leather camellia brooch

JANUARY’19 Flower of the Month: CAMELLIA

Welcome to 2019's new monthly section devoted to the Flower of the Month.
In here, taking into account the seasonality and other factors I will be presenting you with some of my best flower making tutorials and tutorial bundles at ... the best prices. silk camellia
For the month of January I have picked out for you the Camellia flower. And, since camellias come in different shapes and sizes TWO Camellia tutorials are awaiting you this month (the offer is valid till 31 January 2019)

If there are any seasonal fabric flowers, this metallic fabric backed velvet version must be one of them.

The detailed step-by-step tutorial reveals the secret behind smoothly shaped petals arranged in a near perfect geometric flower shape.

Rumors have it that Chanel's camellias have 26 petals. My version features 33 of them. It is a little stylised version of the camellia flower with its near perfect geometric shape and a flat back, which makes it ideal in many projects ranging from jewellery to millinery. You can make it oversized like I did with the black one in the photo collage below and turn it into a hairpiece. Small camellias will look great as shoe clips, small stick pins or corsages. This flower can be made with a wide number of fabrics (think heavy satin, denim, linen, cotton, tweed etc) as well as LEATHER . In the tutorial you will learn how to work with velvet, which can be challenging if you have not tackled it before.

 

As the flower of the month you can now purchase the tutorial and the tutorial+kit bundle with a discount (-15% and -20% respectively). All discounts have already been applied on the website. Please click on the images below to find out more and purchase.

Velvet Camellia Tutorial + DIY kit

Velvet Camellia Tutorial

fabric camellia tutorial
In case if you are after a more realistic delicate looking camellia flower, my detailed VIDEO tutorial on camellia japonica might be what you need

silk camellias

Camellia flowers are beautiful but very short lived. Now you can create your own camellia corsage, hairpiece or a hat trim with these striking blooms in the colour of your choice to enjoy throughout the year.
For realistic colour combinations visit a garden with flowering camellias, go online or browse through a gardening book.
The video tutorial will guide you through the process of dyeing the fabrics, shaping all the parts with millinery tools and assembling your flowers together.
To make your delicate camellia japonica flowers use silk or rayon satin with its smooth slightly shiny surface that so much resembles the real camellia petals.
As the flower of the month you can now purchase the VIDEO tutorial and the tutorial+kit bundle with a discount (-15% and -20% respectively). All discounts have already been applied on the website. Please use the buttons below to find out more and purchase.

Fabric Camellia VIDEO tutorial + DIY kit

Fabric Camellia VIDEO Tutorial

I hope you will enjoy making your fabric (and leather!) camellias this January!
pink flowers buttonhole

3 ways to dye silk petals to achieve the intensity of colour

silk painting brushesLet’s talk about the ways to dye silk petals to achieve intense colours.

If you, like me, do a great deal of custom work, you are
constantly presented with an issue of matching colours. Whilst mixing dyes to match colours is a task in itself, today I wanted to talk about the ways to achieve an intense colour when dyeing petals/ leaves. If you prefer to use natural hair brushes specially designed for dyeing silks and other fabrics check this horse hair painting brush set.

how to dye silk petals
The FIRST, probably the most obvious way, is to prepare a very concentrated dye. If you work with powdered dyes, use more powder and less water to dilute it. For liquid dyes, again, add a small amount of water or none at all to achieve a deeper colour. When you colour match it is always a good idea to prepare some fabric swatches (using the same fabric that you are going to dye).After you have mixed the dye apply some on them. Then let the swatches dry before comparing the colours. Remember that a wet swatch will invariably be more intensely coloured.silk orchid tutorial

 

 

THE SECOND way is good to use when the first one has not quite worked out. You simply paint your petals again to achieve the intensity of colour.

You can do it whilst they are still slightly wet, i.e. have not dried out completely. If they are completely dry, you need to moisten them again and paint as normal.
how to dye silk petalsTHE THIRD method is the one I probably use more often than others. The trick is to let petals or foliage dry on a non porous surface like glass or plastic. This method works especially well for velvet and similar thick fabrics that absorb a lot of water and dye and then lose the dye drying on a newspaper. I paint my petals and leaves as normal on a newspaper. Then I transfer them onto a piece of plastic with a pair or tweezers careful enough not to ruin the colouring work (see the photo on the left)
Once the fabric parts are on plastic, I often add some more dye with a brush where it is most needed and then leave them to dry completely. Please note that drying this way will take considerably more time (especially for velvet) than drying on a newspaper. But the result is worth it.

There are a couple of other ways for achieving intsilk camellia tutorialense colours when dyeing fabric, but we will talk about them another time.
I hope you’ve found this information useful and applicable to your projects. In case if you need more information on dyeing parts of fabric flowers I recommend you watch my detailed video tutorial on Silk Camellia Corsage . In it I explain the whole process of dyeing different parts of a silk flower step by step.
For more detail on this silk camellia video tutorial  simply click on the picture of the cover to the right.
Have fun creating!
Introduction to fabric flower making ebook
P.S. 

If you have not got a copy of our Introduction to Fabric Flower Making ebook, you can purchase one HERE. The ebook will introduce you to the materials and tools you will require for making flowers. You will know what dyes and brushes are good to use, which silk to buy and how to prepare the fabric for flower making.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silk Passion flower tutorial