Thursday, January 26, 2012

Final Post for Embellishment Party!! Sunni's here!





It's the final day of our Embellishment Party, and we have the fabulous Sunni with us today! You can catch her posting on her blog and also guest posting on other lucky bloggers' pages, so we are happy that she had time to work up something for our party! Especially since she had a tremendous snow-storm and a three day power outage to contend with, too!


Welcome, Sunni!



Hi! I'm Sunni from Love Affair with my Brother
 No, it's not what you think!! I love my sewing machine!!

I was so excited when Jacque asked me to come up with a fun purse accent. I brainstormed for a few days and finally figured out what to do! Then my power was knocked out by a winter storm for 3 days. It came back on and then went back out again!!
Jacque was very gracious and understanding, and generously gave me a few more days to be able to sew up my project. Thanks Jacque!!



Zippers and Silk. It's like "Leather and Lace", only updated!
These flowers are so easy, your friends will never believe it!

You will need :
a 24" or larger zipper
fat quarter of silk or satin
felt for backing
pin back
basic sewing supplies
glue (can also do this step by hand-sewing)



I made a template
 that you can print out and use or just use your own shape. I am using the middle size. Cut 12 petal shapes if you are making a 6 petal flower.


I chose a very industrial looking zipper. I wanted big teeth to stand out against the silk. Cut a bit of the seam allowance off of your zipper. It fits better with such a small petal and makes turning easier.


Clip every 1/4" or so to accommodate the curve of the petal. Don't clip all the way to the teeth. Just a little will be sufficient.


Sew the zipper on one layer at a time. Slow and steady wins the race here. The curve of the petal was so sharp that it was very difficult to sandwich it between both layers. Just sew it on the front, sandwich the zipper between the layers and sew directly on the first stitch line.
If you are an expert, just go ahead and sandwich the zipper between both petal layers and sew.


This is just before I added the second layer on top and sewed.


Assemble all 6 petals and turn right side out and press. Then plug in your glue gun. I am using a composition notebook so I don't get glue on my carpet!


Using a needle and strong thread, run a basting stitch from edge to edge of the first petal. Continue adding petals, one right next to each other. I was careful to make sure that my zippers all faced up at the sides.


Once all of the petals are basted onto the thread, tie it in a circle to create a flower shape. Glue a felt circle on the back to stabilize the petals and be a base for your pin back. Glue your pin back onto the felt.


For the center of the flower, you can make a zipper swirl. Just roll and glue, roll and glue until you are happy with it. Glue it onto the center.


You can also use the zipper pull as your flower center. Just be sure to pull your circle very tight! I liked the pull better because it creates a bit of an illusion. As if you could just unzip the flower! My oldest immediately started pulling on the tab trying to unzip it! 


Then just pin it on your purse, scarf, or headband!! I'm sure you could think of a bunch of places to use these flowers!


To Jacque and all your awesome readers: Thank you so much for having me and being so understanding for my "extended" deadline!



Thanks, Sunni, for such an awesome tutorial --- these have a lot of potential uses as embellishments! So glad that your power is back, and all is well. After all, the worst part of an outage is that your sewing machine won't run, right?!  (Grin)
If you enjoyed this tute, please leave Sunni a comment, and be sure to stop in at her blog --- there are lots of fun things happening there!


I'm also linking up with Making Rebecca Lynne's Thursday Think Tank linky party.....stop by there for some creative inspiration, OK?


Love,



8 comments:

  1. That is so cool!! I love that idea! And the tutorial was so easy to follow. Great job!

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  2. Great Zipper Flower! Glad Sunni got power back! Yikes!
    I'll hop over there too!
    Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Thank you so much for hosting! You made me get out of my comfort zone and think outside the box!!

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  4. Sunni,
    You have missed your calling!!! You are a totally awesome 3D embellisher... I love it and am definitely going to make these.

    Fantastic

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  5. I love your zipper flower!!! Thank you so much for sharing this with us Sunni!!!!

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  6. I just love this zipper flower and will defiantly add this to my to do list....Thanks for the tut on it and I will go thank Sunni.....

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  7. What a fun idea! Love the mixture of textures.

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