Fabric Flowers - Kanzashi

I have recently found this book by Diane Gilleland called " Kanzashi in Bloom, 20 Simple Fold-and-Sew Projects to Wear and Give".  I am so inspired!  I loved it so much I bought the book and brought it home so I can start experimenting.

Here are my first few flowers:

What you'll need:

1. Fabric of your choice

2. Fabric glue

3. Pins

4. needle and thread

5. scissors

6. Glue gun

7. Embellishments (buttons, jeweled beads, etc)

1. Cut a square out of cardstock, mine is 3x3 inches, to measure your fabric and cut it. Cut out as many squares as you'd like for your petals.

2. Ready to fold?  Lay your square down with the wrong side facing you.

3. Fold square in half diagonally, with the right side facing out.

4. Take the right corner and fold it down to the bottom corner.

5. Repeat on the left side.  (I'm sorry for the blurry picture)

6. Flip over the whole piece, now you're looking at the back.  Take the left corner and and fold it to the center.

7. Repeat it on the right side.

8. Fold the whole piece in half, toward you, the two corners will be inside the fold.  Stick a pin through the bottom of your petal, making sure it holds all the folds together

9. Repeat the entire process to make enough petals.

10. Before stitching them together, Trim the bottom of your petals so they have a straight edge, starting at the lowest point of the diagonal raw edge.

11. Now thread your needle and poke it through your petals exactly where your pin was before.  

12. After threading all the petals, tie a knot, making sure to arrange your petals as you go.  When you have the shape you are looking for, tie another knot to secure it.

13. Cut out a circle out of your fabric and glue it to the back of your flower.

14. Use your glue gun to add a button or your favorite embellishment to the front of your flower, play around with your petals, and you're done!  

These will become hair clips for my girls, but you can do so much with them!  I hope you'll give them a try!