A Handmade Tale: Satin Flowers Tutorial

There are a few different ways to make satin flowers, and the craft blog world is full of 'em. This method is fairly easy and involves fire (more grown-up crafts should, in my opinion), so it's not for the kids to do on their own!

Round up the following:

Satin fabric. It must have polyester in it or bad things will happen. (Seriously, if it's cotton or silk the fabric will just burn instead of melt.)
Fabric glue or hot glue
Plastic shank button (ie, the ones without the holes through them)
Sharp scissors
Lighter or matches and a candle

If you don't have a stash of satin fabric, I have a criminal mastermind-ish way for you to get some for free. Most fabric stores will give you free samples of anything you want, and one strip is wide and long enough to make 3 or 4 flowers!

Score! Free fabric samples.

Here we go: Step 1

Cut circles out of the fabric.

To make my life easier, I folded a square of fabric into quarters and cut out a wedge. I used three different sizes; the largest 'petal' is about 8 cm in diameter and the smallest is 4 cm. I would recommend cutting at least 6 petals for each flower.

Step 2

Burn, baby, burn. Using a lighter, or a candle, heat the edges of the satin until they start to melt. The petals should start to curl a little. If you use a candle, be warned - the flame can get really hot. Don't scorch your petal!

Step 3

Working from largest to smallest, layer petals with a few drops of glue in the centre. Fabric glues and hot glue both work well. Firmly press the petal stack down for a few seconds and let dry.

Step 4

Cut the shank (the bottom of the button) off with sharp scissors. Or, if you have them, cuticle trimmers. That's what I used...it works VERY well.