Tutorial ~ No Sewing Fabric Bloom

I was on Prima's blog looking at some of the CHA sneak previews  and was inpired by some of the new blooms under the Jack and Jill range and decided I just had to try making some of my own, which is an idea my dear friend Rebecca (Byondbrz) and I shared at the same time. Mine are slightly different to Rebecca's so we've decided to BOTH do our own tutorials. You can find her verion using only 5 petals vs. my 7 HERE.  In the pic above I've made them using different textured chiffon and some netting. That's the great thing about the tutorial, you can use just about ANY fabric.

For the tutorial I've selected some satin.

What you need
* Some fabric of your choice cut into 7-8 circles. I only have 6 in the pic but actually used 7, a mistake I only realised at the end of the tutorial...LOL! the circles can be any size depending on the size of the bloom you want. I made mine about 3inch in diameter. They don't have to be perfect so scissor cutting them is just fine.
* Hot glue gun or fast drying fabric glue (not sure what brands are in the US)
* small cardstock circle (I used a petal punch I had on hand)
* Flower center (beads, gems, buttons,whatever you like)

STEP 1

Fold your circle in half. Unlike Rebecca, I don't add glue to the centre in this step because I like mine to have extra volume.

STEP 2

In your mind divide the half circle into 3 pie shapes all meeting in the center. Fold 1/3 of the fabric over the 2/3 of the fabric as shown in the picture.

Ok, so I'm craving pie while I'm writing this...LOL! but it hopefully makes sense

STEP 3
Add some hot glue to the fabric at the bottom tip and then folder the 3/3 of the fabric over, glueing it to the 1/3

Your fabric will then be cone shaped and look like this

STEP 4

Now do the same with the other 6-7 fabric circles, creating 7-8 fabric cones.

Step 5

Add some glue to the center of your cardstock circle (I used the petal punch I had on hand). This is just for the backing so no-one sees it so you can use whatever you want.


STEP 6

Glue the tip of your fabric cone to the center of your cardstock circle as shown.

STEP 7

Now add a little more glue to the center and attach your second cone,  over-lapping it slightly over the first cone.

STEP 8

Continue doing this, slightly over-lapping each cone over the one before. Once you've attached 6 cones you will notice a small gap. This is where the 7th cone is required. The 7th cone may stand higher than the others which is ok because the center will be flattened with your Button/brad/beads.

This is a side view of the bloom to show the fullness created by the cones. The more glue you apply when making the cones will control the fullness. For a flatter bloom glue the cones together higher up.




Add your flower center and VIOLA, you're done!!!