Lovely Lace Flower

My cousin Meredith is getting married in June, so of course we had to have a pre-wedding party (ok, really it was a shower). In my family, a wedding, is a big deal. The Sewell clan loves a reason to have a party, any reason. Really, we just love being together, and anyway we can be together ususally turns into a party. Two weekends ago, my Aunt Lorry, threw a couples shower for Meredith and Phil. After purchasing my gift, I went home and didn't think much about it, until the night before the party. It was 9p.m., and I needed to wrap that present. So I went searching for wrapping paper. In the closet I had Christmas, Birthday, Graduation papers. None of those will work. So I started prowling my house, trying to be clever.

In my house, I like to paint walls.(There is a point to the rabbit trail, I promise!) Alot! I've owned my house a little less than 2 years, and painted the basement 3 times (thankfully, I've settled on colors I like, I don't see repainting it in the near future any time soon). When it comes to painting my Father is a stickler for details and edges, and he instilled this in me, to an extent. One thing that I use while painting is the brown craft paper on rolls, that you use to make clean edges and protect the floor. I think you can see where this is going....I wrapped the gift with that brown paper.

But it wasn't enough, so I dug through my craft tub, and came up with a spool of wide ribbon in chocolate brown. After wrapping it around the package, it still looked kind of plain. So, while digging through the craft box some more, I came across some white lace scraps, and white felt.

After seeing this, an idea popped into my head. Since the white was too harsh against the brown, I brewed up a strong pot of tea, and let the pieces soak for about an hour.

After letting them soak, I pulled them out, wrung them out. The problem with felt is it holds alot of moisture. So I put each piece in between two pieces of paper towels, and rolled them up as tight as possible. This helps get moisture out.

I did this with the lace as well. I then popped them into the dryer for about 30 minutes. Now they are a lovely light tan, kind of antique-y looking.

After they were dried, I traced out some flowers and got to work. I traced out one extra big flower, folded the felt in 1/2 and cut out 2 flowers at once.

 I tried my best to cut inside the traced lines so that they didn't show on the finished product. On the second sheet, I traced out 6 flowers of the same size and cut them all out. This actually turned out to be one more flower than I needed, so really you need 5 flowers. I also cut out one flower, same shape, but significantly smaller.

I then traced two flowers onto the lace. This was a little difficult, but I found using pencil, with a piece of paper underneath allowed me to see the marks.

After getting all my pieces cut out I was ready to assemble the flower.

First I took my two large flowers, and placed it so the petals could all be seen. I then layered four scrap pieces of lace, and one mid-size flower.

I put a few stitches in the middle, and then began layering in the fun petals. First you take one mid-size petal and fold it in half...

Then you fold it in half again, so you end up with this.

Then you stitch it on, so that you end up with four all the way around.

After doing this, do the same with the lace flowers and layer them in.

Finally, add in the smallest flower and your pearls.

And your done. I chose to hot glue a pin clip to the back of mine. This will allow Meredith to re-use the flower as much as she wants. I actually loved it so much, that I made a second one for me. I wore it in my hair on Easter Sunday.

As always, thanks for stopping by.