Starched Fabric Roses for Your Valentine!

I have made several instructables showing how to make paper flowers, roses, daisies, and so on. The thought came to me one day to use fabric as there are so many colorful, brilliant, decorative and vibrant fabrics to choose from. The issue was the fabrics were not "stiff" enough, so the next thought was to starch the cloth before trying to manipulate them into various flower forms. It worked!

Step 1: Gather Materials and Tools

Few tools and supplies are necessary: starch, fabric, scissors, glue, materials for stems and so on.

Step 2: Starch Fabrics to Be Used

Using the starch and bowl as seen in the previous step, fabric is soaked in slightly diluted starch and allowed to dry. Depending on the stiffness desired, I have starched them 2 and 3 times. You want a stiffened material that is easy to work, yet holds it's shape indefinitely. For a different look, I used some napkins from a restaurant. See the finished flower in step 7.

Step 3: Draw Designs on Fabrics and Cut Out

Follow the patterns shown on the photos, and cut out the shapes as depicted. They are very simple shapes and should be easy to duplicate. Actual outline is not that critical, as they will be manipulated into flower forms anyway. I cut squares to start with, each square being a petal or leaf.

Step 4: Make Leaves As Well

Leaves are made from starched fabric as well. Pick a green, patterned or not, and/or various shades of fall colors if desired. In this photo, you can see the details of serrated edges, and stems which are drawn on the leaf with a pen or art pencil.

Step 5: Glue Petals and Leaves to Make Flower

Follow the steps depicted in the photos and glue all pieces together. When making the rose, you can start with the outer petals, and they are glued together as such: place a dab of glue on one side of the rose petal, and pull the other side over and hold in place on the glue. Hold for 7 to 10 seconds before releasing. This is shown in the first photo. The top edges of the petal is curled over by using a pencil or dowel piece and wrapping the material over the tool. Since it is starched, the petal should retain the shape. Next, the inner petals are formed in concentric circles as shown, using a pair of forceps and wrapping the piece around the tip of the forceps. Try to hold that shape, remove forceps, and put glue on the free end of the petal, squeeze together and use the forceps as a clamp to hold for the few seconds it takes for the glue to set. Proceed with all petals Then glue them together simply putting some glue on the end of the "cone", forcing them into place and again, holding until the glue has set. (Initial set is just a few seconds, but of course the glue will continue to dry for up to 24 hours.

Step 6: Make Several and Arrange in Bouquets, Arrangements, Etc.

Make several roses and or other flowers and make an arrangement for a dinner table, or just to sit on a shelf and brighten up the room. See this link https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-A-Special-Valentine-Gift/, to see a presentation of roses in an individual gift box. A nice bouquet for Valentine's day would be appreciated, I'm sure!

Step 7: Make Other Flowers As Well

For a different effect, I made some daisies and other, generic type flowers. To this I added a button as the center to give it a finished look. And of course what is Christmas without a poinsetta flower? The variety one could do seems to be limitless.