Pleated Flower DIY Tutorial

This pleated flower sewing tutorial. This makes a beautiful addition to any bag, or could even be attached to a headband or brooch.

Supplies:

1/8 yard cotton fabric in 2 colors Small piece of felt
Faux pearls or beads - make sure the hole will fit your sewing needle
Hand sewing needle and thread
Sewing machine
Iron & ironing board
Sewing pins
Scissors 

Instructions

1.    Choose which fabric you'd like to use for the outside "petals."
2.    Cut a strip 2 inches wide by 36 inches long. If you have a more narrow piece of fabric, such as a fat quarter, cut a few long strips that are 2 inches wide.

3.    Fold your long strip in half lengthwise and press with a hot iron to create a crisp edge.
4.    Place your presser foot along the raw edge of your fabric (so that the crisp fold is on the left, as shown), and sew slowly as you begin to pleat the fabric. Push the fabric into a new pleat every 5 to 10 stitches. The pleats do not have to be perfectly even. This step is very forgiving.

5.    Once you've finished pleating your strip, you should have a long strip (or a few shorter strips) of pleated fabric with a folded edge on the outside.
6.    Using the other color fabric, repeat steps 1-4. For this charcoal linen I used, I like the frayed edge of the fabric, so I chose to leave the raw edge on the outside.

7.    Cut a 2.5" circle (see pattern on next page) out of felt for flower backing.
8.    Pin your pleated strip to the outside of the felt circle and sew along the original stitch line. Repeat until you go around the circle at least 2 or 3 times, getting closer to the center of the circle as you go.

 9.    At this point, you should have 2 or 3 layers of pleated rows.
10.  Using the same technique, add the other colored strip to the inside.

11.    Choose which color beads or pearls you'd like to use. I chose a soft gray 10mm pearl for this one.
12.    Using a needle and thread, hand sew the pearls to the inside of the flower. To attach to the bag, you can also handsew it to the front OR use a hot glue gun to attach to the bag.

Note: For this mustard colored flower, I used a smaller piece of fabric for the inside and chose a fabric covered button instead of pearls for the center. The options are endless!

 

See here: Foldover Clutch Pattern & Tutorial