Tutorial ~ She Wears Flowers

A few weeks ago, I did a guest post for Tatertots and Jello and shared this tutorial. In case you missed it, I am posting this on my blog today. Enjoy! :)

I am sharing a cardigan refashion today. If you have some old cardigans in your closet that needs a little facelift; then, this tutorial is perfect for you!


This is one of my favorite cardigans; I wore it for several years. I love the 3/4 sleeve, the open neckline, and the color... but I had this idea in my head to change the look of it, and I really wanted to give it a try.



{You will need}

A cardigan

100% cotton fabric that would match the cardigan (it doesn't need to be the same color, but it needs to either blend in with the cardigan, or have contrast and match with the flowers that you will accessorize the cardigan with)

Various fabrics, wool, and buttons

Matching thread

{How to}

{Assembly for the cardigan}


1. To make the bottom part, I cut the fabric like I am making bias tape. I used 36"wide muslin. Make a large square, fold it in half vertically. Cut 4 1/2" strips.


2. Piece them together. Fold the bottom less than 1/4" twice and saw.


3. Sew the top with largest stitch setting on your sewing machine. Pull the thread to gather the fabric. For this cardigan I didn't want lots of ruffles, so just a little to have flare. :) The bottom of the cardigan measured 30"all around, so I used 45" long bias and shrank to 30" long.


4. Pin the bias ruffle all around the bottom of the cardigan. I used zigzag stitches to sew it on. Fold the ends and zigzag to finish it off.


5. Add wide lace little bit above the fabric ruffle using the same technique as step 3 and 4.


6. I wanted to give more interest to the back, so I added a second row of lace ruffle. I cut 14 1/2" lace, and folded the both ends and zigzagged them prevent fraying, made a ruffle and added it in the back.


7. Cut 1 3/4" x 6 1/2" lace, and sew it on the waist line too. Make sure to center it so that both step 6 and 7 line up nicely.


8. For the sleeves, mine was 8 1/2" around. I cut 14" long lace and sewed the ends together, zigzag the ends to prevent fraying. Using the same technique as step 3 and 4, make ruffles and sew it on the bottom of the sleeve. Do the same to the other sleeve.



{How to make flowers and Yo-yo's}

*Folded fabric flower
1. Cut 8 - 3" x 3"squares and fold the squares according to the picture.



2. Using two strands of threads, put through each petal, don't forget cut off the excess.



3. Tie the ends to form a circle to make a flower. I like to sew each petal to each other to secure them.



*leaves
Cut 1" x 2" rectangle first, and trim them so they look like leaves. They don't have to be perfectly unified.



*Flat flowers
Cut 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" square and trim it so that it will have four petals. Cut small circles for the middle.



*Felt flower (Light green)
1. Cut 6 - 1" x 2". Trim them so that they have round top.


2. Fold the bottom in half and pull them through the thread to make a flower. I stitched them together several times to secure them better.


*Felt flower (muted pink)
1. Cut 6 - 1" x 1 1/4" rectangles, trim them so that they will have rounded top.
2. Using the same method from step 2 on felt flower (purple), make the flower.
3. Cut circle for the middle and sew.
4. Sew yo-yo on top of the small felt circle



*Yo-yo

I used 3" and 2" circles to make yo-yo's. Smaller ones on the felt flowers are made with 1 1/4" circles. If you need to see how to make yo-yo, you can go to my tutorial.

{Assemble}


In my opinion, this is the most fun part. Just lay down the cardigan and lay down the flowers and yo-yo's to see what you can come up with! It is better to deiced where you want to bigger pieces go first than diced on smaller ones.
Pin them to see if you like the lay out. If you do, it is time to stitch them onto the cardigan.

I used some DMC floss to do fun stitches on the flowers and leaves. I did lots of slip stitches around the yo-yo's.

After you are all done with above, you can add buttons and such.

I had lots of fun making this, but wearing it was even more fun.






Why I am smiling? I have other ideas that I can't wait to try with more fabric and wool flowers, thinking about the possibilities makes me so excited!


I LOVE how it turned out! It will be fun to have some colors under the fall & winter gloomy sky; it is one of my ways to brighten up the day a little. :)
NOTE: Since I am having another procedure this week, the link party is cancelled. Sorry.