DIY Fabric Flowers hair accessory for St Patricks Day

Get a stunning Shabby Chic Fabric Posy without the Boutique Price! These DIY Fabric Flowers can be used as hair accessories, jewelry, or even a bag accessory!

 

This post was originally published Feb 27, 2013, but has been updated with updated photos, new techniques, and updated tools to help make the project easier. 

I always cherish the memories of my Mom sewing. She was an amazing seamstress! My mom would sew most of my clothes as a young kid *except Jeans. She refused to sew jeans!

She sewed clothes, blankets, dresses, even underwear for a while! My mom was amazing! She tried to teach me. But just like many kids, I didn’t recognize the gift my mom was trying to instill in me and I didn’t pick up much. Boy, do I wish I had paid better attention! I definitely did not inherit my mom’s sewing talent!

But I did retain my ability to create a few basic hand stitches. Which thankfully is all you need to create these DIY Fabric Flowers project I have for you today! Now fancy sewing skills required! If you can sew on a button, you can create these DIY Fabric Flowers!

One of the things I was known for before I began Busy Creating Memories, was the boutique fashion hair accessories I used to create for miss Jade and sell on Etsy.

After I developed carpel tunnel I found I wasn’t able to keep up with the demand and could not longer sell boutique style hair bows and crochet items. Now I can only sell my patterns on Etsy.

But I still love creating boutique styles when my hands allow. So I wanted to share with you some of the tricks of the trade so you can make them for your own family! Your daughters may not realize it just yet, but give them a few years and they will be so proud to say “My MOM made it for me! Isn’t she awesome?!”

One of the most popular boutique accessories I created were these easy DIY Fabric Flowers! Making a chic shabby posy type flower hair clip is actually easier than you would think! Like I said, if you can sew on a button, you have the skill set to do these!

Once you know just how easy these DIY Fabric Flowers are to make, you won’t need to pay the boutique prices for these shabby chic posy flowers again!

These Shabby Chic DIY fabric flowers can be used as hair accessories, brooch pins, or pinned on a bag! You can even make them in various sizes and create some stunning pieces of jewelry!

The DIY fabric flowers I’m going to show you how to make today are a special St. Patrick’s Day edition, featuring fabric for the popular March holiday! But really you can use any fabric of choice and make it fit any holiday, wardrobe or even a special occasion!

 

DIY Fabric Flowers supplies

Affiliate links are used to point you in the right direction to find the supplies that you might not already have on your shelves.

The biggest challenge of these DIY Fabric Flowers is simply selecting your fabrics. You can have all one fabric, or you can mix and match different fabrics. Today I’m using three different green St. Patrick’s day fabrics. We will be cutting these up into different sizes, but for the most part, you will need

• 6 squares of fabric ( 4X4 inch squares)
• Flower template
• Needle
• Spool of thread in matching color when possible.
• Cover Button tools set
• Extra small strips of fabric for Cover Button
• Backing of choice- lined alligator hair clip or brooch pin, etc.

Let’s Create DIY Fabric Flowers!

I absolutely love these Shabby Chic DIY Fabric Flowers! Some may say the hardest part is simply cutting out the fabric. But picking out the fabrics is what takes me the most time. I could stand in the fabric section for hours trying to decide which fabrics to get. I definitely inherited that from my mom!

These shabby chic fabric posy flowers are great for using up scraps of fabric. If you sew and have left over scraps you can make these to match any outfit you sew!

You know, “waste not, want not!” another thing my mom always used to say!

You can make these shabby chic posy flowers in many different sizes, but I love the 3-4″ style so that’s what I’ll be showing you today.

Cut out 6 squares of fabric in your choice. I will be using a variety of three different fabrics. You want to cut them into 4X4 inch squares. Don’t worry about extra scraps, you will be using them for the button covers.

Use the Clover Flower Frill templates to cut out the flower shapes in the 6 squares of fabric. You will want to use the Medium size. The flower frill templates package allows you to make both 3″ and 4″ flowers and these turn out great for hair accessories. They also have a large for 5-6″ flowers and a small for 2-2.5″ flowers. I have all three sets. Definitely useful and saves me a lot of time cutting out fabric with this method! You can use the larger and smaller templates for other projects.

