Playing with Fire

edit: This post has been hit over 1,000 times. If you use this tutorial and post the results on your blog, please do me the courtesy of posting a link back here. Thankyou!

How much fun can a girl have with a candle and some silky fabric I ask you?

I was inspired by the beautiful poppies and roses in my garden - they are my favourites, red ofcourse, and I really wanted to make some pretty flowers to embellish some things i'm working on. I had a definite picture in my mind, but my last pathetic and ugly attempts were so horrid I gave up trying to sew them.

But then I remembered somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind, a trick with synthetic fabric and flame.

What you do is cut some circles, no need to be perfect, or you can cut rough flower shapes, or even petal shapes. Then you hold them near the flame - just near enough so that the edges curl, and you keep turning the shape until the whole edge is singed. Then you sew together in any formation you like, and add beads or buttons for the middle.

I've used organza for the red flowers and a silky lining fabric for the black ones. You can't use natural fibres for this otherwise you will set fire to them! Only synthetic fibre works because essentially what you are doing, is melting it!

Each fabric behaves differently over the flame so you have to practice and experiment, which is half the fun, and I can tell you ... once you start, you can't stop!