Gathered Burlap Flower

I had a good bit of extra fabric left over after making the burlap pennant banner for my sister’s wedding, and since the whole thing is a DIY affair (not even a caterer or a florist!) I thought maybe I could help out a little more in the decorations department by whipping up some casual-rustic flowers (with the blessing of the bride, of course. Never presume you are being “helpful” for a wedding without clearing it with the bride!)

I wasn’t really sure where I was going with this, but I decided to start by trimming my fabric down to something more manageable to work with. I cut it into three roughly equal sections, figuring I could make one large flower out of each.

With the first section, I folded it in half lengthwise and cut several petal shapes out, like so.

Then I took a smaller piece of the same section and folded it in half, cutting more (smaller) petals.

With all my petals cut out, I warmed up my glue gun and applied a little dollop of hot glue to the center of each before pinching it together, creating a gathered effect.

Then I just started layering them on top of each other, securing each petal to the one below it with a dot of hot glue.

The large petals were so big that they were looking a little floppy, so I flipped the whole thing upside down and secured them to one another along the edges with some more hot glue. Then I flipped it back over and scrunched the whole thing in my palm from the bottom, adding glue here and there to help it keep a concave shape. I took more pictures but I was shooting one handed so most of them were just a blur of burlap. Hopefully you get the idea.

Now the shape was better, but the center was looking a little funky, so I rolled up a small piece of burlap and glued it shut.

Then I just secured it in the center with another dab of hot glue and voila, flower complete.

I only had time to make one before Jack woke up from his nap, but I texted Shannon a picture and she liked it so if I get time today or tomorrow I’ll make a few more. I can’t believe her wedding is this weekend! Hopefully I’ll remember to take lots of pictures to show y’all all her DIY details.

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