach it to the headband.

Here is a template if you need it. I should about 3" across.

mouse ears template

First, I cut out my template, then I traced it onto the back of the felt paper four times.

Next, I cut out the four circles and peeled the paper backing and cut off the circle part and left the rectangles with the paper backing because I don't want those parts to stick together.

I carefully placed one of the ears on top of the other. They will be hard to remove from each other so try to make sure they are even the first time!