Sequined Rose Scarf {Child/Adult} Tutorial

  I have seen a few rose scarves floating around the web lately, so a few weeks ago, I decided to give my own version of this adorable scarf a try. I made a red one and made another for my 9 year old niece. :) Since she is all about fashion and accessorizing, I wanted to make her scarf really fun! I made it multicolored {I used fuschia, peacock blue, glitter purple, glitter white, and bright lime green} and then added a few matching sequins to each rose. 


Materials needed:
Felt 
needle
matching thread
scissors
**Optional: sequins, clear thread


  First, make your Felt Roses. You can see the tutorial that I just recently posted for the roses here. When I made the red scarf, I made 13 flowers. I made 12 roses, just slightly smaller, for this scarf I made for Anna Grace. It is all about the personal preference of how long you want your scarf to be. 

These are the roses from the tutorial, not this particular scarf. 

  
  After you finish making the roses, cut out a piece of matching felt or felted wool for the actual length of the scarf. For the adult scarf I used a 45 by 4 inch piece, for the child scarf, I cut my piece of felt to 36 by 3 inches. 

**I actually tried using some fleece when I made the red scarf and failed miserably. After sewing the roses to the fleece, it was entirely too stretchy for his scarf and just didn't look very pretty. Fleece would probably work okay if you doubled it and used fusible interfacing to prevent it from being so stretchy. 

Cut scallops out on each side, the entire length of the scarf. 

This photo was taken after the scarf was completed, I just want you to see the scallops that have been cut out of the main piece. 

  Then place your roses where you would like them positioned on the scarf. You can go ahead and pen them for the entire length or just position and sew one at a time like I did. 


Sew a circle around through beginning from back to front. Only sew through the bottom layer of the scarf. 

                  Be sure to tie off each circle at the end to secure it. 

This is what mine looked like after I finished attaching all of the roses. I just love it here, but decided to add a little extra flare by adding a few matching sequins! :)

I simply attached the sequins using a needle and clear thread. I will share a more detailed tutorial for attaching sequins next week, so be sure to stop back by! If you decide to make one of these adorable scarves, please let me know! I would love to see pics! :)

This is the red scarf I made! Excuse the photo quality of the first pic, when I took it, I had forgotten to take the clear layer off of the camera lense on my iPhone! ;)

This is a little better photo if it on my dress form.

I hope you are having a wonderful day! Be sure to stop by tonight for the Weekend Craft Soiree!

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Felt Rose Tutorial

I have been on a major flower and scarf-making kick lately! I made a few flower scarves as {late} Christmas gifts and I've just been finding all kids of other things to embellish these pretty flowers with! They are so easy and so much fun to make! I have always been one to make flowers using my glue gun, but these are such a nice alternative! It is also nice not having to worry about getting burned with hot glue a dozen times while making one flower! 

Materials Needed:

Felt 

scissors

needle and thread

  First thing you need to do is cut 6 circles, descending in size, from your felt. My largest is about 5 inches and smallest is about 1.5 inches. If you are making more than one, you can stack your felt and cut several layers at once. This will save you a lot of time. Keep in mind, the circles do not have to be perfect by any means since you will be cutting on them a little more. 

  Next, cut scallops around the edges of the circles. You can make the scallops deeper of you can just barely cut into the circle. I did a little bit of both. 

  Now, stack your pieces, largest on the bottom and smallest at the very top, with the exception of the least smallest piece. Lay it to the side. You will use it in just a moment. 

 

  Take your needle and thread and come up through the stack of circles, slightly off center. 

  Using your needle and thread, go back down through the stack, about half an inch away, on the other side of the center. 

  Pull very tightly, this will gather the flower up. Repeat this a few times. 

 Now, create an X.  Go up through the circles just like you have been doing, only this time puck your needle through one of the unused sides, about a half inch from the center making a new stitch that will cross the previous one.  Repeat a few times. I like to fold mine when sewing these stitches.

  Before you finish, take your smallest circle (the one you put to the side earlier) and gather it together by folding in half, and then folding it in half again. 

  Stick in in the middle of the flower and sew up from the bottom and "grap" the point with your needle for your next several stitches. Continue this until you are sure it is securely in place and until the flower looks like you want it to look. You can actually "cross" the stitches you have already made and just play around with it until it looks how you want it to look. Trust me, once you start making it, you will understand. It is actually so very easy. 

  Finally, using the same piece of thread you started with, tightly sew a few small stitches to the back of the flower. This is to "close it off" so to speak to make sure your flower is securely stitched together and the thread wont start to come out. 

  There you have it. A pretty rose, just in time for Valentines day! You can use this to make a rose scarf, hair clips, brooches, just use your imagination! If you get addicted to making these, don't say I didn't warn you! ;)

Mother's Nest Brooch

  
   After I made the Robin's Nest Hair Pin the other day, my mother called me and she was absolutely in love with it! She was so tickled to have even recieved phone calls fom her friends who had seen the post. Since she loved it so much, I decided to make her a beautiful bird's nest brooch for Easter! I think it will look so lovely on her at church on Easter Sunday, if I do say so myself!;) I will definitely be making one for myself, as well! This is also a wonderful gift for Mothers Day! You can represent the number of children your mother has with your eggs! :)
I basically made this brooch the same way I made the nest for my hairpin. You can see that tutorial here. I simply made it much larger.
These are the materials I used:

• 18 gauge tin copper wire
• beads to use as eggs 
• glitter, I like the Martha Stewart Extra Fine
• hot glue gun
• pliers
• small piece of felt
• pin back

 My first step was to take my pliers and grip the ends of the wire. As I held one end, I took my roll of wire and just coiled it around the end my pliers were holding and continued to wrap it around until it got to the size I wanted it to be and looked like a little nest.
   Then, I spritzed it with some brown spray paint and sprinkled on lots of glitter while the paint was still wet. Next time I will use either clear paint o modge instead of brown paint. I love how the brown gives it that "nest" look, but I really wanted this brooch to sparkle and shine. I forgot to take a photo of this step. You can see my hair pin tutorial if you would like an idea of what it will look like at this point.
   After finishing my "nest" and applying the glitter, I cut a small piece of felt and glued it to the back using my hot glue gun. The helped to hold the nest together better, since it was larger this time.
    Next, I glued my pin back to the back onto the felt. Be sure to glue it toward the edge you will want to be the top of you brooch. If now, it will try to flip down. The was a mistake that I had to correct. :)

   Finally, I had to secure my "eggs." I used a small piece of wire to string 4 pearl-like beads and bent it into sort of a square. I left a little wire on each end to twist into the nest. I also had to hot glue it a little. In the places where the glue was visible, I sprinkled some more glitter before it was dry.

   I am so pleased with the final result. It really is beautiful brooch, my camera just does not do it justice. I wish you could see how it sparkles when the light catches it! I hope my mother loves it! :)