It's still blazing hot outside, but it's September so that means fall! Sunflowers are a good transitional item for early fall. I'm going to share a tutorial for How to Make Sunflowers from Thrift Store Shirts.
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Anyway, since I don't have sunflowers from my garden to decorate with, I figured out a way to make them from shirts I got at the thrift store.
How to Make Fabric Sunflowers on Vintage Rulers
First of all, grab some shirts from your husband's or dad's closet get some at the thrift store. The thrift store is the perfect place to get items for your crafting because it is recycling done at it's very best! Thrift stores are actually getting a little pricey, but you can still find great deals with a little searching.
Supplies Needed to Make Sunflowers
- shirts from the thrift store or fabric
- bowl or other round object
- disappearing fabric marker
- sewing machine
- quilt batting
- poly-fil stuffing
- vintage rulers or new wooden rulers
- glue gun
- tea
Lay the shirt on a flat surface and use a bowl or another round item to trace a circle onto a piece of the shirt. Fold a piece of the shirt in half, pinning it together and cut two circles at the same time. I like to cut them at the same time because I'm all for making things easier on myself!
Cut 2 pieces of batting the same size as the shirt. Stack them together with the shirt fabric on the outside. It's a circle sammich with the shirt fabric on the outside and the batting on the inside.
Trace a smaller circle for the inside of the sunflower, fold it over (the same as the yellow fabric) so you can cut 2 pieces of fabric for the center of the sunflower.
Place the sunflower fabric stack on your sewing machine and sew through all of the layers around the edge of the inside circle, leaving a 1-2 inch opening. Shove stuffing through the hole, spreading it around and filling the center as full as you'd like it. Then put the sunflower back onto your machine and finish sewing the circle closed. You will have the squish the stuffing around to fit the sunflower underneath the pressor foot of your machine, but it's totally doable.
Cut slits into the yellow fabric with sharp scissors. Go through all of the layers until you get to the center circle. Once all of the slits are cut, fluff the layers with your hands and trim any pieces that are sticking out.
Using hot glue, attach the sunflower to a vintage ruler by gluing it onto the back of the flower. Make sure to glue the ruler high enough on the sunflower that the flower doesn't flop over. Tie green and lace fabric scraps underneath the sunflower to look like leaves.
Steep 1-2 tea bags in a small amount of boiling water for a few minutes. Using a paint brush, brush the tea onto all parts of the sunflower. Then go back with one of the tea bags and bounce it around the sunflower to tea stain it a little but further.
Place the sunflowers on a baking rack and allow them to dry for several hours. You can also place them in the sun to speed up the drying process and make the tea stain come out a little more.
