fabric flower hairclips for a 30-something?

lately, i've been itching to make some fabric flowers: a few for statement hair pieces and a few for pillow adornments and a bunch for a spring/summer wreath. 

my mother-in-law and i did a few google searches and WOW there are a plethora of fabric flower tutorials! but, i must say that i actually harnessed most of my inspiration from the paper and fabric flower slideshow at martha stewart weddings. i imagine you may see a few of those flowers make their way onto this blog in the future. 

the above flowers are really my own creation based, but you could look here and here for some of the basic concepts. 

what i did: 

1. cut two strips of fabric the length (longer = more "smooshed") and width (bigger overall layer) that you desire for your flower layers. for this flower, you want one strip that is longer and wider than the other to create the two layers.

2. fold one strip in half and hand sew a running stitch along the cut sides, not the fold. then, join the two sides together and pull to create a ruffly circle.  (click here for clear instructions from a similar tutorial)

3. repeat step 2 for other strip.

4. hand stitch together each seam to prevent fraying and to join the two ends together to form a complete circle.  in addition to stitching the ends, you could also use fray check. 

5. using 7/8" covered buttons, follow the package instructions and cover a button with your selected fabric. 

  6. put it together: i chose to hot glue my layers and button together because i'm a big fan of the glue gun.  you could, however, stitch the button to each layer and each layer together.  

7. attach the flower to a pin, hair clip, etc.

i've been wanting a few statement hair pieces lately for spring, so i hot glued my flowers to snap hair clips.

viola! making each flower literally takes less than 15 minutes and requires just scrapes of any fabric. so, go ahead, make some!

Parties I'm Linking To Today:
Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Don't forget to enter my giveaway from Hotslings ending tomorrow night!