February 28, 2012

Size Matters...with Fabric Rosettes



Really, I had not planned on posting anything
about how to make fabric rosettes when I began
making them for a pillow.  There are good directions
on the internet already such as the blog post at
and the You Tube video by Jen of

When I was buying the fabric for the pillow and the
rosettes, the only considerations I had in mind
were the texture and the colors. 

I wanted warm and fuzzy feelings fabrics in colors of
 ivory, cream and beige to go with my Winter White theme.

What I should have also considered
(and I'm sharing with you so you can keep
this in mind too if you make fabric rosettes)
is that the size of the length, width, and weight
of the fabric that you use makes a big
difference in the look of the rosette.
For example, in the above photo, the rosette on the left is made with a strip of felt 1" wide 
and about 40" long while the rosette on the right is made from a strip of felt 2" wide and about 20" long.
They turned out about the same diameter but the skinnier and longer strip produced
a rosette with more detail.

This is a side view of the two felt rosettes:
The rosette on the left did take longer to make since it had more twists to hot glue but
 I think it is prettier. If you are in a hurry or want a thicker rosette, go with a wider strip.

These rosettes were made with upholstery fabric:
Both of the rosettes were made with 18" long fabric but the smaller one was made with
fabric 1" wide and the larger one's strip was 1.5" wide.


They look like cinnamon rolls, don't they?

These rosettes are made of fleece fabric:
The length of the strip of fleece for both is 22" but the width of the smaller one is 1 1/4"
and the larger width is 3".  The fleece and the felt fabric did not fray on the edges so if
you don't want a rosette with the frayed look, those would be good fabrics to use.

This is a side view of the fleece rosettes:

My least favorite rosettes were made with
a wimpy flannel fabric.
The rosette on the left was made with a 2" wide strip and the one on the right was made
with a 4" wide strip.  Both the flannel strips were 22" long.

Because I was planning on putting these on a pillow,
I initially thought hand sewing the rosettes would
be better so that they would be soft.
This is a photo of the underside of some of the hand-sewn flannel rosettes. 
I had cut a pile 2" X 22" strips of flannel to hand sew while I would be waiting in a doctor's office.
Not only did they take longer than I thought to hand sew, the fabric looked kind of like
strips of pre-loved tan panty hose...I was almost embarassed to be sewing them
in the waiting room.  I had to wait a long time at the doctor's so I ended up with lots of
my least favorite rosette to use on the pillow. I used the hot glue method
for the rest of the rosettes when I got home.

  Hand sewing the rosettes would be an option to keep in mind when
you  want to make some rosettes for a project but you
are going to be at a place you would be "unplugged" and away from your glue gun
(like at a child's baseball practice, etc.)

If you are using different fabrics for your
rosettes, play with their placement before attaching them.

After I got the pillow covers made I did hand sew
the rosettes on for softness' sake.   I thought the
dried hot glue might make the center of the pillow hard.
If you are going to be attaching your rosettes by hand sewing, be sure to hot glue the
rosettes only on the SIDE of the rosette while twisting and glueing and not on the
bottom like a lot of tutorials instruct.  It would be hard to get the needle through the dried glue.

Like a lot of my projects, the pillows didn't turn out
as well as I thought they would.  With the pillow form being
so large, I think it needs more rosettes which I may
add later.  At least now I know which size of strip
to cut to make my favorite ones.

8 comments

  1. Ah ha ha ha ha.... sure the rosettes are great, love 'em, but yeah it was the post title that caught my attention.

    ~Bliss~

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  2. Thanks for the links! Your pillow turned out lovely.

    Becky

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  3. Love the rosettes. I think they all turned out looking great.

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  4. These are so pretty! I have never seen them before.

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  5. What a great post! Love how the pillow turned out! Would love for you to link up to our Uncommonly Yours link party!

    www.uncommondesignsonline.com

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  6. I love the information about the different sizes and gluing versus sewing, and thanks for linking to cowgirl up.

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  7. Good to know...I haven't made these yet but I have them on my want to make list! Thanks for sharing on the Rock 'N Share!

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  8. Transform adversaries into allies and captivate every onlooker with your allure when you don this sizzling attire from the leather merchandise

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