How to Make 3-Dimensional Flowers & Leaves From Fabric

With fabric, you can create flowers in a range of colors and patterns impossible to find in nature.

Choose fabric flowers and leaves for your decorating projects as they are more resilient and last longer than real flowers. You can purchase fabric in many colors and patterns to match any decorating scheme. Additionally, you can get creative when designing and shaping fabric flowers and leaves, making them any shape or size you want. Use fabric flowers for wedding boutonnieres and centerpieces to save money and expand the limits of your wedding colors and theme.

Things You'll Need

• Card stock
• Silky fabric in flower and leaf colors
• Scissors
• Candle
• Needle and thread
• Fabric-covered wire
• Decoupage glue

Instructions

Flowers

1. Cut circles of various sizes out of card stock, the largest 1/2 inch in diameter wider than the desired size of your flower; these will be the patterns for your flower layers.

2. Trace around the patterns on your flower fabric and cut out several circles.

3. For each circle, make three to five cuts 1/3 of the way into the fabric around the circle for petals. Round the corners of the petals, if desired.

4. Hold each circle 1 to 2 inches above a candle flame and rotate slowly until the edges of the fabric start to curl.

5. Layer the circles with the largest on the bottom and the smallest on top. Knot your thread and sew the layers together in the center.

Leaves

1. Cut a rectangle of leaf fabric the length and double the width of the size you want your leaf.

2. Place the fabric wrong-side up and apply a coat of decoupage glue to it.

3. Place the fabric-coated wire on the fabric, 3/4 of the way to one side and perpendicular to the long side of the rectangle. Fold the fabric in half over the wire so the wire is centered. Smooth the fabric flat.

4. Apply another coat of decoupage glue to the outside of the fabric and let it dry completely.

5. Cut the fabric into your desired leaf shape, centering the wire so it acts as the leaf's center vein.

Tips & Warnings

• Glue or sew a bead or button to the center of your flower to cover the thread, if desired.

• Use extreme caution when melting the tips of your flower petals. Constantly rotate the fabric and do not hold it too close to the flame.

Resources

• Magnet Street Weddings: Fabric Flower Ideas