Melted Fabric Flowers

Over the Winter I have been trying out a few crafts and I thought I would share a couple of photographs here with you quickly. Melted fabric flowers are something I have been wanting to try for a few years, and kept putting off, but as it turns out they are quite simple.

I have cut out a few circles of man-made fabric decreasing in size towards the middle and snipped the edges where the petals should go. Then you slowly lower the edges towards a candle flame...I started quite high above the candle you will notice when the fabric starts to melt probably about 4 to 6 inches above the flame, you need a gentle approach here and never get low enough to touch the flame.

Man made fabric melts whereas natural fabric would probably burn, I took safety precautions here and had a bowl of water close by just in case but nothing has ever caught fire. As you can see in the photo when the edges melt they curl inward like flower petals. I have stacked together a few colours and glued beads in the center to give the flower an anemone look.

I used one of the flowers on this hand made card for my daughter. I also sewed one on the crochet hat I made for my youngest daughter.

This hat was very simply worked without a pattern just increasing from a ring until it was the right size. I made the flower to go on the side of the hat as seen in the above photo but my daughter had other ideas and always wore it on the front of her head like a little mini pink Dalek.

Velvet Christmas sacks

I finally took the plunge and did something I had been putting off for more years than I can remember, I cut up my Grandmothers old, very heavy red velvet curtains! I can see you all thinking that I went to my grandmothers house and attacked her drapery but NO, I had the curtains in a drawer for years, we have never used them but they were too good to throw away. I decided to make Christmas stockings / sacks for the small children as a family keepsake, a memento of all the wonderful Christmas times we have had together.

The above photograph is what I have ended up with, I have made 2 largish sacks on my new sewing machine. We have used Christmas ribbon as the drawstring, although we may change this for cord at a later date. I have also stitched on a snowflake and a few sequins to symbolise the snow that we have had this year. As these sacks are so sturdy they will last forever and I intend to add something new to the decoration every year as a sort of ongoing project to reflect us as a family. Next year I'm thinking that I may sew their names on in a Christmassy way.

This is how the fabric looked a few days ago, It is so heavy and a really stiff fabric, I did bend one needle sewing them, but I'm not that experienced at sewing. If I had more of this fabric it would have made a perfect cape or bodice it really is that thick. I used a simple method to make the bags hemming, sewing a channel for the drawstring then sewing all round the edges.

Here is a photograph of the finished bag with something inside, definitely cord next year I think. I'm pleased that we were able to recycle some old fabric into something that will hopefully become special to the children because lets face it little ones as young as mine are usually only interested in what's inside the sack. It's only when they get older they appreciate all the love you add to these little touches that make Christmas special.