Tip-toe through the tulips with me...

 I made up a tutorial for this basket of tulips I am taking to the CreativFestival in Toronto tomorrow.

But, I am also sharing it here, adding some (hopefully helpful) photos. 

These are a nice project to do with kids. They are not hard to do, use up fabric scraps, don't take forever, and introduce some cool sewing concepts.

I can see a nice bouquet for Mom or Grandma for Mother's Day. You can download the patterns from here:

The patterns should print out in actual size. Make sure your printer is set to "no scaling."

Enjoy!

Gathered at the bottom

Gather:

Fabric for the blooms

Fabric for leaves

Small dowels or wooden skewers

Glue

Embroidery floss

Fiber fill

Paint to match leaves

Paint brush

How to:

Fold the material for the leaves in half, right sides together. Place a piece of thin batting, underneath the leaf fabric. Trace the leaf pattern on the top of this fabric sandwich. Pin all the layers together. Using a small stitch length, sew along the traced outline. Cut out, adding ¼ inch seam around the stitching. Clip all curves, turn right side out. Press.

Using embroidery floss, sew a line of running stitches up the centre of each leaf. Pull gently to create a natural looking curve, but do not gather the leaves tightly.

Paint skewers to match the green leaves. Allow to dry.

Glue in the skewer

For the tulip buds, cut out petal shapes from the pattern provided, adding a ¼ inch seam allowance. Sew three petals together, starting at the point indicated. Clip curves, turn right side out. Turn under a ¼ inch hem, press. Run a line of gathering stitches at the hem. Fill bud with fiber fill, pull up gathering stitches, but do not knot. Dab the end of skewer in glue and insert into bottom of the bud. Now, pull gathers tightly. Allow the glue to dry slightly and pull the gathers tightly against the skewer. Tie off. Allow the glue to dry.

For tulip blooms, cut out the rectangle pattern, adding ¼ seam allowance. Turn under ¼ inch hem along the long sides. Press.

With right sides together, join the short ends, using a ¼ inch seam allowance.

Turn right side out.

Run a line of gathering stitches along the bottom of the bloom hem. Dab the end of skewer in glue and insert into bottom of the bud. Now, pull gathers tightly. Allow the glue to dry slightly and pull the gathers tightly against the skewer. Tie off. Allow the glue to dry.

Tack tops together

Fill with fiber fill. You want plump blooms that have body, but don't make them too firm. It's harder to finish the flower if you do.

Tack one long side the adjacent side, pulling tightly. Add a few tacking stitches. On the opposite side, repeat the  tacking stitches, pushing down the fiber fill if necessary. Finger press to form neat points. 

Run a line of glue along the skewer, attach the leaves by folding them in half over the skewer. Use a clothes pin to keep the leaf folded around the skewer if necessary. Allow to dry.

 

The tulips can be displayed in a basket, a vase or even a re-purposed canning jar. I did a mixture of buds and blooms -- just to make the bouquet interesting. Mine are displayed in a small basket with a bit of dry floral oasis hot glued to the bottom.