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Sunday, November 18, 2012

Creating Realistic Flowers




I have been working on the Hibiscus the past few days. After dying my fabric for the petals for the colored quilt, I cut 100 petals. I made 50 yellow petals and 50 white petals, then fused them together so I ended up with  the petals for 50 flowers.  I also cut felt that will be stitched to the back of each flowers petal to help me get more dimension to the petal.  I finished making the the style  for each of the ten flowers. Here is a couple of pictures of the different parts of a Hibiscus flower.
I will be painting the petals and getting them stitched today. I have to do one petal at a time. It is time consuming but I will get the dimension   I 'm looking for  to give the flower a more realistic look.  I made 10 styles. I will paint and bead each before attaching it to the petals.
Here are some photos of the flower parts I have finished up to this point.
These are the first petals I cut. I cut 50 yellow and 50 white. In the next photo you can see the curled edge of the petals and a few of the styles. After I curl the edges of each of the petals I use Fray Check to keep the unraveling.
I use heavy duty spray starch to help me get a curled edge for the flower petals. I spray the edge of each one, then use my fingers to curl the edge. Then I let them dry for a few hours to set up.
 In the third photo I have all the petals laid out  I cut along with the styles,and flowers buds. I have cut and rolled 14 flowers buds which I think I will dip in diluted glue to help them stiffen before I add the calyx.
I pulled out the fabric for the calyx but haven't been able to  make  the calyxes yet. I need to make a pattern for the calyx and then I will make 14 of them. After that I will start to work on the leaves. In the last photo I took a picture of one of the flower patterns and some of the first petals I cut.
  Well I'm off to start on the next step in making the flowers I need to  paint and to stitch the petals today and hopefully get a design for the calyx made.