Fabric Flower Clips

Lately I have been diggin' all the beautiful fabric flowers there are to have and, especially, to make. My favorite way to use them is worn in my hair.  It seems like I end up wearing my hair pulled back the same way every day, so clipping in a fun flower mixes it up.  These pretty blossoms can also be clipped on sweaters, jackets, purses or even shoes!  The can be clipped onto a stretchy headband for baby to wear or even top a simply wrapped gift to make it stunning.  Following, I am going to show you the steps I found online on various tutorials to make the basic flower.  I added the beaded center for my "fresh spin."

First, you need to find fabrics that have a high polyester content.  This allows the edges to curl up when heated.  I used both 100% polyester and some blends.  Both worked well. I also chose a fabric with a sheen to it, but that's personal taste.

To cut the flowers, you can certainly do it by hand, but I found it quick and easy to use my Cuttlebug die cutter.  

If you do use a die cutter, you need to use the type of dies with an actual blade. Some of the dies I've seen are just a metal rim the "presses" the shape out of paper, but these will not work for fabric.  Sizzix work great. This is the die I used.

I layered four layers of fabric and cut them all at once. I used four layers of each size of petal for one flower.  That's 16 layers per flower clip.

I clipped into the flower a little to define the petals a little more.  I only did this on the red flower (check out the finished products at the end). You can leave them as they are, the flower will just turn out a little more like a circle and have less defined petals.

Next, using a flame source, I used a flame stick but you can use a tea light too, carefully heat the edges of the fabric so they just start to melt and curl up.  You can play around with this to get the look you want.  Depending on the blend of your fabric, each material will melt a little differently.  Some will have edges that are more black, others will just be slightly darker than the fabric itself. 

Once you get all the layers flamed on the edges, set them aside.  Now you'll prepare the center of the flower.  I used black medium sized seed beads and black thread for this flower.  I threaded the needle, doubling the thread back over on itself.  Next, thread on one bead and tie one or two square knots to hold it in place at the end of the thread.  Clip any tails close to the bead, without cutting through your knot. 

Now, I just sort of started adding beads one or two at a time and then running the needle through one of the beads already tied on the thread until I had created a little "knot" of beads. 

Once I had the center the size I wanted, I layered the finished petals in the order I wanted, skewing the petals a bit so they were staggered.

You can either run the needle through all layers together, or to make sure they are all centered, you can thread them on one at a time.

Once all your layers or threaded on, thread back up through the center, catch one or two of the beads and thread back down through all of the petal layers and out the back. Repeat this step and pull the threads up firmly to snug everything together.

With the threads coming out the back of the flower, sew on an alligator clip.  You can find these at any craft store.  I like to use this type clip because I have fine hair and they hold on firmly.  You could also use any other type of hair clip. Run the thread around the clip several times and tie off the thread 2-3 times before cutting the tail.

Finished!  Here are the other colors I've made.  All of these use the same Sizzix die.

Here's one I've experimented with using a different shaped die and adding in a sheer fabric alternating with a solid.

The possibilities are endless!