Rosettes Galore...I'm Back!

My wonderful husband fixed my trusty old desktop computer today since the old hard drive went kaput. Thankfully, we didn't lose much information, but my beloved Adobe Suite is gone, as are my fonts and (gasp!!) my 100+ bookmarks to sites with projects on my to-do list. I'm still adjusting to editing photos without Photoshop. Can you recommend a great (free) photo editing software? What do you use?

Even though my blog has been a little vacant over the last few days, my project list has been full! I've sewn tiered tote bags, made personalized photo necklaces, thrown a surprise baby shower for a friend and made a million of the wonderful little rosettes pictured above. They've been my go-to for decorating gift wrap (see first picture), as a whimsy addition to presents and as general decor for parties.

They are simple to make, albeit a little time consuming, and very versatile. Today I'll share a tutorial for my version of a basic rosette, and end with a rosette garland how-to. Enjoy!

Choose your fabric. Knits work great, because they seem to give the flowers some bounce. I used plain, cheap cotton for these rosettes. Find a template for your circle. I wanted small, dainty rosettes so I used a thread spool as a guide. I've also made very large ones for other projects so any size will work.

Trace and cut out. I used fabric pencil here so it would easily rub off if I missed a spot. Pen works great as well, just be sure to cut off all the markings. They'll be readily visible with this project.

Now you've got circles. Cut out a ton. I'm serious. You'll be surprised how many you'll go through.

Take one circle and fold it in half once.

One more time. Now it's in fourths.

This is the part that's a personal opinion. I use needle and thread. I like it better. I think it offers a more secure hold. However, I know some crafters are all about the hot glue. If that's easier for you, it should work just fine, you'll just need to add another step.

If you're using needle and thread, knot one end and do a simple stitch, pushing the needle through all four layers (at the base of the fold, or the point of the folded circle) and back a few times. I found it easiest to not cut my threads after one layer. Instead, I would stitch one circle, then push my needle through all four layers of the next folded circle, slide that circle into position next to the first folded circle, and repeat the stitching process. After the last circle is secured, I knotted off my thread and cut the excess.

To create this layered look, I used four circles each, sewing the first two folded circles side by side, so that the long folds were butting up to each other. (Not making sense? OK, put your hands out in front of you, palms up. Imagine each hand is a folded circle. Your fingertips are the ruffly part, your wrist is the point of the fold. Place your hands together so that only your pinkies and wrists are touching, but your hands aren't overlapping. K. Did that make better sense?) For the last two circles, I sandwiched the first two, and aligned all four points of the fabric. So now you've got two "petals" side by side, a third centered in the front, and a fourth centered in the back. Now click on my contact button at the top to send me hate mail about how confusing those directions were.

If you're hot gluing, you'll need to cut out circles so that you can glue all of your "petals" in place. Keep in mind that more than four petals makes for a fluffier, fuller rosette. Add as many as you want until it looks like what you had envisioned.

Since I was hosting a red, yellow and brown themed baby shower last week, I took these rosettes and turned them into a garland.

To create a rosette garland, cut out squares from any fabric. I chose flannel because it was sturdier than cotton, and I had some on hand.

Hot glue the flannel square to the back of each rosette.

Then hot glue the rosettes to a coordinating ribbon at measured intervals. I chose 5" spacing and 3/8" ribbon.

And a rosette garland you'll have...

The mommy-to-be can use it as nursery decor, and we used this as a table rubber around the cake and buffet plates at the shower.

I'm so glad to be back! Thanks for sticking around. Watch for more tutorials coming up!

So, any *free* photo editing software you recommend?


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