If you can make it to Stamford, Lincs on Saturday 24th October 2015 you are most welcome to join our one-off craft workshop on a veteran poppy corsage. See all the details in the poster below.
Hope to see you there ♥
Alternatively you can purchase a photo tutorial on a poppy corsage
The 2015 Wedding Season is in full swing. I would not be far off if I suggest that some of you are currently making lots of white flowers. So I thought I would share some tips on how to dye (or not to dye?) the fabric for making white silk flowers.
Your actions will depend on the task in hand. Certainly there are situations when we need to create a 
pure white flower, in warm white or even in cold bluish white. In this case you just need to choose your fabric right, because different fabrics, although all white can vary in shades. Bleached silks are usually cold white, whilst unbleached tend to be of warm, ivory shades. Simply choose the best suitable fabric for the job and skip the dyeing stage altogether.
On the other hand, if you would like to create a more realistic white flower, you will need to use some dyes. Why? Because if you look at the living flowers either in the pictures or fresh in your garden or vase, they are never just white.
Very often the petals are tinted at the base with a choice of colours ranging from light green to yellow to pink etc.
Another thing to consider is either colour the rest of the petal with a very diluted green 
yellow to create more of an ivory look of the flower or add some strokes of this colour here and there on the petals using a wide brush. The strokes of dye will not be seen as such but when assembled will let the petals look more realistic than just white pieces of fabric put together. The flower will have a depth to it. This technique works very well with such multipetal flowers like roses, peonies, fantasy poppies etc. So next time you are making a white flower try to add a little bit of colour to it and see the flower coming to life in your hands.
If you happen to own any Japanese flower making books go through them as they often show the process of dyeing in quite a detail. If not we sometimes have an opportunity to offer a limited number of these books on our website. To see what is available at the moment please click here.
If you would lite to receive more of useful information on how to make fabric and leather flowers in your inbox please feel free to subscribe to our newsletter
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At the very beginning of my career in fabric flower making I often made my pieces with 2 small loops on the back side as a way of finishing them. Here is how it looked
This finish is very versatile that is why it is dabbed a multifunctional, all-purpose or universal. Indeed, the flower can be stitched using the loops, it can be pinned with a stick pin or safety pins; with an alligator clip or a couple of bobby pins threaded through the loops it easily turns into a hairpiece etc.
Sometimes I still make flowers with this sort of finish although they are rare these days. Because it is not always clear how to attach a flower finished with 2 loops I have been asked by my customers for some clarifications. That is why I decided to write a blog post explaining in pictures what to do.
Here are the photos I have taken to show how to use the stick pin when attaching a flower. Usually my flowers come with a nice stick pin to be attached to a garment, a bag or a hat as a brooch.
So what one has to do is basically pierce an item of clothing from inside out, then thread the needle of the stick pin through both loops, then pierce the fabric again onto inside and there cover the sharp end with a little protector which is usually supplied with a pin. A small sized hat pin will work well too.
So this is how you attach a flower that has an all-purpose finish. I have prepared a two part article on most popular and useful finishes for fabric flowers which get sent via my newsletter. If you have not yet subscribed to it but would like to get our updates, useful articles and discounts please feel free to subscribe below by filling in your details [grwebform url=”http://app.getresponse.com/view_webform.js?wid=10297802&u=3lMQ” css=”on”/]
As a welcome gift from us you will get a chance
to flick thorough our new e-book that introduces
into the exciting world of fabric flowers as well as
provides some stiffening recipes for you to try.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT for MY CUSTOMERS
Since January 1st 2015, all digital goods (including electronic, telecommunications, software, ebook and broadcast services) sold across EU borders have been liable under EU law to EU VAT (a.k.a. IVA) charged in the country of purchase, at the VAT rate in that country (background information: http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/tax/articles/eu-2015-place-of-supply-changes-mini-one-stop-shop.html). So the prices for my downloadable tutorials that you can see are exclusive of VAT. If you live in one of the EU counties the appropriate VAT will be added to the price of the tutorial you are purchasing on checkout. At the end of the quarter the VAT amount that you’ve paid will go to your country’s tax office. If you are not from the EU, the price you see is the price you are going to pay, no VAT for you.
Thank you for understanding.
Please click here to have a look, purchase and immediately download the tutorials that are available now.
Few hours are left before the end of this year and this is the time to congratulate you my dear subscribers with the New Year 2015!
We have been very busy and productive this year at PresentPerfect Creations, we have accomplished a lot but we are planning to do even more in the coming year of 2015.
We took part in a number of contests of different levels, both art flower and millinery ones and were awarded in some of them.
More than 30 floral pieces by PresentPerfect Creations studio have been donated to good causes, we also held a Charity Sale in support of Ukrainian refugee children all the proceeds of which have gone onto purchasing some school necessities for kids in Ukraine.
More than 100 orders (including 2 large ones for silk leaves required to restore beautiful antique timepieces) have been taken, completed and despatched to all corners of the globe from Canada to Australia.
In 2014 we sold most pieces to our customers in the USA, Russia and the UK. About a third of all orders were placed for leather flowers.
The launch of our website www.presentperfectcreations.com in November was a very exciting event for us. More products and tutorials will be added to it but even now you are welcome to place your orders, read the blog and leave comments.
We have publicised a new tutorial on a leather gerbera flower, and in the coming year we are planning to issue new tutorials on both leather and silk flowers on a regular basis.
We are full of plans, ideas, projects and thoughts to be fulfilled in 2015. And we hope that you as well are looking forward to new and interesting things with optimism and impatience.
May the coming year be full of joy and laughter, pleasant surprises and new acquaintances for you. Spend more time with the people who are dear to you and remember that the Universe has good things in abundance for us, in fact anything we ever want and need.
We would like to thank you for being with us in 2014 and are looking forward to 2015 together with you!
And now to the New Wonderful 2015!!! It is time I had a glass of bubbly too 😀
Contests are a great moving force. Well, for me they are. I have been thinking about creating poppies out of leather for a while. So when I read about a millinery contest devoted to the First World War Centenary I immediately imagined a little leather hat with impressive red poppies and accepted the challenge.
Because I am only a budding milliner impeccably crafted flowers were supposed to become the focal point of my hat. To make the headpiece more unusual and the challenge more complicated I opted for leather instead of fabric as a main material.
I enjoyed blocking leather and working on this cocktail leather hat. The winners are going to be chosen by the middle of next week. Fingers crossed my leather cocktail hat will be noticed by the contest judges 🙂
If you would like to own a leather hat with poppies you could place your order here
If you wish to learn to make leather poppies yourself, you can now do it with the use of our brand new tutorial.
Leather poppy kits are available separately.
To read more about the tutorial and purchase please click here
A couple of months ago I was asked to give an interview to one of silk floristry schools I studied at (actually, my first one!). The idea was to talk about how my flower making skills have developed since then, where I get my inspiration from and what advice I can give to those who are thinking about joining the magical world of hand made blooms. Although some of you won’t be able to understand what I am saying as the interview is in Russian, but it is a good idea to put a name to a face I think 🙂
To watch the interview please use this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aso_oSdIVY&list=UU688eAbTzn_hvo2mKQebkmw
