Tutorial - Satin Flowers

It's been kind of quiet in my little nook here, but I'm back! With a new tutorial!

Last week, I held the first ever giveaway here and the winner got a pretty satin flower pin. Now, I'll show you how to make them so you can attach one to every surface that's pinnable! Satin flowers for everyone!

Not too long ago, a friend of mine and I were in the process of making wedding garters. Coincidentally, both of our sisters got married within days of each other and both requested a handmade, crafty garter. Hers was much different than the one I was making, but both involved some satin flower making. Neither of us had attempted making them before, but we knew it involved an open flame so we vowed to look out for flames and smoke pouring out of each other's homes! Luckily, neither of us are homeless right now.

So, the first thing you need is some satin or any other synthetic fabric that will melt. You'll need to cut a strip of it, about 3 feet long and about 4 inches wide or so, depending how full you want your flower to be. One side of the strip should be wider than the other.

The goal here with this strip is to have graduated sizes of cut squares. The bigger sizes will be the larger petals, and the smaller ones will fit inside those. Go ahead and cut your squares, starting at 4 inches or so across.

Then take each square and round off the corners. You can make them more of a perfect circle or just roughly cut the corners off, it's totally up to you. You could probably even keep them as they are, although I haven't tried that yet.

Now comes the fun part, the edges. You'll need an open flame so any candle you have handy would work as long as the flame is accessible. I use one of those Glade scented oil candles, then my house smells delicious in the process! Hold the satin circle above the flame and slowly lower it closer until you see the edge of the fabric start to curl and melt. Not too close or you'll end up with blackened edges. I, personally, like the look of the slightly burnt edges, but all you really need is a little melted edge.

You can even touch the middle of it to the flame to create a little crinkle in the middle.

Once you've melted all your "petals", it's time to assemble them. Grab a needle and coordinating thread and a scissors. Pile the petals, starting with the biggest, and arrange them until they look pleasing to you. You can take some away, or you might choose to cut a few more. Once you have them how you like them, tack them in place. I double up my thread and make a little "X" right in the middle of the petals.

And viola! A flower!

From here, you can attach some beads in the middle or a jewel, a small sparkly brooch even. Then you can attach the pin on the back. The pins you can find in any craft store, I got mine at Joann's in beading section.

Just take some thread and go around the pin and through the petals a couple times until it's secure. You can also add a touch of hot glue just to make sure that baby isn't going anywhere.

If you have some leftover petals, make another one!

Then pin them everywhere!

Happy crafting!