Flower Power

When I am picking out what to wear I work from a different angle than most people. I don’t choose my clothing first, I select my accessories first. This may seem odd to some but it works for me. I love jewelry, scarves and pins. So most of the time I look at what ear rings, scarf, necklace, or pin I am in the mood to wear and then build the outfit around that item. One of my favorite accessories is pins.

When I was in high school I had a huge pin collection. I wore at least one or more a day. At that time the popular pins were more of the “button” size with different pictures, words or characters. Some of my pins were shaped like objects. I remember several that were items such as a box of crayons, a piano, a cloud with a face and many more. I had a smiley face button in every color of the rainbow and all different sizes. Like most guys who got rid of all their baseball cards I wish I had saved my pin collection. I have a few that my daughter has now taken over but most of them I discarded.

Therefore when pins became stylish again I was truly excited. Now I could create a new collection of handmade pins to wear. Some of my favorites are the popular flower pins. I made several to coordinate with different outfits. Here are a few:

The zipper rose in the middle I purchased.  Then I built the flower on a denim base.  I added a layer of batting between the denim to give the layers a little more bulk.  The red tail under the twisted rose and yo-yo is the end of a zipper.

 

 This flower is one of my favorite shapes.  You cut circles and then gather pinch one end to create a petal.  Attaching the petals together creates your flower.  The purple "fringe" flower is the next layer.  The jeweled piece is a vintage clip on ear ring.  The blue rosette is made from tulle.  I added some small beads in various places to give a little extra sparkle.

I wear this flower alot.  It is the same pinch gathered pattern as above.  The only difference is I cut smaller circles and added an inner layer of petals.  I like how the frayed edges give it an extra measure of character.

 

This flower is made from the fabric of a skirt I shortened.  Using extra fabric from a garment makes the perfectly coordinated accessory.  This pattern is a layer of flower shaped pieces in various sizes stacked.  I fused fabric together with Wonder Under to add some stiffness before cutting the shapes.  Having the layers in coordinating colors adds a little more interest. 

 

This is the same pattern as above with the stacked flower shapes with one difference.  The bottom layers are four shapes folded over into quarters and then fanned out to create the layer.  The top two layers are the solid flower shape. 

This flower pin is made from pieces cut from a discarded sweater.  I built it on a base of deep purple fabric.  Then added the two large twisted rosettes, feathers and the light purple sweater petal flower.  The center is a large button.

Each time I pin one of these to my outfit it makes me smile.  My mom always told me that anything looked better with a smile.  So I guess when I wear my flower pins I look better.

Danna