Zipper Flower Tutorial

So as you may remember from my last post, this past weekend I bought 2 pounds of zippers for $4.  When zippers are that cheap, you can afford to play with them.  So I had bought some metal ones, and decided to make this.  And now, out of the generousness of my heart, I am going to share the tutorial with you! 

 

Zipper flower by me, bag by Vera Bradley

Materials needed:

~1-20-ish inch long metal zipper, shorter if you want a smaller flower, longer if you want a larger flower 

~Low temp* hot glue gun.
~Scissors

~Fabric scrap big enough to cover the back of your flower in the same color as your flower.  I used broadcloth because it's what I had handy.  Felt, cotton, canvas, or other fabrics are fine. 

~Pin back, barrette, headband, or anything else you want to glue it to (not completely necessary)

*I highly recommend the low temp since you will be holding some pieces together and I got glue on my fingers more than once. 

To start, cut the ends off of your zipper and unzip it to take the pull off so all you are left with half a zipper like so.  You'll acutally have two half zippers.

You might not want to use your fabric shears for this.

Fold over one end of your zipper about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch and glue in place  

 Now start wrapping the zipper around this center, glueing in place along the way. 

Now we'll look at how to make a little loop without a big hole.  Find where you want the center of the loop to be and put a small dot of glue there

Then mash together and hold in place until the glue sets.  If you don't hold it in place, you'll end up with glue showing, and trust me, it is noticeable.  When it's dry, it should look like this:

 Now glue that down as you're wrapping.  Just keep wrapping however you see fit.  You can double back too if you like.  But wait.  Uh oh.  Looks like we're running out of zipper.  That's ok.  We can fix that.

Just glue the end of the zipper down somewhere on the back.  Like this.

Then start the other half of the zipper by glueing it to the back.  No one will ever be able to tell the difference.

So I'm done with my flower here.  It's got some loops and a couple of double backs.  It's mostly symmetrical (which I like, but you don't have to do it that way).  I've got a little piece of zipper left that I just don't want to use.

I'll just glue that little stinker down and trim off the ends.

 Well dang.  Now I have some holes.  The big ones like this I'll just glue down a little better.

The little ones like this will need a little something something extra.

That's where the matching fabric scraps come in.  Cover the back of your flower in a few strips of glue and then stick it down to the fabric.  If your fabric is thin, like mine, make sure you don't accidentally glue it to your work surface.

 Now just trim off the excess fabric on the back, but be careful not to cut your flower. 

The trimming doesn't have to be perfect as long as you aren't going to display that side of your art.  Just functional.

There!  The little hole isn't so noticeable.

I decided that I wanted mine to be a pin, since I was going to pin it to my old black Vera bag.  So I just glued a pin back to it.  This is the part where you can glue it to whatever you like, or nothing at all.  Just your preference.

Now just pull off all the little hot glue cobwebs and there you have it!  Something cute to put on a bag, or sweater, or t-shirt, or hairband, or...whatever!  The possibilities are endless!   

I would LOVE to see some of your interpretations of this little flower.  If you make one, upload a picture to my Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/evanbeckyfanpics/ so we can all see!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I'm back again after a blogging hiatus.  I surprisingly got almost everything done on my to-do list from the last post.  I didn't get the set of letters cut out for Emma's Harry Potter scrapbook, but after cutting the letters out for her card, I decided that it would be better to just invite her over for a scrapbooking party.  So, here's what I've been up to:

Emma's Birthday card and envelope.  She didn't want to open the envelope and ruin it, so it was surgically opened with a pocket knife.

My mother-in-law's second flower.  I put a leaf on this one because the yarn I used wasn't as big as for the black one.

And Hubs took some pictures of me modeling my crochet flower headbands so I can get them in my Etsy shop.  I'm not real sure why, but I like this picture. 

I didn't get the skirts taken up, but i figured that having clean skivvies was more important.   

Freebie Tuesday?

It's just barely still Tuesday anyway.  I've determined that it's been waaaaay too long since I've had a Freebie Friday, so I made today Freebie Tuesday.  Plus I just trying to get stuff marked off my to-do list.  I know, ulterior motive.  Anyway, today's freebie is an SVG and JPEG file of a daisy.  They look especially cute with a brass brad stuck through the center and fastened to another piece of paper, or a lab coat, whichever.  Here you go!  These are Google Docs Files.  To download the SVG, click "File" in the upper left hand corner and then click "Download Original."  To download the JPEG, just click "Download" in the upper left hand corner.  Again, please let me know if these don't work.

Daisy SVG

Daisy JPEG

Have fun crafting!

Welcome to my Blog + Friday Freebie!

Hi friends and welcome.  This is my first attempt at blogging in a very long while, so bear with me!  I've started this blog in order to get some of my craftiness out.  No, not the sort of craftiness that has me pulling tricks on friends, the kind of craftiness that makes me churn out little bits of this and that that I have made with my hands.  I have been a crocheter for going on 12 years now and have been scrapbooking when I get the chance for about 5 years.  I just recently got a Cricut with the Sure Cuts a Lot software and have been unstoppable!  I'm hoping to venture out into sewing after my birthday in May (I have asked for a Brother sewing machine).  We'll see where else all my craftiness takes me.  In the meantime...

Friday Freebie!

I have made a mini crochet pattern for all of you out there who would be interested. 

*WARNING*  I taught myself to crochet and thus my technique is not perfect.  I crochet tight.  For example, if a pattern says to use a size H crochet hook, I use a J to get my gauge right.  Luckily for this pattern, gauge isn't really important.  I aslo use American terms.

Tiny Crochet Flowers

The flowers in this picture were made using embroidery thread using a size D crochet  hook.  I like embroidery thread because you only have to buy a tiny bit of a bright color.  On the other hand, since it is made to unravel, I don't recommend it for beginners.  These flowers can also be made larger or smaller depending on the yarn/thread and hook size that you use.

Stitches used:

Magic Ring--If you need to know how to do a Magic Ring, go here -->PlanetJune's Magic Ring Tutorial This is where I learned how to do one

SC=Single Crochet

SS=Slip Stitch

DC=Double Crochet

Round 1:  SC12 in Magic Ring, SS in first SC to join ring

Round 2:  *3 DC in next SC (do not CH 2 like normal), SS in next SC* 6 times.  Fasten off.  Weave in ends.

There.  Wasn't that easy?  These little flowers work up quick (about 15 min) and are great extras for scrapbook pages and other embellishing. 

Or if you still don't have time to make them, I sell them in my Etsy shop, $2.00 for six.  I do custom color orders too.  My Etsy Shop