Sticky Tape Flowers Tutorial

As promised here is the tutorial on how I made the flowers on Bricks Mortar Fabric Thread.....

What you will need: 

• Fabric for the flowers – 2 shades of yellow fabric, one for the front and one for the back
• Steam a Seam 2
• Flower Stencil I used the stencil Double Chrysanthemum from Laura Murray Designs
• Sticky/Scotch Tape
• Embroidery Floss I used DMC size 8 Pearl Cotton in Variegated Mustard
• Embroidery Needle
• Seed Beads I used vintage beads available from Old Stock Supply on Etsy
• Beading Needle and Thread
• Sewing Machine with Free Motion setting
• Iron
• Scissors
• Pencil
• brown colored pencil or fabric marker

Directions…

1.       Select main fabric and back fabric for flowers.  I like to use a lighter tone for the back so the pencil marks are easy to see. 

2.       Make your fusible sandwich.  Take a swatch of main fabric big enough to fit selected stencil and press firmly on to the Steam a Seam 2 sheet.  Steam a Seam 2 is unique that it is slightly tacky and will stick to the fabric without ironing.  Cut out the swatch and then press the back fabric to the other side of the Steam a seam.  So you will have a sandwich of fabric, fusible and fabric now follow the directions for the product and fuse the sandwich together with an iron. 

3.     Trace the stencil or draw your own flower petals onto the back fabric.  Keep in mind if the patter is not symmetrical it will be viewed from the opposite direction when flipped over to the right side of the fabric. 

4.       Cut out the petals to the flower and try to keep them in order.  It was difficult with so many petals I ended up numbering them so I would not get confused.  Also, I cut just to the outside of the pencil line so the pieces were a bit bigger.  Don’t worry too much about the pencil markings as this will be on the back of the flower. 

5.       Next lay all of the petals in place where you want to attach the flower….

 

6.       Then use sticky tape to hold down the tips, be sure to leave the center clear of tape, that is where we are going to sew them down. 

7.   On the center of the taped flower use your sewing machine and sew around in a circle a few time being sure to catch each petal with a few stitches.  The yellow flower that I am touching has the petals stitched down. 

8.     A tip I found in Allison Aller’s Crazy Quilting book was to use colored pencil to shade the flowers.  Super tip, a few lines of the brown pencil really gave the flowers a realistic touch…. Then I used the pearl cotton to create the embroidery knots to cover the machine stitches.  I used a variety of dark colored vintage seed beads to fill in the center.