To use the template, you simply fold the square of fabric in half and fold the template over it as well. Then follow the dotted line marks on the template and keep folding. Always making sure the fabric stays tight against the creases and even. Then simply cut slightly above the curve of the template and trim off the excess fabric. Be careful not to cut the template.

Then unfold and withdraw the fabric and continue cutting your squares until you have 6 cut out flower fabrics. You can mix and match patterns all you want. I did two of each of my three fabrics.

Compiling DIY Fabric Flowers

There are multiple ways you can fold and lay the fabric flower cutouts when building your shabby Chic DIY Fabric flowers. It all depends on how fluffy you want it and on the texture of the fabric.

DIY Fabric Flowers Folding method #1:

First, you can simply start with two cut outs and lay them flat.

Then simply fold the remaining cut outs in half, with the pattern on the outside. Then layer them as you would fold a cardboard box; overlapping them with one end under and the other on top of the next layer.

Then hand stitch in the center to connect each petal to the base petals. Tie off, trim thread and you are ready for the center embellishment and attaching to the hair clip or brooch pin!

DIY Fabric Flowers Folding method #2:

The second way to layer is to simply fold the petals in half. Then fold in half again. This will leave you with a heart shape petal. This is also one less fold over from when you were cutting the pattern out. So that might help you picture how it should be folded.

Center the tip of the heart in the center of the base petals. Then hand stitch a very simple up/down stitch, connecting each end of one petal to the next. It doesn’t take much. You can use matching thread, or any thread really.

You want to keep the stitching as close to the center as possible. This will make it really simple to cover up the stitching with the embellishments. It will also allow your flower petals to fluff more and have more dimension.

After you stitch the petals onto the base petals, it is now time to create the fabric button. Don’t worry, the cover button tools pack gives step by step instructions on how to cover the button with the fabric.

Once you have one ready; you are ready to sew it onto the center of the fabric flower! You sew it on just like any other button. Really easy hand stitching. If you happen to get a flat back cover button, you can then instead hot glue it into the center of the DIY Fabric Flowers.

When making the cover button, I would, however, recommend using two layers of fabric if your fabric is light, as wear can sometimes make it to where you can see through the fabric to the silver button underneath. But it all just depends on the fabric.

 

The second folding method is the one I use most often. Simply because it is easy and quick. But sometimes I want more fluff to my petals. And sometimes the fabric just won’t lay right and is too thin for my liking. So then I turn to the third method of folding the petals.

DIY Fabric Flowers Folding method #3:

You fold the petals in half just like the other methods. But now with the crescent shape, you take the edges and fold them inside, as though you are tucking the tip up under the center “heart shape” of the petal. Hopefully, my photos can help explain this better than I am describing it.

You don’t end up with a perfect tip in the center like the other methods, but it still works well, lining them up together.

With this 3rd method I have to stitch each petal on, one at a time, instead of folding them all and then doing all the stitching at once. Simply because they don’t stay folded!

So I fold one up, place it onto the base, and hold it in place while I quickly stitch the one corner. Then I work around in a circle, fold the next petal, place it, and stitch it in place, then add the next petal and stitch. By the time I’m around to the beginning you have to refold in the half of the first petal in order to finish off the last petal stitch.

But this method gives a bit more dimension and fluff to the petals when you have a more flimsy fabric that doesn’t like to give a 3 D effect. Again, once all the petals are stitched into place, add another fabric covered button in the center covering the stitching. Tie off and trim excess thread!

 

 

Finishing Touches to DIY Fabric Flowers

With your DIY fabric flowers are completed, you can choose to attach them to a lined alligator hair clip or brooch pin.

A brooch pin allows you to wear them on a shirt, or attach it to a purse, diaper bag or other decors. You can also attach them to paper crafts!

Want something a little more your style? Change up the centers and get a completely different look!

Instead of the fabric button center, you can use St Patrick’s day earrings and charms! Trim up the wires a bit and add a little silk flower for diversity!

Really, you can be as creative as you want. That’s what makes these DIY Fabric Flowers so much fun. Once you have the basic pattern for the flower base, you can jazz up the Shabby Chic Fabric posy to fit your personal style.

 

You can also change up the fabrics and end up with completely unique looking Shabby chic Diy Fabric Flowers.

How would you use these Shabby Chic DIY Fabric Flowers?