Pleated scrap flower

Hi there everyone!  I have a little sewing tutorial for you today - YES, I said sewing!  I bought my first ever sewing machine back in February of this year with the intention of sewing on cards.  Well, I've sewn on exactly one card!  BUT, I have been learning how to sew on my own on actual fabric, and quite well in my opinion!  On with the tutorial!  (Be warned:  This is a long, picture-heavy tutorial!)

For the tutorial, I was inspired by this tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew. The only problem is my little Singer sewing machine, Saffi, (that's what I call her - Saffi is Danish for 'wisdom'.) doesn't always produce a ruffle.  After numerous combinations with thread tension and stitch size, I decided there had to be an easier way for a beginner sew-er like me.  This is what I came up with - I hope you enjoy it!

To begin with,  I follow the CCS (Cluck Cluck Sew) instructions exactly - I cut strips of fabric at 2.5".   Here I'm cutting strips to make a pin to attach to a wristlet for one of my nieces. 

I don't want it to be big when it's done, and after trial and error, I come up with 43" of continuous strip will give me a 3" diameter flower. 

I sew all the strips end to end using a .25" seam allowance, and iron all the seams flat. 

Then I iron the entire strip in half.

Then I stitch along the raw edge as close as I can.  I move my needle over to the far right side to help with this.

Be sure to do a few back stitches at the beginning and end of your strip to lock in the threads.  Trim off any extra threads when you are done stitching.  Don't worry if your stitching is straight or not - no one is going to see it in the end, but you do want to be as close to the raw edge as possible.  I didn't stitch across the ends like CCS does, but if it makes you happy - go for it!!

You might want to use a heavy duty needle for the next part, because you will be sewing through multiple layers, because we are about to sew ruffles!!  I start out like CCS does and start a little rolled up center and I stitch over it a couple of times going back and forth.  (I've returned my needle to the center position.)  Again, making sure to back stitch at the beginning and ending to lock the threads.  Then, with the needle in the down position in the fabric, raise your presser foot and form a couple of pleats.

Then lower the presser foot and sew across the pleats, sewing directly to the left of the original stitch line.  I'm not worried if my sewing is straight and I'm not worried if my pleats are all the same.  Below are a couple of pictures to show you what I'm doing.

Needle down, presser foot up, form a couple of pleats.

Presser foot down, sew across the pleats.

To make the pleats, all I do is pinch the fabric up, and then fold it down and away from me.  When I have three or four pleats, I put my foot down (ha ha - put my foot down - get it?  I know - lame!) and sew across the pleats.  Then I keep the needle in the fabric, raise the presser foot, add a few more pleats, lower the foot, sew.  I keep doing this until the whole strip is pleated. 

Pinch up

Fold down away from me

Lower presser foot and sew

Make sure to back stitch at the end of your pleated strip to lock in those threads and you should have something similar to this!  As you can see, my sewing is NOT straight, nor are my pleats even, but they don't need to be, which is why this is so easy to make.  In fact, the messier and uneven it is the better! 

To form the actual flower, CCS hand sews hers which is GREAT!  But not for me.  I don't have the patience nor the skills.  So I make mine with this stuff.....

I am not being paid or compensated in any way to show this glue - it's just what I use and I love it!  It is wonderful for adhering anything to fabric.  It's a lot like hot glue from a hot glue gun, without the hot.  The glue is stringy when you pull the tip of the bottle away from whatever you are gluing and it leaves strings.  Think of hot mozzarella cheese when you pull the pizza slice up from the pie!

So I just lay a small line of glue along the seamed side and start to roll the whole strip up.  Glue and roll, glue and roll.

It doesn't matter how tight or loose you roll your strip.  The main objective is to keep the bottom part flat.  When it is all rolled up, you should have something that is similar to this.

 
Notice I kept a bit at the end not rolled up.  This will help cover the bottom.  Once it's all rolled up, put glue all over the bottom and cover with the end tail.  Squish the whole thing down, using your fingers to wipe away any excess glue that might leak out.  Don't worry - just rub your fingers together and the glue will come right off. 

Let your flower sit for a bit - like two or three minutes - to give it time to soak into the fabric and form a bond.  Then come back to it - don't forget it - you want to make sure you come back to it because this next step is kind of important.  You don't want your glue to dry completely.  When you come back to your flower it should look something like this.  But yours won't be blurry!

Now you could stop here if you want to.  The problem is, it's kind of tall.  So I start on the outside and peel back the layers, pushing them down as I go, opening and pushing down until I get to the center.  Make sure to push hard to flatten out everything.  This is why you don't want to wait until the glue is completely dry, because then you won't be able to flatten it out and open up the layers.  You want the glue to stick, but still be wet enough to open it up. 

When the flower is completely bloomed, I just glue a pin on the back, add a button to the top and it's done!  You could leave off the button if you wanted to, or add a pretty gem stone.  You could also leave off the pin and glue it to a head band or barrette.

Here here is the finished product for both nieces!!  I know they will love them!! 

Thanks for sticking around today - I know this is not how I normally roll, but it was fun!  I hope you liked this tutorial.  If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments section and I'll get back to you.  A special thank you to Cluck Cluck Sew for the inspiration!