Spring Flowers Shirt

Spring has come early this year it seems! I'm not complaining. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. There's something so refreshing about walking outside with the smell of rain in the air and budding flowers everywhere. In fact, we haven't gotten ANY snow yet in my part of Tennessee. My husband, who comes from PA, is not happy about this fact - but I'm pretty darn thrilled with the mild weather. It means more play time outside for the kids, and more outdoor running for me :)

I made this shirt for my daughter as a way to welcome in the pretty spring flowers. The flowers are made using organza and seed beads then hand-sewed to the shirt, so no sewing machine needed - yay! You can find lots of pretty colors of organza at your local fabric store too, so the color combinations are endless.

Supplies:

• Shirt
• 1/4 yard organza
• Fray Check (to keep the edges of your organza from fraying)
• Seed beads
• Needle and thread

Step 1: Make your organza flowers.

First, start by folding a square of organza in half and cutting a little petal shape out (don't cut the fold!)

When you open your petal, it should look like this. Repeat this process to get 6-8 petals per flower. Apply your Fray Check to the edges of your petals and let them dry according to the bottle's instructions.

After all of your petals are cut out, stack them on top of each other (keeping them folded) and fan them out into a flower shape.

Pinch your flower in half and, with your threaded needle, sew through the bottom of your flower. Unfold your flower and pinch it in a different direction and repeat the same process 2 more times. Knot your thread and clip.

You should now have a flower that looks like this! Repeat this process for however many flowers you want. I suggest making at least 3.

Step 2: Stitch your flowers to your shirt.

Now to attach your flower to your shirt. Hand sew your flowers to your shirt with your needle and thread by sewing through the middle of your flower with coordinating thread. On your third stitch, before threading your needle back down through your shirt, add 3 seed beads for the center.

And there you have it, a pretty new spring top!

When laundering your shirt, lay it flat to dry so your flowers aren't crushed and deformed by the dryer. While they're wet, press the flowers open with your fingers some to help keep their shape.

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