Easy fabric flower broaches

I'm right in the middle of making a ton of fabric flowers for our baby reveal party and am pretty pleased with how they are turning out. Using a rather inexpensive fabric, I was able to whip these up in almost no time...the hardest part is the beading. The plan for these is to have my family pick between a flower or bow tie to wear before the husband and I make the big announcement...hopefully the bow ties come out just as fun.

If you would like to make up a few fabric flowers for yourself they are pretty simple and straight forward. I have used this style of flower for packaging on bridal gifts and they are perfect to pin back those loose strands of hair with a little flair. 

To make the flowers simply cut your fabric into several different size strips. I used 2", 3" and 4" pieces to make the different size petals. Once you have the basic rectangle shape roughly cut each piece into a leaf like shape. Don't worry about being too perfect, I managed to cut 3 or 4 petals at once.

Once you have the shape, hover the fabric over an open flame {I used a candle} until the edges begin to curl. Be careful not to hold too close to the fire as it may catch on fire or shrivel up completely. 

Now comes the creative part, using a fabric glue {I used Fabri-tac} start with the biggest petals first and work your way around to create a flower shape. Each flower took about 15-18 petals depending on the size, shape and placement of each petal. 

To make the centers, I used glass beads found at Joann's in the jewelry section. They are super tiny! Now the glue might have made your fabric a bit hard so give it a few bends and pulls to loosen it up otherwise you will be like me and break two needles...though I'm sure it was because I was being impatient and using a thimble to just push it through. Since I switched to the loosening technique I've been on the same needle. 

Easy peasy! Now on to the bow ties. 

images by our designed life