Build-your-own flower adornments
Is it a hair clip? …a pin? …a headband or purse decoration?
Surprise! It’s all of these, and more.
This year, my little neices are getting these felt-and-fleece adornents, that feature interchangable multicolored flowers and leaves. The girls can stack the little flowers however they like.
All of the flowers start out as a sweet button, attached to a small elastic loop (one-half to three-quarters of an inch). I used a variety of buttons, some of them vintage and some of them new. (It is best to choose buttons that have large holes, so that the elastic will fit through them.)
Just thread elastic cord through the button of your choice, and then tie it around a pencil to form a loop.
Make sure you tie a secure knot (such as a square knot), so it stays in that loop shape.
Then cut shapes out of felt or fleece (use my patterns or design your own) and punch holes in the centers of the shapes. String them onto the elastic loop… in whatever configuration you like!
To make the eyelet lace flower, just cut the edge of a scalloped peice of eyelet fabric, and then gather it along the long raw edge and sew the short raw ends together to form a circle.
Now for the fun part!
To transform the little fabric blooms into hair clips, just slide one side of a metal clip through the little elastic loop after the flowers are all stacked on it. To make a pin, slide the loop onto a pin from the craft store. (I cut a snippet of fleece and sewed it onto the pinback to make the elastic loop fit tighter.)
To adorn a headband, just put the flower on a hair clip and clip it across the band. (I actually bought bands that had little loops and clipped the flowers to the loop.)
It would be easy to clip the little flowers onto shoes or purses. I bought little felt purses for my neices and sewed buttons on them. You loop the elastic around the button to hold the flowers in place.
You can also clip the flowers to knitted or crocheted items like hats, mittens, etc.
My neices will have their own little felt-and-fleece gardens, can pick the flowers they like best, and can place their flower arrangements almost anywhere they like!
