Elegant Indigo Flower Barrette

Fabric flowers are a awesome craft because they are so elegant and are not that hard to make. They are also a fun way to use up little bits of fabric that you might have in your stash. They make great gifts and cost next to nothing. To make this flower I used part of an old dress and two tiny weirdly shaped scraps.So save your scraps and have fun!

Materials:

• Some smooth and shiny pure polyester cloth
• Thread
• At least seven inches of wire
• Barrette
• Three to five glass beads
• Tulle

Tools:

• Cloth scissors
• Matches
• Candle
• Wire cutters
• Needle
• Hot-glue gun with glue sticks
• Tongs (optional)

Now it is time to cut out your fabric. You should make three or four circles though there is actually no limit to how many you can have. You should probably start with your biggest circle first; cutting a smaller ones down util the middle one.

For this you will need to light your candle and take your cloth circles and slowly melt each side until they pucker. You generally will want it to melt in one direction so try to guide it the best you can. You do not want to pick textured cloth because it burns very easily. Be watching carefully so that if it does start on fire you can get it out quickly.

My largest circle was a little too large so I decided to pucker it up in the middle. I did this doing a little hand sewing that caused it to bunch up. After that, put all your circles together with the largest circle on the bottom and the smallest one on the top. Take your thread and carefully sew all the circles together in the middle. Take it through at least seven times. Knot it by putting your needle through thread on the underside middle of your flower.

Now for your glass beads. 1. Take your wire and put it through with 2/3 of an inch to spare. Turn down your spare wire and twist it around 1/4 inch of wire on the other side. 2.Turn up the wire that doesn't have the spare wire around it at an angle to the bead. Put all the wire through a bead again this time with 1/4 of an inch left to spare. Do 2. again until you have used up all your beads around in a circle. If your wire is longer than it needed to be wrap the rest around the middle of your circle. Carefully sew your Middle in the middle of the flower sewing it in different places so it has no chance of falling off.

Cut your Tulle into a rectangle four inches by eight inches. Pleat the tulle up from short side to short side. Hold one side tight and let the other side go out like a fan.Glue the tight part to the middle part of the bottom of the flower. Then glue the barrette on.

Enjoy your elegant new Barrette!