Gracie Girl Flower Tutorial...

Good morning cute people!

Right now I am on my way to Vegas...

for the Riley Blake Fabric Fest.

But before I left I posted this tutorial for you:)

You're welcome!

I wanted to make a few flowers

 out of Gracie Girl for Kassidy and 

I to wear while we are there.

So I played around for a bit on Saturday

 and came up with this cute flower...

 and I thought you might want to make one too!

I took a few pictures along the way to

 show you how fun and easy these are to make.

There are several things I will be doing with

 these cute Gracie Girl Flowers 

but I'll show you those at a later time...

for now let's make a pin!

You will need 4 - 5" squares of good 100% cotton batting

and about 25 to 30 - 5" squares of Gracie Girl

(give or take a few)

*NOTE - this will make 2 flowers

I used the 2 small sizes of the 

Bee in my Bonnet Rulers

The ones that measure 2" and 4" around.

Cut each 5" square in half so that you

 have 2 rectangles that measure 2 1/2" x 5"....

each rectangle makes one flower petal.

Fold one rectangle in half with right sides together.

Fold at the top...raw edges at the bottom.

Place the smallest ruler centered from side to side 

and almost all the way to the top of the fold like this.

Trace a line with a pencil around 

the top half only of the circle...

like this.

Place a pin across the bottom

 to keep in place.

Continue in this way to mark all of the petals.

This is the top half of your stitching line.

Using a 1/4" seam allowance...

begin stitching on the bottom open edges until you meet your marked line.

Continue stitching directly on that line

 all the way around until you come to the end at the other side.

Backstitch to secure when stopping and starting.

You can see that I chain stitched all of my petals 

to save time and thread.

Turn right side out.

DO NOT TRIM CORNERS OFF

Just simply turn it.

Leaving the corners on add a little bulk on the inside 

which is what you want.

DO NOT PRESS

the petals after you turn right side out...

you don't want them to lie flat.

Turn each petal right side out just like the first one.

Now lets make the base to sew the petals onto.

On ONE of the squares, mark a small dot in the center by 

measuring in 2 1/2" from the side and the bottom.

I'm just using my Pentel mechanical pencil for marking.

Now trace a line around the small circle ruler...

using the center dots on the ruler and square to

make sure your traced circle is centered.

Trace another circle the same way using the other ruler.

These marked circles will help to keep your GG Flower round and not oval:)

Layer the marked square on top of the other batting square...

And zig-zag directly on the outside line...

sewing both batting squares together.

The flower is pretty big (about 6 1/2") 

so I used 2 layers of batting to keep it stable.

Backstitch at beginning and the 

end of your zig-zagging:)

Now trim past your stitching about 1/8".

You base is ready!

Start forming your flower by sewing one petal onto the base.

Use the small circle as a guide to place the raw edge of the petal.

Make a small pleat in the center of the petal as you sew around it.

Leave yours under the machine...and don't cut the thread.

I just wanted to show you the placement of my first petal:)

Continue adding each petal in the same manner...

as you add a new one, overlap the old one by about 1/2"...

sew a few stitches to hold it down...

pinch the bottom to make a pleat...

hold it in place and sew over that pleat...

and before you get to the end...

add the next petal and...

 sew on and sew forth!

Continue sewing them around 

until you get all of the outside petals on.

Then continue sewing around the same way...

placing each round of petals closer into

 the center  for this cute layered effect!

When you get to the center...

you will want to pinch the bottoms 

a bit tighter together so they are not so wide...

so that the button will cover the raw edges.

I covered some 1 1/8" buttons with a few of the 

Riley Blake Solids

(Sugar Pink, Navy, Raspberry, Jade, Bear Lake and Pumpkin)

that match Gracie Girl so I could choose from them. 

I picked the "Pumpkin" for this one:)

And there you have it!

A cute Gracie Girl Flower:)

I hope you have a 

quilty kind of week while I'm away...

and I'm looking forward to meeting 

those of you who will be there with me!

I'll catch up with you

 next week when I get back:)

xx

Lori