- Kanzashi Flowers How To

In mid-May 2011 I attended Quilt Market in Salt Lake City. Spring Market is a trade show for the quilting industry and is open to shop owners, wholesale vendors, and book and magazine publishers, among others. The general public is not allowed in.

One of the purposes of Market is to show off the latest and greatest tools, fabrics, books, and gadgets. I attended a demonstration of some new products from Clover. Something that caught my eye were the Kanzashi flower makers. I received a sample pack that included one of each type of flower maker and I started using up some fabric scraps making flowers at home while I watched Dr. Who and Torchwood on Netflix.

You can click on any of the photos to make them larger if you want to see the details.

Here are the basic steps to make the small five-petaled flower (although I use 6 petals because I like how it looks!)

1. Cut squares of fabric to fit the templates. The templates have suggested sizes, but I found that they wasted a lot of fabric, so I measured the templates, then cut squares to fit them. For this kind of flower you will need at least 5 squares. (Each template also tells you how many you need to make each flower.)

2. Fold each square in half and press. With striped fabrics like this, you can fold them horizontally or vertically. It will look great either way, although I’ve kept all the petals in one flower folded in the same direction.

3. Put the square into the template, with the fold of the fabric in the fold of the template. The plastic templates flex in the middle and snap closed at the top. Snap the template closed.

4. Trim the excess fabric from around the template. This is why I prefer to cut my squares as small as possible – I don’t want to waste fabric and a lot of it gets discarded.

5. Thread a hand-sewing needle, doubling the thread and knotting it. You will need the thread to be strong and doubling it ensures it won’t break later on. Beginning at 1 on the template, sew through the holes in the specified order. Your thread should never cross over the template itself, but only fall into the slots.

6. After sewing through all the holes, remove the template. For this particular template, your stitching pattern should look like this. Do not cut the thread.

7. As you finish each petal, hold the thread and push the petal toward the knotted end of the thread. The petal will automatically fold into the correct shape. Do not cut the thread as you go. Simply make each petal on the same length of thread and push them to the end.

8. Make 5 or 6 petals this way. The image below shows six petals finished. The flower is now ready to tie off.

9. Pull the thread through the first petal near the original knot. Pull the thread up firmly, to gather the petals. Take a couple of small stitches, making a knot to secure them. Do not cut the thread yet.

10. The center of each flower has to be decorated or finished somehow. I finished this one with two felt flowers. You can buy these in various sizes and colors at craft shops. You can also use decorative buttons or beads, or quilted yoyos. Pull the thread up through the center of the flower and secure the buttons. You can also secure it further with hot glue.

11. The back of each flower will look like this. It needs to be covered and finished somehow.

12. To finish the back of each flower, I chose felt circles and 1″ pin backs. This will turn each flower into a pin you can put on your lapel, purse, hat, etc. You could also use floral wire and tape to make a corsage or bouquet of Kanzashi flowers.

If you have something like a Cricut cutter, you can cut perfect circles, but mine are just hand-cut. Make one about 1 1/8″ across, and one about 1/2″ across.

13. Using a little hot glue, glue the larger felt circle to the back of the flower. Carefully press it in place and let it cool.

Run a short line of hot glue across the middle of the circle and press the pin back into the glue. Apply glue to the smaller circle and press it over the pin to cover the glue. Let dry.

14. Here is your finished flower!