Fabric Rosette Tutorial

I am sure that many of you have seen the plethora of fabric flowers that are around these days. I love seeing all the different styles and colors that are available. The nicest thing about most of them is how easy it is to make them. Here is my tutorial - to be added to the, I'm sure hundreds of available -to make a simple, rolled fabric rosette. Here is what the finished product will look like (pardon the horrible picture quality!):

Supplies:

*Hot Glue Gun
*Fabric Strips (around an inch - inch and a half wide)
*Felt that somewhat matches your fabric (it technically won't be seen, but if you have something that matches, it is good to have)

Optional:
* Coordinating beads for embelishments

Let's get started.
First, plug your hot glue gun in so that it is good and ready.

Let's start by talking about the strips of fabric. I like mine to be just a little bigger than an inch, but I also do not pull out my ruler to measure. I cut a snip in the fabric, and tear it. If you've never torn fabric before, and it makes you nervous (it used to terrify me), this is a great project to try it out with. The grain of the fabric will give you a straigh tear, I promise. Plus, I like the way the edges fray a little on these rosettes with the torn edges.

As far as the length is concerned, it depends on how big you want your flower. My strips are the width of the fabric (44" or so), but I do not use the whole strip for one flower. I'd say you will want at least 12-15 inches to play with.

Now that you have your strip of fabric, take one end and fold in one of the corners, like so.

With that as your starting point, you are going to twist/roll the fabric around itself, almost like a rope (see the picture two below if you are a little confused, I forgot to take a good picture of this step). You can be as exact or as sloppy as you'd like. The great thing about these flowers is you do not need to be perfect in any way to make them look cute.

You don't need to do much to begin because it gets tricky to hold your roll, and glue. So, with your first little bit of the fabric strip rolled, take the end of your roll, and start to spiral the fabric in on itself. Using just a dab of hot glue (I like to use the little drip that is hanging off the tip of my glue gun, so I don't even have to push the trigger), secure the end to the rolled fabric. Like so:

It looks almost like a little knot, and if that is easier for you, go ahead and tie a loose knot instead, and you can hide the tail with a little hot glue. Now, you are going to continue to twist your fabric, and make a spiral.

I add a little hot glue in at least one spot on each curve of the spiral. You are adding the glue to what has become the sides of the spiral. Be careful not to touch the glue too soon after you have added it to your flower. I have many a burn from glue that I thought was cool. Like I said earlier, I like to try and use the glue that is dripping from the gun so I don't actually have to squeeze the trigger and risk getting a whole lot more glue than I wanted. You don't need much for securing the rosette edges, just a dab will do.

Continue rolling your rosette until you have reached a size that you like. Once you are happy with the size of your flower, cut the excess fabric strip (if necessary), leaving around a half an inch or so unglued.

Twist the fabric and carefully glue down the tail, hiding as much of the end as possible.

And technically, you've already created a rosette! Admire your work, if you'd like :) But, if you want to finish it off, go ahead and get your felt.

Pick a side of the rosette that you like best, and want to be seen. I typically end up liking the side of the rosette that I was not working on with the glue, but it is up to you. On the back of your flower, add some hot glue, and attach it to your felt.

Carefully cut around your flower, making sure not to cut your rosette, but trimming as close to the edge as possible.

Now it is up to you, how you want to use your new rosette. I love using these as headbands such as this one:

After I had finished making the rosettes, I glued plastic beads in the center to create a little more accent on the flowers.

If you are interested in making a clump of rosettes, such as the one above, I would suggest waiting to glue the flowers to the felt backing until  you have all the flowers made, and you can move them around on the felt until you like what you have.

You can also turn the rosettes into a pin or a hair clip. If you decide to do a headband or hair clip, all you need to do is cut out an additional piece of felt that matches the back of the rosette, and sandwich the headband between the rosette and second piece of felt. For a clip, cut a slit in the second piece of felt for the back of your clip to fit into and glue the whole thing to the back of the rosette.

Here is what the back of my headband looks like: 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Reusable Menu Board

I have had this on my list of things to make for quite some time, I just hadn't found a good frame to use. After looking at Goodwill and Target, I finally found what I was looking for at Ross, for quite a good price. (Along with a lot of other cheap, but good quality craft supplies..who knew?!)

I didn't take any progress shots of this project because it really is quite self explanatory. Here is the finished product: 

This frame is 13x16 so I used a few different scrapbook papers taped down to the backing of the frame (so they would stay in place). I then cut out some vinyl with my silhouette machine to add the titles and days of the week to the glass.

If you don't have a craft cutting machine, this is still a completey doable project. You can use stickers or you can even write the titles/cut them out by hand and add it on the scrapbook paper background.

I love it so much, and having my To Do list where I can see it often throughout the day has really helped me stay on top of things I would otherwise forget to do.