Remember this beautiful flower garland over the doorway?  I made it for my sister-in-law's baby shower a few weeks ago.  I'll admit, it does take a little bit of patience and some practice - my first couple flowers weren't nearly as pretty as my last ones.  Don't get discouraged though!  They really are quite simple. 



Step 1 - I used about a yard of fabric (super cheap in the remnants bin at JoAnn's!!!) and folded it over a few times.  Then I cut strips anywhere from 2.5 - 4.5 inches wide.  This made for all different sizes of flowers.  If you want yours to all be the same size, be sure to measure! 


Step 2 - Then I cut into the fabric, creating points.  Here, you can create different looks by making different cuts.  Try cutting points, or rounded humps, or even just straight slashes!  I pinned the bottom corners of the fabric to help keep the fabric from moving around too much while I cut.  


Step 3 - Lay out the fabric, thread your needle, and tie a knot in one end.  (I used black thread here so you can see it better in the pictures, but really, it doesn't show up, so you can use any color you like.)  Fold the fabric back and forth and push the needle through.  


The size of the stitch changes the look of the flower a bit, so play around with this as well!  As you continue to stitch more of the fabric, your starting end should start to gather like this.


Step 4 - When you've stitched through all of the fabric, pull the thread to scrunch the fabric all together down at the end. 


Step 5 -  Pass the needle back through the starting end and pull it tight.  This will pull the fabric into a circle.  (It may need a little tweaking here and there to get the desired look.)  Knot the thread a few times to keep the middle tight. 


 Voila!  You now have a beautiful flower!  Make a pile of them for a garland, or use them to decorate something else.  Glue one to a headband or a clip and wear them in your hair or sew a few onto your favorite skirt or cardigan!  The possibilities are endless! 





 I used a number of different kinds of fabrics to make these flowers, from really stiff to sheer and floppy.  They all work and look great, but again, the flowers look very different depending on what kind of fabric you use.  I really liked the sheer yellow fabric.  It was a lot more difficult to work with, but I love the way the flowers turned out.  (The two yellow flowers show the different looks I got with different sized stitches).