Tsunami Hair Flowers!

Here it is, as promised, the tutorial for how to make a Tsunami hair flower...
(Here's the official link where I got the How To)


First, what you need:
A couple of yards of your desired fabric (I strongly suggest cotton, it holds best. I also threw some tulle in there)
Scissors
A circle template (I used a small dish)
Spray Starch
An iron and ironing board
Hot glue gun
Needle and thread
Your favorite button for the center
A barrette or comb for backing
(Whew!)


Here we go! First, using the small circle template, trace eight (for a smaller flower) to twelve (for a large flower) circles onto your fabric and cut them out.

Next, using your handy-dandy Spray Starch, starch those puppies at about six inches distance from the fabric! Let that sit for at least a half an hour (it helps to have an episode of Say Yes to the Dress at the ready).

Starched and ready to go!

Moving right along! Begin folding each circle in half, and carefully ironing them down for extra hold. That done, fold them in half yet again, and repeat the careful ironing (I may or may not have burned myself several times, thus the safety reiterations I am a huge clutz).

Folded/Ironed

Now for the somewhat tricky part that lead to the appearance of the first Tsunami flower I made; a dilapidated mess. Here's what to do. First pinch the center of your petal, then pull the two outer corners in to meet the pinched fold. it will look like this:

Yes, I am wearing pajama bottoms at 1:00 in the afternoon and
crafting on my couch, what of it?

Grab your thread and needle and pass through the bottom of the newly formed petal (where my finger tips come together in the picture), leaving extra thread to tie off later. You may want to knot the first petal, so it stays in place but make sure you have a fair amount of extra thread.

Repeat that step until all of the petals are completed and threaded together on the same string. At this point, you are ready to tie off the flower. Pull the two end strings together tightly and you should have the shape of your flower. Tie them off, and pull the extra thread through the petals so that it is on the "front" side of the flower. Use the extra thread to attach the button by looping it through the holes or bottom and pull down so it sort of seals the flower together as its center.

Now, to complete the flower! Your thread should now be coming out of the "back" of the flower after the button is pulled down. You can now knot it off and trim the extra. Next, take some of the fabric you used to make the petals and cut out some center-of-your-flower sized circles (I had no idea what to used for a template so I just kind of eye-balled it). I cut out four circles. Then, if you so desireth, cut out some petal-sized circles in your tulle fabric. Hot glue the circles to the back of the flower (they should be slightly wider in diameter the the hole in the flower) and add the tulle between the layers of center circles.

To attach the barrette, cut one final small strip of petal-fabric and hot glue to the barrette.

(To attach to a comb, stitch the final flower once the center circles are glued together to that piece of fabric, pulling tightly). And...

TA-DAH!!!

There you have it. The slightly difficult, gorgeous Tsunami flower!

Yuck, the one on the right isn't looking so hot.
That's what I get for using silk instead of cotton. 

It's so amazing, I thought that I would never be able to make any remotely as beautiful as the ones found here on the Bee. Again, all the credit goes to the amazing Hive members from whom I saw/fell in love with this tutorial. I am actually quite proud of this project, and will keep practicing! Funny, what a lazy-craft day can produce if you set your mind to it! When I actually stop freaking out finish the trial flowers (i.e. if/when it looks as good as this) I will be adding fabric and lace from the two wedding somethings I showed you in my last post!

Best,

Micah