Tartan Gathered Fabric Flower

TARTAN FLOWERS!!! I love them, can you tell??

This is such an easy fabric flower to make! I personally love this style as it looks great as both a fabric flower and can also be made easily with ribbon :o)

All you need is:

• a needle and thread
• a large button
• a length of tartan 10 x 54cm
• a headband or clip if you'd like to use it as a hair accessory, if not you could pop a safety pin on the back and add it to a handbag or use it as a brooch.

Firstly, fold your fabric in half lengthways. You can press the edge with an iron for a straighter edge if you like but it's not necessary. I'm not very anal when it comes to these things :o)

Take your needle and thread and begin to thread it along the open edge of the fabric about 1/2cm in, tugging the thread taught as you go. This will gather your fabric and create your flower.

Continue all the way along the edge til you reach the other end. Pull the thread tight again then overlap the two edges. Sew the two ends together once or twice to secure your flower.

Sew your button over the centre and do something AMAZING with it!!! Like add it to a headband!

To make the ribbon version, you follow much the same process, but there is no need to fold the ribbon in half, you simply sew along one edge as above.

Tartan Hair Bow

The simplest and sweetest of hair accessories - the hair bow! And what makes it even cuter?? Being made in tartan of course! It's really easy, all you do is:

Gather your supplies

• a needle and thread
• a 9cm length of ribbon
• a glue gun
• your choice of hair clip
• a piece of tartan fabric, 15 x 22cm

Fold both sides your fabric horizontally into the centre, overlapping slightly.

Then fold both ends into the center, again overlapping the ends slightly.

Next, pinch the middle of the bow together and fold in either side to the middle like an accordian fold. It will look like this :o)

Thread your needle through the middle once or twice to secure the bow together.

Tie off thread. Dab glue in the centre and wrap your ribbon around the stitching.

Attach it to your chosen hair clip!

Wear it!

Totally Tartan!! The beginning of a love affair

As you might have noticed from all the pins on my TARTAN magic! Pinterest board I've recently discovered how much I love tartan!

Source: google.com.au via Tash on Pinterest

Source: google.com.au via Tash on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Tash on Pinterest

Source: google.com.au via Tash on Pinterest

Source: google.com.au via Tash on Pinterest

It all started when one of crafty groups I'm in suggested we work on something tartan this month and then share what we all came up with (I blame the ladies at Tamworth Crafty Crafts for this :p ) I had a dig through my fabric stash and with a big WOOOHOOOO from me I found a nice 2 metre long length of old tartan fabric! It's the kind you make school skirts and shorts out of from a few years back (if you want to get technical it's plaid but shhhhhhh), so not the more popular and well known versions of colours and patterns but it was tartan all the same, it was free and there was plenty of it to play with! It was given to me as part of two huge bags of fabric that my mother in law was getting rid of; I snaffled it up with the idea of giving it a new purpose and one has finally come along! To create a few fun crafty and sewing tutorials for us to play with and discover a new passion for this fabulous fabric!
I would LOVE to have the money to go out and buy some nice red and black tartan, or black, white and grey patterned, or pink, but alas being broke strikes again! It's ok, we do our best with what we have! I class crafting in my day to day life as a necessity and as someone once said 'Necessity is indeed the mother in invention!' or in my case, creation :o)

So that's how this new love affair began! And I am hooked! To use a cliche, line and sinker! So...without further ado...I introduce you to TARTAN and hope that you will join me on my crafty quest to create!

Happy Crafting fellow Quirky Beans!!