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DIY Linen Flower Tutorial {Emerson Flower Hack}

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DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

(my black and white Day Designer is from the talented Whitney English)

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

I’ve been in love with the Emerson Fry flower pin for years.  I got my first one 3 years ago and now have 3 of them.  Sadly, they do no make them anymore so those of us who are super fans are up a creek, except not anymore!  Since  I still wear mine ALL the time, I decided to deconstruct it (I actually took it apart!) and figure out to make some for a few friends and family.   I’ve had to re-fluff and re-starch mine over the years but they’ve held up remarkably well for as much as I’ve worn them.  About knee deep into this project (which I’ve been working on for a good week), I decided to see if anyone else had made them, and lo and behold, my friend, Amy, from Playing Sublimely, did them with her crafting friends 2 years ago. She is a crafty girl and I’m trying to beg her to be part of our 12 Days of Handmade Christmas this year.  The only difference in our tutorials is that mine may insult you because it’s ridiculously detailed and bossy.

Y’all.  I ADORE these flowers.  They take about an hour to make and it’s WELL worth the time and effort.  I was so impressed with how they turned out.  Also, the red one is my favorite but I’m making navy blue, as we speak, and I want to find some light pink or blue linen too.

My most important advice for this project is DON’T SKIMP on the linen. You need good quality, lightweight linen, which I couldn’t find at Hobby Lobby. You’ll probably have to go to a fabric store, but it’ll be well worth it in the end.  I made a flower with the blue linen from Hobby Lobby that I used to make my skirted tablecloth, and it’s not nearly as pretty as the ones with the fine gauge linen!

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Lightweight linen  (I had to go to Hancock’s and with 40% off it was still $10 per yard.  You can probably make 4 flowers at least but don’t skimp on thicker, cheaper linen! These flowers sold for $60-70 each and I’m guessing part of the priciness was the cost of the linen.)
  • Navy felt—I couldn’t find the right color navy (for my personal taste) in the squares so I bought a couple yards of navy felt.
  • Good scissors—It makes your life easier if you have good, sharp scissors, especially if you’re gonna make several.
  • Heavy Spray Starch—You will do the bulk of this project at the ironing board because these flowers need plenty of starch to hold their shape
  • Iron
  • Templates  (You can download mine below)
  • Gold Thread and an embroidery needle—used to sew the petals onto the felt.
  • Hot glue—to glue the 2nd navy felt circle
  • Brooch pins

 

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

1.  Spray you linen with spray starch and then iron it.  You’ll spray and iron it again, but the more starch you put into the flowers, the better they’ll hold their shape.

2.  Using the template—which you can download here for the actual size of the petals and here for the 80% smaller version—cut out your petals.  You’ll need 10 large ones and 9 small ones.  I’ve provided two different sized templates for this reason.  The larger template is the actual size of the flowers so if you want to trace the shape onto the linen with a pencil, use that size.  I used the 80% smaller version so that I could just hold the template with one hand, and cut around it, leaving a 20% margin.  See below if that confuses you!

edie2

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

3.  Spray your petals again, crease the bottom like shown below and then iron the crease into the flower.  You want to JUST iron the crease so that the petal curves upward slightly.

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

4. Keep cutting petals until you have 10 large ones and 9 small ones, spray starching them and ironing the creases as you go.  When you’re ready with your petals, cut out 2 square felt circles.  I used my coffee mug and just traced the bottom and cut it out.  The diameter of my circle is about 3 1/4 inches.

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

Now it’s time to sew the petals onto the felt.  You’ll do six large petals around the felt circle, somewhat evenly spaced.  You could be precise and mark the circles with six evenly spaced marks but I’m too much of a free spirit for that.  Actually, I tried it, just to be thorough, and it wasn’t worth the worry.  The last 3 I’ve made, I didn’t try to be too precise.

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

Here’s what it looks like after the first row of six is sewn on.  Next, sew the four large petals that are left onto the felt, staggering them in between the ones already sewn.

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

 

You will do the same thing with the smaller petals, staggering them to make it look like petals on a flower!  There’s no exact science here.  With the smaller petals, I do one row of 5 and then finish with four on top.

emerson9
The last row of four, you will sew on with an X stitch to make it look pretty!

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

The last step is to take your second felt circle and hot glue it to the back of the other circle, to cover up the stitches.  Attach you  brooch pin in between the layers by cutting small slits in the 2nd felt circle and feeding the pin through.  It’s hard to explain so I’ll show a photo of that later today, when the sun is up!

And TADA!! Your lovely linen flower is finished!  I can think of 101 reasons to make a bunch of these and give them as gifts or use them as decoration.  I have two of mine attached to a wreath I made and they look awesome!

Hope you had a great long weekend and try to squeeze some time in for making stuff with your hands this week.  It’s all kinds of fun!

DIY Linen Flower Tutorial

linen

More tutorials?  Sure, I’ve got plenty!

Also, I’m linking today with Beth and Sharon and Cheryl today, so visit there for lots of other DIY projects!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. laura says

    This is just my kind of bossy- clearly you want the best for me, and all the other flower wearing kindred spirits! Although I live in a small town, there’s a great “real” fabric store nearby…woot! The only real question will be – how many is too many?
    xoxo
    laura

    Reply

  3. Marley Myers says

    Edie…you have answered my prayers ; I have wanted an EmersonMade flower for years! When I discovered them they weren’t making them anymore, so Thank You! I love this look and really it is an essential to a blouse or dress. I think it gives an outfit a little “face lift” if you will 😉
    Thanks again!
    Marley
    P.S. I have also been looking for a monogram necklace that you are wearing….just the right size. Would you be willing to share the source? Thanks!

    Reply

  5. susan says

    hello! these are so pretty. i’ve made ones of silk but i love the linen! i don’t see the link for the template? sorry, maybe i’m missing it! thanks, susan

    Reply

  7. susan says

    that’s ok Edie, i can make my own based on your photos! have a beautiful day. i’m already digging around to see what fabrics i have to make one!
    thank you! susan

    Reply

  8. Deanna Owensby says

    Love these and want to make one today. I have natural colored linen in house but cannot find the place to download the template. Help, please.

    Reply

  10. Rhondi says

    Hi Edie
    Such a cute flowers. I made some of those several years ago and had forgotten how cute they are. Might have to make some more. Just wanted to let you know I posted a photo on my blog today of you and me at the Becoming Conference. I enjoyed meeting you so much.
    ((hugs)) Rhondi

    Reply

  13. Merri says

    When I am in need of linen or silk for small projects I always start at the thrift store! I think I am going to try some of these for some hand towels. Thanks, Edie

    Reply

  20. Sonja de Carvalho says

    Hi Edie,

    I am from Cape Town, South Africa andf absolutely adore your poppy and would love to make one, however i cant seem to download your templates – it sends me to some google docs site which i cannot access.

    Would you be as kind as to send it to me via email please?

    Thanks a mill:)
    Sonja

    Reply

  22. Michelle Hutton says

    Hi Edie, love your blog and everything you share. Would really love a gold monogram necklace for Christmas…would you be willing to share where you got yours? Blessings, Michelle

    Reply

  24. Debi says

    How do you refluff the flowers? I have an emersonmade flower, and it has gotten rather flat in the box. Help!

    Reply

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