Friday, July 30, 2010

How To Make Die Cut Fabric Flowers

Today we have the fabulous Allie from Allie B Dallie here to show us a fun project using fabric & the Cuttlebug.  Allie has TONS of great cutting machine projects & since she has several different machines, there's something for everyone.  She's included a link in this post to her ultra helpful post on cutting fabric with the Cricut too.  Show us your stuff Allie!



I am so excited to be a guest here on Sew Can Do!!  I LOVE using die cut machines for all sorts of projects.  I own the Cricut Expression, Slice, and Cuttlebug.  I have cartridges and dies galore!  What I love about die cutting tools is that they are so easy to use and they make your crafts look FABULOUS!!  Here is super simple way to make 3D fabric flowers using the Cuttlebug and the Spellbinders Nestabilities Dahlia flower set.

What you need:

Cuttlebug
A,B & C plates
A piece of cardboard or 2 (I used one from a fruit snack box)
Fabric
Nestabilities or similar flower die sets
Scissors
Needle
Thread

Optional:
Button(s)
Fray Check
Fabric glue



Make your Cuttlebug "sandwich" in this order from the bottom up:
1)"A" plate
2) die with cutting ridges facing up
3) fabric
4) "B" plate
5) cardboard or something to add a little more pressure on the die.  This will make the image cut out more crisply
6) and finally your "C" plate



Cut the desired amount of images using the "sandwich recipe."  If your image wasn't completely cut out, carefully use scissors to cut the the pieces that tried to hang on. Use Fray check around the edges if you are concerned about fraying.  I happen to like the tattered look.  Layer the flowers from big to small.



Fold the layered flowers in half and sew right at the fold using an overhand stitch. 

 
Fold the flower in the opposite direction of the first row of stitches and sew the edge of the fold using the previous technique.   Notice I used a little clip to keep the layers in place.  These are very handy for this project. 

Keep the flower folded as it was in the last step and use an overhand stitch to sew around the FIRST row of stitches.  Make sure you are sewing through all of the layers.  This pinches the center together just a little bit more to give the flower a little more dimension.

                             
Open the flower up and you're done!!

                             


Sew on a button if you like.  If making this for a child, secure the button with lots of stitches and use fabric glue for extra security.  Also, if I'm putting the flower on clothing, I also glue the flower on the garment and sew using a lot of stitches.  The last thing I want is for a kid to eat the button...or flower for that matter!! :)

                             


These flowers are SO Cute on my daughter's shirt.  Notice I used two different fabrics on the other flower.
I hope this tutorial inspires you to make something beautiful!  FYI: you can do the same thing using the Cricut.  Just cut your images out using a 1/4 of an inch size difference for each layer.  To see my fabric cutting technique using the Cricut, check out my tutorial HERE


Thank you so much for checking out my guest post!  This was a lot of fun!!  For more inspiration,  please visit my blog at alliebdallie.com

Thank You!!
allie B

Thanks for sharing this Allie - I'm off to get going on some flowers of my own!



12 comments:

  1. Those are SO cute!
    (Thanks for adding my button! See you Sunday!
    smiles!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi im a new follower from friendly friday,and this flowers are really cute i love simple crafts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely! I love adorning clothes with those flowers, specially when they go all raggedy after washing.

    I cut them by hand as I don't have one of those newfangled thingamaboobies. I think I'll have to check about that next time I am stateside.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cute flowers! I'll have to add that to my list of crafts to try. I'm your newest follower from Friendly Friday Follow!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ca-ute! I'm gonna have to try this

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have a general question about the craftshare: am I only supposed to post photos of things I made following the tutorials - or can I post anything that I have made that will fit into the theme (like things that I have made a while ago for example)?
    Sorry, am a bit confused ...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi
    For the life of me I just CAN NOT get my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities to cut fabric and I'm trying plain printed cotton. It barely makes a mark and I've used your layout suggestion. What can I be doing wrong?
    Many thanks
    Riette (Red) Gasser
    PS: I'm trying it with the scalloped circles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have the same problem! I tried different fabrics but it only makes little mark.
      Did you get to figure it out?

      Delete
    2. Please see my comment below - personally I've had good luck with felt.

      Delete
    3. There's a tutorial by the gentleman crafter that shows you need to use card stock shims when cutting thin fabrics

      Delete
  8. I was wondering, I have the original red sizzix machine. I have tried to cut fabric before, but not to much success. By using the C plate, and the cardboard, you are adding depth to the sandwich to get a better cut. So if I used two of the white boards, instead of just the one, I could probably get my dies to work, right?

    Thanks in advance for any help you can give me on this.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Allie (the guest poster who did this tutorial) and I both have Cuttlebug machines so I don't know much about the plates for Sizzix, but it seems that using the cardboard adds a bit of height that still has some "give" to it which adding plates won't really do alone. This adds the right pressure to force the die through the fabric. I've always had good luck with plain felt not needing anything extra if you still have any trouble with regular fabric. Hope that helps!

    ReplyDelete

Getting your comments brightens my day. I'd love if you left one:)

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