How to Make a Fabric Peony

Here  is another "oldie, but goody".  The peonies in our neighborhood are starting to bloom, so I thought I would share this tutorial for creating a handmade burnt edge peony that will last forever.  Enjoy! 

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 I've seen lots of gorgeous burnt edge flowers floating around in blog land lately, and felt inspired to create my own version recently.  

We were invited to a double birthday party for a couple of women we know, and I wanted to bring them something small, but special.

You know how it is when you don't want to bring the same old bottle of wine, but a larger gift isn't really appropriate?   

I thought of all the burnt edge flowers I'd been seeing, and I thought of spring, and so (of course), I thought of peonies!

I love the simple, stylized flowers made from circles (like the ones on Kudzu's blog, here), but I wanted to take advantage of the melting characteristics of the fibers to create something a little more realistically inspired for this project.

To start, I chose three different fabrics for the flower, and two for the foliage.  One of the three fabrics used for the body of the flower is a lot like buckram, but it's polyester.  I used it to give the flowers some "body".  You could also use tulle or regular buckram, but I wouldn't recommend burning the edges on those pieces.  Try to match your thread to your project fabrics.  Since all of our goods are in storage until we find a new house, I needed to buy thread and needles.  We have a fun little Japanese $1.50 store across the street where I was able to find these.

In the spirit of "revival", I used thrifted, repurposed, and vintage fabrics, but you could easily use new fabrics -- you can make two large flowers with three one-third yard pieces plus a few small scraps for the throat of the flower and for the foliage.  While we're discussing fabric, it's important to choose a poly fabric, to get the nicest edge.    

*It's very important not to use acetate or acrylic fabrics (or use them with great care).  These fabrics are very combustible. (This is why you would never choose untreated acetates or acrylics for something like a window treatment-- imagine a candle (or a heater) placed a little too close to the curtain, the flame is drawn toward the fiber or a slight breeze moves the fabric into the flame, and WHOOSH, there is oxygen moving freely around the fabric to feed the flames, fire climbs.... bad news.)

Once you have your poly fabrics, you can decide how big you want your flower to be.

Begin cutting circles out of your fabric (you can freehand this), making each circle progressively smaller.  I used eight circles for each flower, but fewer would have been fine.

Now, light a candle.  Carefully (hot, melted poly can stick to your skin and really burn) pass the edge of the fabric circles through or near the flame.

By passing the fabric near the flame, you have a lot of control over  how much the edge of the fabric will curl.  By passing the fabric through the flame, you can get more of a "burnt" look.

When you have the edge of your circle entirely done, fold the circle in half, and then into thirds.

Then cut "petals" into the fabric.

Quickly pass the "crotches" between the petals back through the flame to seal and shape them.  I found that by doing the petals in this order, I had better control over the fabric, as it was less "floppy".  Repeat the process with all of the circles.

Because some peonies are a little bit "shaggy", I clipped the outside edges on some of the petals and quickly passed them back through the flame.

For the centers of the peonies, cut some small rectangles of your choice of fabrics and snip a "fringe" into one side.  Then pass the fringe over the flame to curl and seal it.  I used five different fabrics for my centers, beginning with a couple of tiny pieces of pink and yellow, then a piece of green, then two of the fabrics that were used on the body of the flower.

For the foliage, I layered two pieces of fabric together and freehanded the shapes.  I then "burnt" the edges of each leaf, and stitched the two layers together with a simple running stitch down the center of each leaf.

Now for the fun part!  You will start from the center of the flower and build out.  First, create your "center".

My first two pieces were only about an inch wide, each.  I rolled the center most piece, then wrapped the next piece around it and stitched them together.

Keep adding to your center, by wrapping the next layer and stitching until you are happy with how it looks.

At this point, trim off the excess fabric that you have been using as a "handle".

Grab the smallest flower petal layer and stitch it to the center, using your needle and thread to manipulate it till you are satisfied with how it looks.

Now, set the center aside, and grab the next two layers from the stack.

Stitch those two layers together, gathering the center slightly, to add dimension.  Now, stitch them to the center of the flower.

Continue in this way until you use up your flower layers, or have the desired flower fullness.

Depending on how much you gather and manipulate during the sewing process, you will have a more compact or more open flower-- the choice is yours.


Next, stitch the foliage to the back of the flower, add a backing if you like, and add pin or a clip.

Wear it on a scarf, or on your t-shirt, or to a formal, or a wedding, or just use it to dress up a handbag!  Smaller versions could dress up a pair of flats. Pin or stitch your flower to a pillow -- or to your curtain tie-backs.  Have fun, adapt the concept, and pass on your ideas!

 

Spring Inspired Garland: An Oldie, but Goodie!

Hi friends!  I thought I would share this spring garland from last year in case some of you missed it.  This is one of my favorite projects, and can be made from just about any materials you have on hand -- no need to purchase supplies :)

While we remodel our house, we're living in a tiny city apartment with a rooftop garden.  The garden has some beautiful blooming shrubs.  They are really lovely right now and inspired me to create this simple spring garland.

