Kanzashi Flowers



I love looking at books where they make fiddly things with fabric. It's an enjoyable challenge to take anything that can be made with fabric and then make it with paper. I found this book called Kanzashi in Bloom (at my library) which shows you how to make three simple flower petal shapes from squares of paper. You make up several petals and sew them together to make flowers.


I have been making up dozens of petals and figuring out different ways to make pins from them. Although I don't like hot glue as a major element in art, it has a purpose here in small amounts. After I sew the petals together, I dab a bit of glue on the back to hold the centers together firmly. I then sew the flowers to fabric covered pin-back badges I have made. Although they won't hold up forever if they are treated roughly, paper is remarkably strong. I wore the first one I made to church a couple of weeks ago. Of course, that is the day that Kiff wanted to sit on my lap and bang his fifty-pound head on my chest and shoulders. Most of the blows felt like they landed on the flower. At the end of the hour, the flower was still good. Take that you four-year-old!

Comments

Mary Jo said…
What did you use for the centers? Buttons? Very cute Heather. I want one!

~Mary Jo

The word verification: smister LOL
Nancy said…
Funny you should be making Kanzashi flowers. I was just thinking about trying to make them to attach to Mother's Day cards for my mom and mother-in-law. I've had the book for awhile now but only got as far as purchasing fabric that I wanted to try to make them with. I like the idea of using paper. Hopefully this weekend I'll get the time to try it. Thanks for the inspiration.
Heather Eddy said…
@Mary Jo - yep! I have an *extensive* button stash...

Nancy - I love the challenge of using paper instead of fabric. Hope yours turn out well! I practiced using large sheets of paper (5") before using the smaller ones. The smallest I've used is 1 1/4", I think.
Phiona said…
Great minds think alike!! I invested in this book a while ago and like you scratched my head and thought - I wonder if this can be done in paper. Have a look on Folksy http://bit.ly/ogDulw there a lady that has made a Kanzashi flower in paper that looks like a crysamthamum.

http://www.rarenotions.co.uk

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