Fourth of July Fabric Corsage Tutorial

Happy Fourth of July!!! To celebrate today's holiday I whipped up this sweet little holiday corsage yesterday. It's red, white and blue at it's best. With a little imagination and fabric you can easily adapt this tutorial to any holiday or special occasion. I think this would be a lovely finishing touch to your outfit when worn to a wedding or garden party. The design is meant to be reminiscent of the ol' time corsages worn high on the shoulder but because of the versatile pin back/clip combo it can also be worn as a hair accessory or you can clip it to a long necklace for a focal accent. However you choose to wear it- Enjoy!
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Fourth of July Fabric Corsage Tutorial

Tools and Materials
Scissor
Needle
Embroidery floss or thread
Variety of coordinating fabrics (I used Moda)
Canvas cloth
Bit of ribbon or other trims if desired 
Glue gun with glue stick
Pin back/clip combo (found it at Hobby Lobby) 

Step One: Rip or cut a strip of fabric approx. 2' in length by 2 1/2" in width. 

Step Two:  Fold the strip in half width-wise, hold and tie a knot an inch or so from one end of the strip 

Step Three: Thread your needle and pierce your knot in the center then begin to wrap the strip around the center knot, adding a stitch here or there as you go to hold the shape. 

Step Four: Give the fabric a twist here or there before adding a stitch to create the form and appearance of petals.







Step Five: When finished, add a few more stitches to the base of the flower to secure. Then add a couple of stitches up and through the center. Knot off at back and cut thread. 

Step Six: Choose a couple of coordinating fabric and cut 2-3 leaf shapes. Place on canvas and leaving a 1/4" border cut around your patterned fabric. Rip a few more strips to hang down decoratively from corsage as well.

Step Seven: Play around with your positioning and then stitch leaves to back of fabric flower as desired. Feel free to embellish your leaves by stitching around their edge or adding some buttons or beads. To add dimension to the leaf, pinch bottom and stitch to hold as shown. 

Step Eight: When you've finished assembling your corsage and stitching it all securely in place heat up your glue gun and adhere pin back to back of flower. Hold for a few seconds for better bond.  Alternatively, you could stitch on a pin  back. Make sure to position slightly high on back of corsage so it hangs well.  
Wear with patriotic pride (and 'cause you know you look good). :)

Best Wishes to you and your family- I hope you have a fabulous Fourth of July!!!!!

Creating My Own Fall Garden

It's been a crazy summer weather-wise this year. Much cooler than usual. We seem to have gone from Spring right into fall with maybe a few odd days of 90's. Yesterday I saw my first orange leaves announcing the advent of fall. I do enjoy fall and fall colors are my absolute favorite to play with especially when I was doing weddings. Orange red callas with deep purple mums and chartreuse little kermit mums make me swoon. So this week when I decided it was time to restock the Etsy shop I created some fun springy blooms of wire and then indulged in some fall colored fabrics. I just loved working with these. So here's a photo of my springy-fall blooms and maybe the colors and patterns will get you thinking it too! The majority of them will be listed soon in my shop as well. YAY!

Making Flowers from Fabric

I've had a fuzzy image in mind of some fabric flowers I'd like to make. In the past I've done ribbon roses and plenty of knit one's too but thought I should try some using the quilting scraps I have. The patterns on these fabrics are so bright and pretty I just love them but when I tried creating what I had in mind they just wouldn't work. The image I have is of multi fabric flowers, that are 3d and kind of shabby chic. So some of these are close but not quite what I was thinking yet.

I'll keep trying. Do you ever get those glimpses? I can't just whip out the flower because I can't completely see them. It's frustrating but from past experiences I know that if I keep going I'll get there. And each attempt is a step closer because I've tried something that either does or doesn't work. That's knowledge.

So that's one of my little projects. Hope you enjoy them!

Weekend Beauty

My parents built a retirement home some time ago in hopes of retiring there some day. In the meantime they go up summers when they're not teaching and most weekends.

This weekend was the big putting in the dock weekend. While my dad and Jeremy were waist deep in freezing water I was out front with Jasper snapping some pics. Across the road from the house is a pond that feeds into the lake behind the house. My mom's iris were blooming and I just loved the combination of blues and greens and purples. Then there's that gravel road running right through that's a nice balance to the cool colors. I also love the juxtaposition of the wild and natural pond area to her more cultivated front garden. Just loveley!!!!