The shrubs look a bit like a Pussy Willow, but the branching pattern is different.  With some research, we discovered they are a variety of Japanese Magnolia.

The buds are velvety soft, and open up for these lovely white flowers to emerge.  Eventually, the entire shrub will be covered in these white blossoms.

The garland interpretation is not literal -- it's just inspired by the simple exuberance of the blooms.

I wanted to keep the form simple, adding interest by layering texture. This was done by using a combination of vintage crepe paper, crinoline, and vintage book paper.  You don't need to use exactly what I used to create a similar effect -- just use what you have on hand.  Maybe you have an old silk blouse, some cheesecloth, and a binder of old hand-written college notes?   You could even use your junk mail!

Begin by cutting your materials into strips and cutting a fringe into both long sides, as shown here.  The size you use will depend on the width and fullness you want for your flower.  I used pieces about seven inches long by about two and one-half to three inches wide, depending on which layer I was cutting.

You can stack your strips, cutting several layers at a time, if you wish.

Then tie each strip into a little bundle, using string or thread or wire.

Layer your bundles as desired and tie them together.  Then fluff and coax your flowers into shape.

I actually added the book page layer last, gluing it to the back perpendicular to the other layers to sort of "fill out" the flowers.  The centers are simply tiny scraps of crepe paper, about three-quarters of an inch square, snipped into fringe and glued down.  You could use bits of fabric, string or yarn -- even a button or bead.

The flowers were glued to lengths of finger crocheted thread to create a garland.  Again, you'll want to use whatever you have on hand for this -- it could be torn strips of fabric, selvages, twine, even wire -- just use what's handy.

I layered my garland with lengths of torn draped crinoline.

On a difficulty scale between one and ten, I'd give this project about a three (owing mostly to having to clean up all the little snippets of string and thread and paper -- I had it all over my clothes, on my desk, and on the carpet before I was finished)!

 This is a fun, forgiving craft.  Imperfectly inspired by nature -- not a perfect imitation of nature.

What inspires you to create?

How We Met Our Beach House

A couple of years ago Our Suburban Cottage hosted a "How I Met My House" blog party.  I had just sold a house and hadn't yet found a new one at the time, so  I'm a little late for her party, but I thought it would be fun to look back at how we met the beach house we've spent the last year remodeling.

We were living in a tiny temporary apartment in Seattle, and house hunting in our spare time. Every time I thought we had found *the* house, my husband found a reason to hate it.....  Finally, we realized it wasn't the houses he hated -- it was the idea of living full time in a city.  He felt like living in the middle of a giant city was killing his soul, so he presented me with a plan:  We could live in a more rural area and he would travel into the city a few days a week for meetings, but work from home during the remainder of the week. I wasn't crazy about the idea, but I am crazy about the ocean, so when  my husband suggested buying a beach house he won me over.

On our first official day of house hunting, he asked me to put together a list of properties I wanted to see.  I found an ocean front property that I thought looked intriguing, but seemed ridiculously under-priced.  One thing was certain: if we were going to drive two and a half hours to our home in a beach town, we were going to have views of the ocean.  This seemingly under-priced house looked like it should have a great view....

It didn't.  And our first view of the house had my husband wanting to walk away!  The decks were rotting, and the fence was falling apart.

The courtyard was full of trash and debris.

And yet, the house had soul.....

In spite of her neglected condition, she had grace....

I thought she was beautiful.  My husband thought I was crazy....

We peaked inside the windows....

.... and saw that she had lovely bones....

... my husband thought she was in pretty rough shape, and I thought she was a diamond in the rough.....
 

click here for part two of "how we met our beach house"

 click here for part three of "How We Met Our Beach House"!

Decorating With Vintage Games

Do you have some old vintage games tucked away in a closet?   Or maybe you've seen some cool old games in a thrift store, but passed them by, because you weren't sure what to do with them.  Here are a few ideas to help get you inspired to use old games in new ways.

Marzi, from Paisley Wallpaper, found this vintage bingo ball in a thrift store -- what a score!  This bingo ball would be amazing sitting on a couple of books in a shelf, or as part of a grouping of items in a tray, or as part of a mantel vignette.

Wisteria

For folks who love the look, but don't have time to search out the genuine article, these reproduction game boards, from Wisteria, might be just the thing! 

Nate Berkus via

Stylist Nate Berkus has a folk game board hanging in his home office.

If you have several vintage games, you can create a gallery wall, like this one from Nifty Living.

I love the idea of using a gameboard as part of a table centerpiece, as shown here, from The Find Rentals.

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The graphic quality of these vintage flashcards is striking against the white wall.  Repetition gives the installation impact.

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If you're a crafter, you might consider using game components to create something entirely different, like these fun little boxes made from classic, but not necessarily vintage board games.  Who doesn't have a closet full of old games?

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You might group game pieces together in a bookcase to create a vignette.

If you have lots of assorted small game pieces, you can just throw them into a jar and use them as a bookend, as shown here from Natty Michelle.

Are you feeling inspired yet?  You don't need to spend a fortune to decorate your home.  Just take a look around -- you may have exactly what you need to give your space a makeover tucked away in a closet!