Mother's Day Corsage Tutorial

I, like so many other women, began my sewing adventures as a small girl, sitting on the floor next to my mother at her sewing machine. She would sew up school dresses for me and I would stitch and stuff her scraps into little pin cushions adorned with the odd stretch of lace and stray buttons.

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For Mother's Day, I stitched up this little fabric flower corsage for her using these springy Anna Maria Horner and Heather Bailey prints. I wanted it to be a little 'thank you' for giving me the love of sewing, so many years ago. She still uses my homely old pin cushions, by the way! I guess they hold alot of memories along with her pins!

I thought you might want to stitch up a corsage too! Here's the tutorial...

What you'll need:

Several scraps of fabric, scissors, a fabric pen or pencil, needle and thread,safety pins. You'll use a tea cup as the template for the petals. The one I used has a diameter of 3.5". A wider mouth will yield larger flowers.

Cut out the circles:

Using a fabric pen or pencil, trace the top of the tea cup onto your chosen fabrics. Youl need 6 circles for the carnation, 6 circles for the lily, and 4 for the leaves.

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For the lily and the leaves:

1.Pin the pairs of circles together, right sides facing, forming 5 pairs of 2.

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2.Sew around each circle using a 1/4" seam, leaving a small space for turning. Trim seam allowance to about 1/8".

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3.Using the closed tip of your scissors, turn the circles right side out and press flat.

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4.Take the petals you've created for the lily and fold them in half over each other as shown...

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021 Put a few stitches in the base to hold them together.

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5.Fold the tops of the petals down a little. It should look something like this...

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6.Fold the 2 circles for the leaves into a fan shape and put a few stitches at the base to hold them together.

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For the carnation:

1.Clip around the circle edges with pinking shears. This isn't necessary, but it makes the petals look a little more realistic.

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2.Place pairs of the circles wrong sides together forming 3 pairs of 2.

3.Fold one pair into fourths and place a stitch at the base. This will become the center of the flower. Fold the other 2 pairs into half circles and place a stitch at the bottom center.

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4.Fold the half circles around the center of the flower. Sew through all the layers at the base. What you've created should look something like this...

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Assemble the corsage:

Sew the carnation to front of the lily and the leaves to the back of the lily. Place a few stitches here and there if necessary to get the flowers to stay in the shape that you want. You can pin the corsage on using corsage pins or a couple of safety pins.





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Posted at 07:16 PM in Tutorials | Permalink
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