Homespun, but Boldly Elegant
I’ve got five new brooches, made from scraps.
There’s something spiritually earthy when you upcycle to create beauty.
The above T-shirt flower is my variation on this tutorial: http://prairiepatch.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-make-fabric-flowers.html
Do try the original variation as well. When you make flowers with cloth other than tshirts, following that blog’s instructions, the “petals” have fabulously ragged edges. I love them and made a handful. Here is one:
Here is another:
After making a few like that, I couldn’t stop, LOL. So I came up with my variation. It goes in a totally different direction, using T-shirts scraps, instead of fabrics that will “rag.”
T-shirt material rolls, creating a very different effect—still homespun, but boldly elegant, if you choose the right palette and center piece. Note that most “petals” curl lengthwise, and a few at the other edge:
Its center is a beautiful brass piece from Vintage Jewelry Supplies.
I’m wearing my tshirt blossom as I type, love it so much.
If you catch the bug I did, and can’t stop making cloth flowers, here’s another variation: When dyeing clothing for myself, I tossed a ragged flower into the dye, so it would match my outfit.
The flower had different fabrics types and colors, which I wanted to peek through the dye. So I removed the flower from the dye sooner than I did the clothing. A more thorough dye job might have obscured fabric variation.
Check it out (I could not manage a photo that shows the different fabrics very well, sorry):
As an experiment, I ironed the dyed flower, which is kind of ironic, because the beauty of these flowers is their mussed up look. But that particular flower looked better to me ironed.
I sewed jewelry pins to all the backs. Instead, you could sew a flower to a hat or a blouse. Also, I’ve seen a lot of shabby chic flowers sewn around a neckline or hemline for an opulent Lagenlook.
There are endless ways to use these gorgeous, inexpensive, and easy to make adornments. And homemade adornment is innately magical.
