Pageant Hair Styles for Girls: Handmade Silk Flower Pins

Monday, November 30, 2009

Handmade Silk Flower Pins

A cloth flower pin adds a fresh and elegant touch to a simple top.

You can create your silk floral pins to be whimsical or sophisticated, giving them as gifts or using them to accent your wardrobe. A staggering array of colors and kinds of flowers give you an exciting array of floral pin materials to choose from. The simplest option is to craft your own silk floral brooch using the realistic flowers you find in a craft or hobby shop. Another option available to you is to sew together a silk ribbon to create a voluptuous bloom for you to pin on your shirt, blazer or purse.

Silk Flower Brooch

Browse through the copious array of artificial flowers for sale at a craft store, and you will find yourself astonished at the variety of realistic cloth flowers. Select your favorite; you likely will be able to get more than one bloom from a stem of flowers. Remove the flower from the stem and attach it to a brooch pin with a hot glue gun. Cover up the area where the pin meets the flower by gluing a small piece of silk, felt, ribbon, or a fabric leaf.

Silk Ribbon Floral Pin

While you are at the craft store, you can also pick up silk ribbon to try your hand at sewing a silk flower from scratch. Select silk ribbon that is 2 inches wide, and purchase thread of the same color. Fold the ribbon in half, and sew down the two ends with a needle and thread. Next, make large, wide stitches along the bottom of the fold where the top and bottom of the ribbon meet each other. Gently pull the thread tight through the ribbon, which will cause the silk to "gather." Twirl the gathered fabric into a spiral, starting with the un-sewn ends. Complete the silk brooch by sewing together the rosette shape at its back, and gluing on a pin to its back.

Silk Fabric Brooch

Another silk floral brooch option is to trace a floral shape directly onto the back of a piece of silk fabric. Cut out multiple copies of the flower shape, and stack them one on top of the other so that the petals alternate. Sew a few beads or a button onto the center of the flower, and glue a pin to the back of the flower. Hide the pin's backing by gluing a small square of foam, fabric or felt over the pin.

Silk Petals Floral Pin

Draw a small rounded heart shape on a piece of card stock paper and cut it out for use as a flower petal pattern. Trace the petal shape onto silk fabric, and cut out the petals. You will need no fewer than eight petals in order for your flower to look full. Place a small spot of glue on the base of the heart shape for one petal, and lay the base of another petal directly opposite of it. Place another spot of glue on top of the two petal bases, and lay a third petal on top of the glue. Complete one layer of petals by placing a third spot of glue on top of the three petal bases, and glue the fourth petal into place. Repeat this process until you have glued on all of your petals. Glue pearls in the middle of the flower, and glue the pin on the back of the flower with a piece of fabric to hide where the pin meets the fabric.