Rose tutorial

Before showing you how I made the roses, I'd like to thank you all for your comments and appreciation. They did a lot for my morale, especially since when I feel tired, I tend to feel a bit down too. So thank you, my love goes to all of you!

Now, to answer some comments... Melissa, I did insert a link to the nylon sheer on Elingeria, it is in the underlining post, just at the beginning when I'm talking about Powerdry and nylon sheer.

Leslie, I think you're new to my blog (sorry if I'm mistaken) therefore welcome! You're perfectly right, point 3) in the underlining tutorial should read "right sides together" not "wrong sides together". Thank you for bringing that to my attention, it is now corrected.

Vicki, this underlining method supposes that you fitted the pattern first. You can cut larger seam allowances on the fashion fabric and underlining, but you cannot (or it supposes ripping most of your work off) adjust the darts. I'm lucky to have an average figure and patterns usually fit me more or less right out of the envelope. I only do a petite alteration and I'm fine. For this particular pattern however, there is a reason why there are wider seam allowances. I usually cut a size 6 in Big 4 patterns and many times I thought that I could even cut a size 4. This pattern was the first to come in size 4 so stupid me, I challenged my luck and cut directly a 4 (I don't trace patterns, I cut them directly, I know I shouldn't....). The 4 was a wadder, it fitted me but it was too tight for my liking. Therefore on this dress, I cut wider seam allowances to make sure I'm ok. I should indeed buy a new camera pretty soon but it hasn't been top priority for two reasons: 1) I'm spending a lot on sewing books, notions, gadgets, fabrics etc; 2) when I take detail pictures, those are really ok, only pictures of myself wearing the garment, taken with the self-timer are blurry.

And now, this is how I made the roses. First of all , it's not an original idea, I had a rose like that on a hair clip. I just unglued it and took it apart, copied the pattern and tried to figure out how it was made.

Download the rose pattern here. You'll see that there are two pieces, A and B, to be cut both from organza and silk or satin, on fold and on the bias. There is a third piece that I forgot to include in the pattern: piece C (for the ruffle) to be cut on grain, only in organza, it is a long strip, 6 cm wide ( approx 2 1/8") and 40 cm long (approx. 15 1/3"). I'm now looking at my pattern and am not sure if the foldline is clear, therefore the fold is the longer side of the trapeze on piece A and the longer side of the triangle on piece B.

For one rose: Cut piece A one time in organza and one time in silk. Cut piece B four times in organza and four times in silk. Cut piece C one time in organza.

Now, take the two pieces A (in organza and in silk), fold them and press. Don't press too much, you don't want a very crisp, dead fold. Put the two pieces together, the silk one on top of the organza one. Fold both corners and press like in the photo below:



Starting from one of the folded corners, roll the bud (piece A is the bud of the rose, pieces B are the petals) around itself until you're satisfied with the shape:



Tie a piece of thread around the bottom of the bud, to secure the shape:



Trim if needed, apply a bit of Fraycheck.

Now for the petals: again, fold all the pieces on the fold line and press in place. Put one piece in organza and one in silk together, with the silk on top.

Thread your needle and sew running stitches through one of the small sides of the first double (organza and silk) triangle. When you reach the top (peak?) of the triangle, place the second triangle on the first, with the right corner of the second triangle overlapping on the top of the first triangle. Continue with running stitches until you sewed together all the triangles. Hope the picture below speaks for itself, I'm not sure that my explanations are very clear.



Once you're finished, pulled the running/gathering stitches and form the shape of the rose around the bud, by wrapping the petals sewn and gathered together around the bud:



Gather more or less, as you wish. Once you're satisfied with the shape obtained, secure it in place at the bottom of the rose, with several hand stitches.

Fold piece C lengthwise and press in place. Run gathering stitches through one of the lengths. Gather forming a ruffle. Be careful, the ruffle is not a full circle, it is only a part of a circle, you need to leave clear the part where the two roses join, as below:



Glue a rose on each ruffle.



Glue the two roses on a piece of velvet ribbon for a belt or a choker. Sew them on a headband. Glue them on a hair clip or get crazy and sew dozens of them on the corsage or hem of a dress. Sky is the limit :)