Raggy flower tutorial

You will need...

Small amounts of hessian backcloth and good quality felt .

a rag-rug hook or small pliers (or probably even eyebrow tweezers will do the job).

strips of fabric, somewhere around a half an inch wide (ish)

Brooch/pin back.

Method...

Cut your fabric strips into approx 3" lengths, I've used one of these gadgets which makes it a lot quicker

a piece of 1" wood dowel with a bit gouged out, if you know any wood-cutterly types, it should be easy enough to make one.

You just wrap your strips of fabric around it and snip snip snip through the channel.

Either that or just roughly guess the length, it doesn't really matter.

Draw a circle onto your hessian, bearing in mind that these flowers get big - my outside circle has a diameter of 2.5" and I've ended up with a flower almost twice that size (the one I made last week turned out enormous and very heavy, more suitable as a paperweight in fact).

then, mark smaller circles as a guide if you want to use more than one colour.

Before cutting out, stitch around your outside circle 4 or 5 times- this is very important, otherwise it will fray like buggery, and then cut a good half an inch away from your stitch line .I cut it far too close to the stitch line on this one, but just about got away with it.

Now, using whatever tool you've managed to find, work from the centre outwards, inserting your hook and pulling the fabric through, like so

This method is explained far better here , under the rag rugger link on the left, (this is also where I got all of my equipment from). Leave just a couple of hessian strands between each strip and work in circles out towards the stitched edge.

The back will look something like this,

Cut a circle of felt to the same size as your hessian circle and stitch together. Apply your brooch back and there you go... easy.

OR...

If you can't get your hands on any of that equipment, just cut two circles of felt- one slightly bigger than the other, and mark the smaller one as before ( if desired)

then, giving your fabric strips a little twist in the middle, stitch onto your felt pieces, again keeping the strips nice and close together.

Work from the centre, outwards.

Trim the larger felt circle to the same size as the smaller one and blanket stitch together to give a nice neat edge. Attach your pin/brooch back as before.

This second method is just as easy and quick as the first, and both are fun to do . The hook technique is particularly fun for children to do as there are no stabby sharp needles involved. Molly has made quite a few of these now, she loves to choose the fabrics, in fact she choose the colours for the second flower. Light pink, dark pink, orange. YUM.

Do let me know if none of this makes sense, I don't mind, I'm used to people telling me I don't make sense.

I'm off to the shops now, wearing my new corsage to brighten up a very grey English day.

Ta-ra chucks.

Comments

[Kate]

Fabulous tutorial - thanks for doing it!

[jenny vorwaller]

ohhh!! so lovely!! **

[chocolate]

Oh, thanks for your teaching!! You are so talented!!

[minoute]

I discover your blog a few days ago and i love it!! And these flowers are totally beautiful!! I want to try for my scrapbooking! thanks a lot to share!!
Béa

[Monica]

genius. Move over Einstein.

[carolyn]

Wow, brilliant, love it. Thanks so much for this.

[cecile]

Thank you so much for showing us how we can make such beautiful flowers!!!!!

[Heels]

I probably made the search harder than it needs to be, but I couldn't find the raggy making stuff here in the U.S. online, so I just bought a kit from a U.K. seller!

It's going to be a Christmas gift for my daughter. Love the tutorial.

[Dee]

Thanks for the tutorial. I just finished one!

[Sarah Day]

Thank you so much for the tutorial!

[Sarah Jane]

Thank you so much! Your flowers are beautiful and the instructions much appreciated.

[Christine]

Thank you, the flowers are very pretty. I like the colours and the tutorial is great. I am sure it would also work with some linen (one can always pull out some threads) and a crochet hook. Will definitely make one. Bettsi, that's a great idea to give them as teacher gifts!!

[Verito]

ohhhh thanks so much!! your tutorial it's great! your flower ara so yummy!

[caro]

GREAT IDEA!!!
I LOVE IT!!!

[Kay]

Will you just stop being so talented please? You are giving your sister a BIG inferiority complex. Really, I have no artistically talented bits in me. Looks like you got the entire share. One of the comments above said something about your tidy studio. Ha ha ha ha!!!! You have to see it - it is amazing, but not in a tidy way - but a good way nontheless.

[Cassi]

Another wonderful tutorial Lyn! Can't wait to try it :)

[Simmyb]

Jeez - what a fantastic idea. I'm rag rugging at school and it NEVER even occurred to me to make corsages! Maybe I'll get the kids to have a go. Thanks a lot for the tut though. By the way it's Divali today and I'm wishing everyone a Happy Divali.

[boudficelle]

thank you very much for this tutorial. I have see your beautiful Raggy flowers and now i can try do one

[marisa]

BEAUTIFUL!!!

[mamaloo]

Have you got a flickr group so people can post their own pics of corsages they've made? You deffo should! I'll be blogging my corsage later. Spent the afternoon on the couch making it!

[Coryn]

Thank you, thank you, for this. I didn't actually imagine they were made like that. I have a bag that definitely needs one of these.

[katie]

fabulous! another christmas gift idea - thank you for this generous tutorial! quick simple and easy to understand.
take care

[richenda]

i love all your stuff
i tried to make one using back hessian, i didnt have the right colour to draw the circles, so i stitched them and it looked sooo cool that i didnt put the fabric scraps on it
had to make another one for the corsage

[Stéf]

Thank you so much for this tuto ! I think I will soon try myself ! See you soon !;-D

[scribblesnbits]

Thanks for the tutorial! I must add this to my "Urgent to Make" list!