Today I'm going to give a quick run-down of how to make those felt rosettes included in this project.
This is EXTREMELY EASY. Anyone old enough to operate a hot glue gun can handle it. I know a lot of fabric rosettes have been made out there in blog land. This might not be new or ingenious, it's simply how I do it. I apologize if this tutorial is similar to another of which I am not aware.
1. Cut out your strips. I like to use felt because it will not fray and how the texture of it handles. They just lie very nice in the long run, which I can't exactly replicate with cottons or knits. I made my strips about 16 inches long. You want one end to start out skinny (.5") and it gradually gets wider to the other end (1.5"). Or for a bigger/smaller rosette you can adjust these numbers any way you want. You'll see in the picture below, I also cut them out with wiggly/wavy lines. I feel like this gives the flower a little more realistic variety.
Since I had to make 63 of these babies, I just put a 16" piece of tape
on my counter top for quick measuring. Smart me!
2. With your hot glue gun ready, start with the skinny end of your strip. Fold down the TOP corner so the end looks like a little triangle.
3. Put an inch of hot glue on the BOTTOM edge next to your triangle.
4. Fold over the triangle so it covers the hot glue.
5. Another inch of hot glue along the bottom edge next to that...
6. Roll it over one more time.
7. Now take your strip of felt and give it one twist. (I like to take the top edge and turn it away from me, seen below. Which ever way you twist is fine, just do it the same way each time.)
8. Holding that twist in place, put down another inch of hot glue on your "new" bottom edge.
9. And roll the whole thing over that glue.
10. Another twist...
11. More glue... roll it over.
12. Keep repeating those same 3 steps (twist, glue, roll it over) one inch at a time until your strip of felt is all rolled up. When you get to the end, you may have a little corner sticking out.
13. I snip it right off. You can shape it with the scissors, fold it under and glue it, whatever. Each one will end up a little different.
14. You're done! You can hot glue the bottoms right to the surface of the mirror. These are lightweight and fantastic for all sorts of crafty uses!
I would love to see this idea used in a miniature version (smaller rosettes on a smaller mirror.) Wouldn't they be so pretty around the outside edge of the mirror to frame your reflection? Just try not to burn the snot out of all your fingertips!!!
Here is the behind the scenes shot from my project:
Yup, that's a LOTTA glue! And 2 guns, my first one died halfway through
so I had to resort to a borrowed back-up!
6 comments:
If it makes you feel better, I just voted what I thought I'd use...and I really liked the flag glass block, b/c I'd write pretty words on it, too. But I did think this was a pretty awesome idea too. So elegant when it's all done! THanks for sharing the behind scenes secrets!
BEAUTIFUL! I actually thought you pretty much could have made MOST of them. THAT was so hard to choose! I LOVE this project! :)
This is great!
I am having a Red, White and Blue Linky Party that I'd love for you to join in on by adding your link!
http://www.itsybitsypaperblog.com/2011/07/red-white-and-blue-linky-party.html
This is really cool! I'll have to try this out!
Great job--I like it on the mirror.
Cute idea and well done. Your instructions for the felt roses are clear and easy. Love the look of the flag on the mirror.
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