Make a Fraying Rosette

I promised a tutorial on the rosettes I made for my Lime Sherbet Shirt, so here you go.  These really are extremely easy, fun and FAST.  Plus, it's a great way to use up fabric scraps. 


I love the messy, fraying look of these rosettes. 
To achieve that look, I didn't finish the edges of my fabric.  I grabbed some charcoal suiting scraps and cut 3 long strips (one for each flower) about 2 inches wide.  As you can see, my strip doesn't have a nice straight cut line, its uneven, and that's ok.  


I zigzagged the edges of the strip about 1/4 inch inside each edge to prevent the fabric from completely unraveling.  I want some fraying, but I also don't want the roses to fall apart too quickly and the zigzag stitch should keep the fabric from fraying past that line.  
Next, I set my stitch length to the longest setting and sewed down the length of my strip.  Then, pulling on one thread at one of the ends I was able to create a gather.  The more you pull, the more gathered the fabric becomes.


Next, fold the fabric in half lengthwise along the gathering seam.  Then, fold one end of the strip 1/2 inch. Continue to fold/roll the fabric, wrapping until you are happy with the size of the flower.

With a needle and thread, sew the roll together as you turn the fabric.


The back of the flower should look something like this   You could use a glue gun on the flowers instead of stitching them if they were going to be on something with minimal wear and tear.  Since I was making these for a shirt, I wanted to sew them together.   However, I made similar flowers for my HOPE letters a couple weeks ago (out of the same fabric scraps too!) that I glued together. 


 I sewed a pin onto the back of each rosette.  These can be purchased in the jewelry sections at Michaels, Joanns, Hobby Lobby , craft store of your choice.  They come in a large pack for just a few dollars.   I wanted pins on these flowers since I don't really want them going through the wash even though I sewed them rather than using the glue gun.

After sewing on the pins, I pinned them to my shirt. Simple as that.   Each flower only took me about 10 minutes.  I'm seriously thinking of grabbing my scraps stash when I sit down in front of the TV.  I could whip up a ton of these, and they would be fun to clip to headbands, purses, and scarves.


I will be linking up here  and here this week.