Tag: no sew

Crafts & DIY · Tutorial

No Sew Fabric Flowers, two ways: A Tutorial

ladybeezdesignsLeave a comment

Hiya Folks!

I’m back with part two of the Handmade flower tutorial that I talked about on Local 5 Live yesterday morning… Seriously, did that really happen? I’m so glad to have video proof!

I’m still getting over the craziness of it all! Pic above….but here’s the video if you missed it.

So let’s Talk fabric flowers! Both types of these flowers are made the same way… But I will walk you through them step-by-step! I promise anyone can do this!

Let’s start with the One Colored Rose Type, shall we?

Supplies Needed:

Duct Tape

Wooden Dowels

Fabric strips

I spray painted my dowels ahead of time… This is a quick and easy way to do it. However, you are more than welcome to leave them plain… Paint them by hand… Or even cover them with other colorful tapes

Next we are going to start creating the rose.

For your fabric strip you can experiment with different lengths and widths… The width I would say use between 3-5” ….for length, the longer the strip is, the FULLER your rose will be. I like about 25-30”.

Below I am showing how to fold the fabric: fold over the end about 1/2 inch and then hot dog fold it in half.

Before you go any Further you want your tape ready. Now, you can buy smaller duct tape… But the large duct tape will work just as easily if you cut it in half. Make pieces about 1 1/2”-2” long and your last piece should be about 3”.

Insert the dowel and tape to secure.

To create the flower, you’ll pleat the Fabric three times, and then secure with tape. Rotate the dowel, and repeat this process until you reach one inch away from the end of your strip of fabric.

Here you’ll want to fold the end in so it looks clean, and the end won’t fray.

Almost there!!!! Now take your last longer piece of tape and finish it off by wrapping it tightly around the dowel.

YOU DID IT!

If you’re more of a “moving picture” kind of crafter….I attempted a video of this process below 🌸 🎥

Practice! practice! PRACTICE! Soon you’ll have a vase full!

Now, once you’ve mastered that idea….you can make this second daisy-like flower in the same manner…..the only difference is you’ll have two colored fabrics, and wrap them either tighter or looser.

The center will look best cut about 2- 2 1/2” wide and 10”-12” long. You’ll do exactly as above for the first 3 pleats, but then you’ll just wrap the remainder tight in the circle and secure with tape. It will look like a BUD.

The second fabric should be 3- 3 1/2” in width and 15”-18” in length….and you’ll perform the same pleating/taping as above with the rose…..juuusst a little looser.

And there you HAVE IT!

TWO FLOWERS, one method!

Please share pics of you make some of your own!

AND HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

Crafts & DIY · Tutorial

Button Flowers Tutorial

ladybeezdesignsLeave a comment

Aren’t these flowers just as cute as a button?

OK, I know that was horrible… But I couldn’t resist.

Hello! and welcome to all of my new friends that might have stumbled upon this little blog after seeing me this morning on Local 5 Live! I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to return and show you a couple easy crafts that are so easy you could even make them with your kids…

You did remember that Mother’s Day is Sunday, right?

Supplies needed:

BUTTONS of all shapes and sizes

WIRE: prefer 22 gauge as it’s easy to work with, yet still has a little strength

To assemble the flower simply weave your wire up through one hole of the button and down through the opposite hole. You will do this with all of your buttons at the same time so stacked two or three together.

Next twist your wire… The trick I told my kiddos is to hold the wires while twisting the button… It makes it’s a lot easier.

Now if you want to stop here and just stick these in a potted plant… It adds a fun pop of color.

However you can continue and add some leaves to your button flower by attaching two buttons to the end of a piece of wire and wrapping it around the center stem.

Then your button flowers can be the star of its own show!

Since I come from a long line of women that had button collections… An added super special piece to our button flowers is that they contain buttons from my grandmas and my mom who are celebrating their Mother’s Day together in Heaven. It’s so nice to be able to look at these button flowers and remember them ❤️

I’d love to see the Button Flowers you make! Feel free to comment with pictures!

And I’d love to have you come back and visit tomorrow when I post the No Sew Fabric Flower Tutorial!

Crafts & DIY

No Sew Fabric Christmas Trees

ladybeezdesignsLeave a comment

Happy December!!!!

I know I’ve just been all things Hallmark movies here on the blog lately….but I have been busy doing other more creative activities too.

I really needed to up my Christmas home decor game after watching all those beautiful Hallmark scenes for the last month and a half!

Enter these fabric/trim trees.

Now I’m sure you could find cones in the craft stores…..but I am nothing if not cheap…..so when I saw you could make them from poster board for some pocket change…..I began my forest!

I didn’t use a template at all…..just started rolling poster board into a cone…..taped it all up with good, quality packaging tape….and got to decorating. I got 2 large cones, 2 medium cones, and 2 small cones of varying sizes from one standard poster board.

With only my trusty glue gun as my weapon, I dug through my lace, trim ,and fabric and started construction from the bottom up.

The Lace versions are prefect for a softer look:

These are my kids’ favorites! The green was what I had left of this trim…..but I also love it so much, I might have to buy some more like that. And a straight-up peppermint candy quilting cotton is just glued down in strips.

