fabric rose tutorial.

i have had several friends ask me to show them how i made my little roses... so i thought i would put this tutorial together! i basically did a search online and found some other tutorials, and just kind of went my own way. i'll be honest: i didn't want to have to machine sew or iron anything. there are tons of ways to make these, though (and each one produces a different result) so i'll post some other links at the bottom.

you'll need:
fabric (t-shirts work great)
hot glue gun
scissors
tv (optional)


so... here's what i started with. the other half of this shirt make all those other blue roses from a previous post. and this is a small. imagine how many you could make from an xxl shirt? i like to use kind of stretchy fabrics. nothing too thick or too thin/sheer. t-shirts are perfect.

cut a thin strip of your shirt out. about 1 1/2" - 2" wide and however long you can get. you can make the strips wider or thinner, depending on what size you want your rose.

fold it in half, make sure you have the right side of the fabric facing out.

put a thin strip of hot glue down on one end. i try to use the end where the seam is...

and fold it over. please be careful not to burn yourself...

you'll want to start wrapping the fabric around the starting point...

but don't go too far! you'll want to start adding folds in. i tried to get a decent picture of what that looks like here... but it's hard when you have to hold the camera too. basically you just twist the fabric over...

so that it makes a nice little fold in the fabric. try to keep this towards the top. you'll want to put a drop of hot glue down every once in a while, especially before and after the folds.

just keep wrapping and folding, wrapping and folding. you'll get a feel for how many times you want to fold the fabric over. i usually try for about 2 folds per circumference wrap in the beginning, and then 3-5 as the flower gets bigger. just remember to put drops of glue down every once now and then to make sure it all holds.

when you get to a desirable stopping location, cut the end off, but leave about an inch or so hanging off.

here's a back view. put some hot glue down on the bottom (a fairly good-sized dollop)...

and push down that fabric you left at the end. be careful not to burn yourself! this is where i usually get burned...

and there you go! you can always swish around the fabric until you get it to the shape you want. and the best thing about these is that they're not supposed to be perfect! you can make a ton of these watching a movie or your favorite tv show... and all with stuff you probably already have.

also, you could use a needle and thread to stitch instead where you would normally use the hot glue. this would produce something you might be able to throw in the washing machine... but don't take my word on it. i'll mainly be making these to put on pins, headbands and maybe some jewelry.

here are some links to other fabric rose/flower tutorials i really liked:
everyday chaos
tincancanoe
youcanmakethis
pretty-ditty
make it do