March 2, 2014

My Flower Garden...

 Good Morning, Glory!

 As I round the corner from our living room and enter the hallway
to my studio each morning, this is the sight I see on sunny days.
Light spills in from the east window and creates the cheeriest
of atmospheres for creativity in my little corner of the world.
I've placed my ribbon frame on my shelves. It was an easy move
thanks to those Scotch™damage-free hanging strips. I attached one
side to the shelves and the other to each end of the frame. They stick
together like velcro and will remove without a problem whenever I 
want. If I need to access something behind the ribbons, I can just peel the
frame off (thanks to the velcro), get what I need and replace the frame.

These are the ribbons I've accumulated since I joined our quilt guild 
nearly four years ago. Don't they look like flowers? If you live in
Florida, you can practically toss a rock in the ground and it will
grow. I do best with plants that thrive on neglect - like jade plants, 
flowering bushes (jasmine, bouganvillea, crown of thorns and palms). 

Rather, the majority of the flowers I grow are born in my studio.
These "flowers" make me smile. They represent the result of many
joyful hours spent putting fiber to fabric and they inspire me to improve.
 I purchased a couple of these flower pins in the boutique at our quilt 
show. I don't know who made them, but they're so clever! They're a 
great way to use scrap fabrics and metal bobbins, too! (My machines 
use plastic ones.) Batiks are great for this project, because it's hard 
to tell the right side of the fabric from the wrong side when folded.
 
After gently moving the ruffles and peeking between them, 
I can see that this is how the pin was made...

Cut one strip of fabric about 3" wide and about 5" long. Pink along both 
long sides. Starting about 1/2" from one end of the strip, hand sew a row 
of stitches about 1" away from a long edge using a double thread. (See drawing)
 Leave a long tail at the starting end because you'll be tying both ends together 
as you form a ruffle around your metal bobbin. (Be sure that when you gather
 and fold the fabric strip, you keep the thread to the inside of the fold.) Place 
the bobbin inside the gathered strip before you tie the ends of the threads 
together. Tie double knots and cut off the extra length of thread so that you 
don't have any hanging tails showing. Overlap the gathered ends of the
ruffle (where you tied the knot.) Now it should look like the pin above.
 The back side of your pin will be behind the wider ruffle. You can either sew
 or glue (with a strong E6000 or jewelry glue) the small pin back on this side.
Voila! 
A beautiful fabric flower pin to wear on your favorite shirt or jacket.

Happy Monday!
You know where I'll be if you're looking for me.
(Tag will be there, too keeping me company.)
DonnaAcornSignature

4 comments:

  1. Thanks Donna, the pin is very cute and would make great gifts for sewing friends. Nice of you to share with us. Love your ribbons and the frame. My you have earned a lot of ribbons in your four years. Keep up the good work,I love reading about your and your projects. Thanks again, Gloria

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a beautiful flower garden:) I love the way your fabric is stored. It looks like a work of art itself! Have a nice day, Donna! Twyla

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your Flower Garden is more beautiful than any garden flowers grown. I was thinking how unique those ribbons are with the fun polka dots and stripes. Of course against your gorgeous fabrics all perfectly organized the result is Master Gardner worthy my friend! Blissful Creating in your sun filled studio...
    P.S. Such a cute little bobbin flower and thank you for the tute.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a pleasant sight to see in the morning the morning delicious fabrics and gorgeous flowers! Thanks for the cute tutorial.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for leaving a comment today. I'm using new settings on my comments so that I'll be able to respond to your messages to me. Be sure to come back to see my replies!

Blessings, Donna