I then proceeded to fancy it up a bit with the plaid. For this look, I cut 2 inch strips of fabric and ran a long stitch down the center and gathered for a ruffle. (I Know, I said no-sew….you could still totally hand gather the fabric as you glue….but I am all for quick and easy)

Those ones are my favorite!

I’d love to see what you come up with if you make some of your own!

Tutorial: No Sew Braided Rainbow Rug
Crafts & DIY

Tutorial: No Sew Braided Rainbow Rug

ladybeezdesigns2 Comments
No Sew Braided Rug Tutorial

I don’t know who was more excited about this rug….me or my girls?

It has ALL my favorite things in it:

  1.  I was able to make it completely from supplies that I had on hand.
  2. A TOTAL Scrap BUSTER! I save every piece of fabric…from every project.  I have years of memories in my scrap bins, but a MESS of a Sewing Studio that I am determined to get organized.
  3. It’s RAINBOW!  Every beautiful color…and it makes me smile.
  4. NO SEW! I love sewing, but sometimes a girl just wants her glue gun, ya know?

I started this over a year ago…my oldest daughter asked for a rainbow rug for her and her sister’s room.  After looking at the options to purchase a rug, I decided we didn’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a rug that, let’s face it, someone’s going to pee spill on at some point.

Turns out, I had PLENTY of scrap fabric that needed to be used, so off I went and started braiding.

If you have a TON of hot glue & you can braid (and have a bunch of fabric to rip up), you can make this too!

You don’t need a sewing machine AT ALL.  I mean, you could sew this together if you wanted to…but I chose to go with hot glue…you do you, I won’t judge.

Are you READY to Make one of these Masterpieces????

SUPPLIES YOU’LL NEED:
1 1/2 (or more) yards of FELT:  depending on how large you want your rug.  (Remember, I said I used my scraps, so I went with Red…I would probably go with that again even if I had to purchase)
Strips of Fabric in 4 inch widths:  I ripped the fabric apart to make it faster.  BLEW my kids minds when I showed them how woven fabric rips right along the grainline once you start with a little cut.  They loved helping with this part.  Also, found it fascinating how different fabrics made different sounds when ripping
Hot Glue Gun & LOADS OF GLUE STICKS: I recommend getting the large sticks…this will take a LOT of glue .  Just make sure you grab the right size (width) for the glue gun you own
CLIPS of some SORT: to hold the ends of your braids while you work.

Let’s GET STARTED!

I’m going to show you how I made mine.  There are obviously many ways you can vary this project…that’s what so fun about the creative process!

 

  1. Start with the RED….Cut or RIP (my preferred method) your fabrics in 4 inch widths. Clip 3 strips together and start BRAIDING! It’s actually best of the strips are NOT the same length….this is important for when we have to attach the next strip.
  2. When one Strip gets short, you’ll take another strip of fabric and tie a knot to strand them together. (if all the knots fall in the same place, it will be too bulky and harder to hide while braiding)
  3. Then Just KEEP BRAIDING, JUST KEEP BRAIDING….BRAIDING….BRAIDING….BRAIDING….you’ll braiding for days! (or if you’re like me, years!……I may have started this project before last Christmas 😉 I PROMISE you, once you get into it, I won’t take that long…in fact, you’ll be able to see where I left off and where I picked it up when we get to that part.
  4. When you’re ready to switch colors, simply start tying the new color in. My Georgia told me she loved how I transitioned each color by gradually adding the next color: I had 3 reds…and then 2 reds and 1 Orange…then 2 Orange and 1 Red….Then 3 Orange….and so on!
  5. My method was to BRAID ALL of the rug before I started gluing. I haven’t decided yet if this was the right move. What happens is: it twists….and there’s a lot of maneuvering to straighten it if you don’t glue it down as you go. But I also loved to look at it all jumbled up!
  6. When you are ready to assemble your rug, you will lay down a piece of felt. (if you’re not familiar, you are able to purchase felt by the yard) I started with a square piece of felt. Glued the start of the braid in the center and began my circle….hot gluing it all down as I went around…and as my rug grew, I simply cut more felt and hot glued it to the first piece.
  7. Continue attaching more felt to the base as it gets bigger, this part doesn’t have to be pretty…you won’t see it.
  8. This is strictly assemble and access as you go. When I felt it was ready for the next color I switched! When I started, I was braiding very tightly…so you see the RED-ORANGE-YELLOW looks a bit “cleaner”….turns out though, if I make this again, I prefer the looser braid, as it’s more comfortable and squishy when you walk on it 🙂
  9. Watch it grow!savingpng-7

 

 

I’m excited to try different things with my next braided rug! I might try using knit fabric….maybe assemble in a back-n-forth pattern to make a rectangular shape instead of circle….hmmmmm….the possibilities! I’m going to have to figure out something because the boys want one for their room now too! Maybe Denim? I could use all those jeans they rip holes in!

Okay, one more pic before I go….

Easy peasy, no?

I’d love to see yours if you make one!