Fabric {Flowers}

 After seeing fabric flowers and birds on Etsy and Pinterest...I got the itch to make some of my own. I'm an instant-gratification kind of girl; I want to start and finish my idea the same day. The flowers I had seen were made from vintage quilt remnants, cut into circles and sewn with a very primitive (or child-like) swirling stitch with a sewing machine.

 After racking my brain as to what fabric I could use, I finally remembered an old white table cloth that is actually more like fabric of a blanket. I found it and started cutting. I'm not a pattern kind of girl, either. And when an idea strikes, I dig in and think it through as I go. I started with the blanket folded and cut a small circle and then a larger circle. I sewed black "swirls" around the small one first. Then around the larger circle, leaving a small opening for a stick from outside (serving as the stem). I hand stitched the opening for the stick closed to secure the stick. Finally, I sewed the button onto the smaller circle, attaching it to the larger circle at the same time. Then I added some vintage lace ribbon, tying it at the base of the flower, serving as leaves.

The flowers went so well that I decided to go for a bird. I would recommend using a stencil or your own hand-drawn template. Of course, I dove right in and just started cutting and my first bird didn't look so great. The second time went much better. I did everything the same as for the flowers, just adding a small twig inside the bird's tail to keep it from flopping over. I added a wing, using the same fabric and a piece of book paper. Finally, I sewed the button and twig on at the same time. I love the way they added so much charm to my vase and flowers!