You may recall my excitement over Fabrics-Store.com's new color selection for linen.  Once I viewed all the dazzling colors, I knew I had to come up with an easy craft to showcase them QUICK!

I know I have done flowers in the past (the Kanzashi flower post), but can there really be too many variations on flowers? I don't think so.

These are probably on of the easiest fabric flowers you can make.  I used lightweight IL020 linen for my flowers.  I made a whole bunch with our new linen colors.  For this tutorial I used IL020 in Light Pink.

Before getting started, heavily starch your linen.  I did this by spraying my linen with heavy starch and running a hot iron over it.  I starched both sides of the linen about three times to get it extra stiff.  The stiffer you get the fabric, the better the petals will hold their shape.

The pinkish purple piece of linen (our new Mulberry), shows the approximate amount of linen you will need for each flower.  I just cut that piece without measuring and it was about 17"x10." I then cut the pieces for the petals.  The image above shows the shape I cut from my linen.  Also, you will need to cut a range of sizes; starting with a large piece and descending into smaller pieces.

This is where I had to get a little creative and use a spoon for my tool.  Using the rounded back of the spoon,  pull it across each petal to make it curve upwards slightly.  Try a few petals and you will see what I mean by this.  The linen holds the curved shape because of the starch.

You may need to pull it rather hard, but trust me, it will work!

Once you get the hang of it, you can curve all the petals with your spoon.

There you go! A beautiful flower that you can make in any shade you like.  Oh wait….one last step!

You will want all the petals to stay together, so run a piece of thread through the center to secure the flower.  I slipped a few beads through to create a pretty center.  You can use a bead, button, or whatever you like to add a decorative center to your flower.  That's the final touch!

You can do so many creative things with these linen flowers.  I plan on using them instead of a bow for presents.  You can attach a pin to the back for a stylish brooch to wear or put on your purse.  They would look adorable on a handband for a younger girl too.  There are tons of ideas!

Don't forget- new colors of IL020 will be on SALE starting next Tuesday, January 3rd!