denim headband

NEW

Beginner friendly No Tool Denim Fower Video Course in partnership with Domestika is now available.

All details can be found here

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Denim Flowers: sustainable to make and fun to wear! 

One of the less traditional fabrics for flower making that has always attracted me (and my customers!) is cotton denim.

Robust enough for everyday wear, so familiar and loved by many it lends itself well to a variety of flower shapes, simplistic and more intricate alike. Add skilful shaping with tools, backing with metallic fabrics and you will receive a beautiful flower accessory perfectly suitable for casual wear and beyond.

Feel free to upcycle your old garments for making any of these designs.

📌📌📌   For all my textile creations I use stiffened fabrics. You can stiffen your own fabrics easily following some basic process. I am explaining how to do it in this post and video

The denim theme in weddings has been going on for a while now. Over the years I have created groom’s boutonnieres, bridal hair pieces and corsages using a range of different flower templates.

Because of the nature of denim and its thickness flowers with a smaller number of petals work best. Camellias are one of those flowers that can be easily recreated with denim.

You can simply follow myVelvet Camellia Tutorial to make your own denim version of this classic Chanel inspired flower.

Some of my tutorials on leather flowers can be adapted to be used with denim. Both dahlias and gerberas are a good example.

Poppies have always been a very popular flower. Made of leather, velvet, silk, cotton, organza or other medium, they always look attractive and often carry a special meaning as well (think Remembrance poppies).

Guess what, these flowers can also be made out of denim. In my live online demonstration on the Wild Velvet Poppies I have explained the process of creating a simple (not so simple 🙂 ) wild poppy with only 4 petals using backed petals that are sculpted in an attractive way. Plus you learn how to make a very recognisable seed box for the centre of your poppy. To learn more about this video demo and purchase you access to it visit the Wild Velvet Poppies Online Demonstration page.

Use some upcycled denim from your favourite (or not so favourite) garments and create one of these upcycled denim sunflower brooches.
The instructions can be found inside my Fabric Sunflower demonstration recording which you can find here. You will need a couple of tools for shaping your petals. Luckily, the Essential Leaf Shaping Set is all the tools you need here.

 

To make sure the shape stays sharp and the flowers and butterflies are wearable, I do back denim flower parts with another fabric (as it is shown in the

 Velvet Camellia tutorial and in the Silk Butterfly Tutorial).

For this job you are free to use either some plain silks like pongee, organza, lightweight habutai. Or you can throw in a touch of sparkle with  metallic fabrics if you fancy it.

Both lightweight and medium weight metallic fabrics work well with denim. Furthermore you can dye them in the right shade of blue to match your denim completely should you wish.

Recently I have added another denim flower to my collection, this time a flower that can be made without specialist tools. Meet my denim lily, a perfect project for a beginner in flower making.
You can learn how to make this flower by purchasing the access to a recording of the live demonstration I held last winter  For more information click HERE.

A rose that I have revisited lately is my Velvet Sweet Briar Rose (here pictured in black denim version).

A striking design, the velvet Sweet Briar Rose with its plush hand sculpted petals is stunning and indeed very sweet.

Do not underestimate this misleadingly simple rose. With so few petals, there is nowhere to hide imperfections. You will learn how to create impeccable velvet petals that look so live and moving when in fact they are rock solid hard and very sturdy. The tutorial is aimed at brave beginner and improver flower makers with a set of flower tools.

Denim is a popular and affordable fabric. I am quite sure you probably have some of it in your stash right now. Why not use it to create something beautiful to give as a little gift, to wear yourself or to offer to your customers?

 

I have even made my signature butterflies and dandelion in denim!