Tutorial - Fluffy Ballerina Blooms

The other night while my mom was over visiting we were fooling around with some fabric and she sewed a scrap length of fabric I had together and came up with these. I instantly fell inlove and just had to share this. I know there may already be a tutorial out there for these but I personally haven't found one yet so here goes......

What you need:

1. Very soft fabric like crushed organza or chiffon
2. Needle and strong thread - I used 2 stands of embroidery thread
3. small cardstock circle for back of bloom
4. Flower centers
5. Glue - I used a hot glue gun

Step 1 - It's important to decide what finished look you want BEFORE cutting your fabric
The width of the fabric will depend of how big you want your bloom. The fabric gets folded over so decide how wide you want your bloom before cutting the fabric. The large blue bloom in the pic above is approx 4inch wide finished and my fabric was 3 inch wide. For a smaller bloom obviously decrease the width.
The length will dictate how ruffled your finished bloom will be so again decide before cutting you fabric.
For the large blue bloom my fabric was 3inch wide and 1.5 yards long
For the smaller blue bloom my fabric was 2.5 inch wide and only 1 yard long (less ruffles)
For the yellow bloom my fabric was 2.5inch wide and 1.5 yard long

Step 2 - Fold width of fabric in half and do running stitches along the edges as shown in the pic

Step 3 - Once you reach the end try and untwist all the ruffles so that the sewed edges are all on one side











Step 4 - Take the 2 ends of thread and pull together so that the ruffles form a circle with the sewed edges to the center. AGAIN make sure to untwist the fabric and all the ruffles are facing outwards.

Step 5 - PULL TIGHT but carefully as to not break the thread. Once you have a tight center knot the thread several times and cut off excess thread.

Step 6 - You will notice that the bloom is VERY puffy so that is why the next step is important if you plan on using the bloom on a LO.
Turn the bloom over onto the back side and apply some glue (I used my hot glue gun) and attach the center of the bloom to your piece of circular cardstock. This will pull the front center of the bloom inwards and flat againt the cardstock creating a ballerina effect.

Step 7 - Turn bloom back over and apply your flower center and VIOLA, you have your very own ballerina bloom.

I made this little pink one (about 2 inch wide) using some chiffon. For this size my fabric was 2 inches wide and about 1 yard long.

HAVE FUN AND ENJOY!!!!