tweedy flower pins

[elena-marie.livejournal.com]

i have been drooling over the idea of making those jackets with the frayed edges ever since i saw what fun weaves that fabric come in. but i never could bring myself to wear one, even if i did ever get one for myself sewed.
(hell, i have 4 yards of a black and pink brocade that i still have to make a jacket with) but i really liked the idea of fraying the edges of something decoratively after sewing it.
so then my friend who's getting married asked me if i knew how to make paper flowers, and i mentioned that i had a book somewhere, and it all came together in a blinding flash!



tweedy flower pins!
i'm still finessing the embroidery and structure and all, but feel free to come look at my (overly image intense) documentation of the process ...



this is the paper flowers book i'm using. i'm attempting those roses on the front, but in fabric.



i used that pattern as a starting point. fold lines = dart lines. how much easier could it get!

loaded the picture in the embroidery software, used a running stitch to stablize fabric down and mark dart lines, then went around edge with a thick zigzag



i love the embroidery program. it's almost like drafting! i want to graduate up to fully-filled in patches one day. right now i'm happy to trace pictures with zigzags and running stitches.

hooped fabric + stabilizer, embroidered, cut the stabilizer off closely, trimmed the egde, frayed it, and trimmed again.



pleated along the lines indicated and hand sewed them down.

the paper pattern called for 3 layers, but with the frayed edges, it was overkill and hid the nice embroidery. so i just used one flower base that was 100mm, and another that was 60, leaving out the middle 80mm one.



added a button and the prototype was done. i don't like the color i used, so i tweaked the thickness from 3mm to 5mm, and did a different color thread. it was smaller than i intended, but much nicer color wise.



the tweed makes it very busy inside, so i think i'll just do button centers for those.
what i'm excited about is trying this method on my brocades, because i have tons of scraps from my halloween costume that would fit in the hoop and make nice flowers.



brocade flowers will have a nice applique edge, where you do a running stitch first, cut out the fabric (but not the stabilizer) while it's still on the hoop, and then run it through the zigzag part. they'll look nice with pretty beaded centers, i think.

anyways, just one of the million things i have going on right now. i was rather excited how well my idea turned out and wanted to share with yall.