fabric flower hair pin tutorial!

One of the special requests Burton has made in regards to our wedding is that I have flowers in my hair. Cute, right? ;] Since we don't have a florist, I knew I'd have to get creative with making faux flowers & looked through several paper, felt, & fabric flower tutorials. I stumbled upon this one & liked how delicate & realistic they looked. I did do a few things differently though, so here is my take on this cute little project!

First, pick out your fabric, but you won't need too much. I bought $1 fabric quarters from Joann in colors to match our wedding colors, & I still have PLENTY left over. Maybe I'll make some cute bunting with it? Freehand a flower & rectangle template on some chipboard & trace it on the fabric. Each flower hair pin needs one rectangle & five flower shapes. In the picture above, I had actually traced enough for four flowers. Next, cut it all out! Depending on how many you're making, this step can seem pretty tedious, so make sure you've got something good on TV ;]

Use tacky fabric glue to roll up the rectangle. This will be the center of the flower. Glue only one of the flowers in half. This will be the next layer of the flower, to be wrapped around the center. Next, put a drop of the tacky glue in the center of the remaining four flowers. Fold it in half & then fold it in half once more. Allow all of the pieces to dry before assembling them together.

   

    

Glue the half flower in place, wrapping it around the rectangle piece, with the fold at the bottom. Glue the other four flowers to the base of the center, two at a time. That way, you can control the form of the flower a little bit more.

      

Once the flower is finished & dry, use a hot glue gun to secure it to a hair pin. I used ones with a little pad on one end of them. A set of 10 from Joann was only a couple bucks. The tutorial I used for inspiration recommended using foam in between the flower & pin, but I didn't use any. They still seem pretty sturdy :]

Of course, once I was done, I shoved them all in my hair randomly & ran to the bathroom to take a picture. This is close to what I have in mind for my wedding hair, but I'm sure my hair stylist will do a much prettier job than me ;] Anyhoo, I'll be back soon with more flower tutorials for bouquets & boutonnieres. Like I said, no florist! XO.