Tag: DIY

Book Page Rosette DIY

DIY, Paper



I’m sure there’s a tutorial out there somewhere for making these rolled paper flowers, and if I’d hunted for one I might have saved myself an hour of time spent figuring them out.  But then, I might have wasted an hour on the internet looking at all the amazing things other people are making so… here’s how I make mine.


I tried rolling strips of paper but couldn’t get enough bulk.  Then I was peeling an apple for my daughter’s birthday pie.  I always peel my apples in a circle, leaving the peel in a long spiral.  As I looked at the long string of peel it dawned on me that I could cut my paper the same way.   I tried it and it worked, but still not enough bulk.  So I added a second paper and rolled two strips together.  Better, but not enough.  I settled on three pieces of paper for one rolled flower.  I was using my old dictionary, which has fairly thin pages, so you could probably get away with two sheets of thicker pages.

Ok, here goes.


Tear out three pages.  Lay them flat and with a pencil, draw a spiral on the page.  Begin in the center and try to make each ring about 3/4 inch away from the previous one.


Carefully cut along the lines you drew.


You’ll end up with something like this.


Now find the outer end of the spiral (the end that was on the edge of the page) for all three pages and line them up together.


Fold or pinch the ends a little bit so you can wad them up for the very center of the flower.


Now begin to carefully roll your paper around the center you just made.  Roll tightly and carefully.


When you get to the end it should look something like this (above).


Carefully turn the rolled flower over and add a generous dot of hot glue to the flower, being careful not to burn yourself.


Quickly place the flower in it’s intended spot and hold in place for a few seconds while the glue begins to harden.


Add more flowers, making certain to glue them closely together so the wreath form isn’t visible.  Keep going (and going, and going) and eventually you’ll have a unique wreath.


Have fun!

Hopeful Homemaker

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Ribbon Embellished Pillow DIY

Quilting and Sewing, Ribbon

I thought I’d share the how-to’s for making your own ribbon embellished pillow.  This will work even for wired ribbons.  It’s such a fun, fast way to make use of gorgeous ribbon in your home decor.  Since beautiful ribbon is often sold by the yard and can be pricey, it also allows you do to something beautiful with it without purchasing a large amount.

The rosette ribbon I used is $8 per yard at a local shop.  Luckily I got it on sale for $4, but since I needed less than a yard it was an affordable project at either price.


Materials needed:
pillow form, size of your choice fabric, enough to cut two pieces the size of your pillow form zipper in a coordinating color, as long as one side of your pillow ribbon of your choice, long enough to make a band around your pillow pins thread in contrasting color sewing machine and zipper foot seam ripper To begin, measure your pillow form.  Many of them have the dimensions printed on the tag or packaging.  If yours doesn’t, measure it from corner to corner in both directions.

Cut two pieces of fabric the exact same size as the dimensions of your pillow.  When I make pillow covers I don’t add seam allowances because I want the pillow to look plump and full.

Cut two pieces of ribbon long enough to go down both front and back of your pillow.  If you were stuck with less ribbon than you need, you could also make this pillow with ribbon only on the front, and a different fabric on the back.

Decide where to place your ribbon on the pillow and carefully pin it in place.  My ribbon was wired, so as I pinned I tried to straighten out the wire and make it lay flat and neat.  MAKE SURE TO MATCH THE TWO SIDES OF YOUR PILLOW WHILE YOU’RE PINNING SO THE RIBBON WILL LINE UP NEATLY WHEN YOU SEW IT TOGETHER.


Carefully sew the ribbon onto the fabric, keeping your needle just inside the wired edge.


Repeat on both sides of the ribbon, and also the other half of the pillow.  Doesn’t it look pretty against the white?


Now carefully pull the wire out of the ribbon so your pillow will be soft and flexible.


Next comes the zipper!  Line up the front and backs of your pillow cover with right sides together.  Carefully pin them along the side where your zipper will lay.  If the ribbon meets along this seam, be careful to line them up well and pin carefully in that spot especially.


Sew along this edge with a 3/8 inch seam allowance.  Carefully press open your seam.


Carefully test your ribbon to see if it is safe to iron.  Mine wasn’t (as in, I would have melted it if I’d ironed it) so I just finger pressed that part of the seam open.


Now take your zipper and place it, right side down, on top of the seam you just pressed open.  Carefully pin it in place, making sure to have the center of the zipper line up right on top of your seam.


With a zipper foot on your machine, sew the zipper on top of the seam, going down one side and back up the other.  It will look like you just sewed your zipper into a seam, making it appear useless.


Once the zipper is sewn on, turn the pillow cover over, and from the right side, unpick the seam you made when sewing the two sides together.  There, underneath the seam, is your zipper!


Continue down the length of the pillow, carefully unpicking the entire seam.


Pull out the little broken threads after the seam is unpicked.  Open your zipper at least far enough for you to get your hand through it.  You’re almost done!


With right sides together, carefully line up the remaining three sides of your pillow cover and pin them together, again taking extra care to line up your ribbon.  Beginning at one end of the zipper and using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew around all three sides of your pillow.  Don’t forget to replace the zipper foot on your machine with your regular sewing foot!


I usually put my machine on a zig zag stitch and go around those three seams one more time to help minimize unraveling inside the pillow.  This is helpful if I like the pillow cover and use it long enough that it needs to be washed.

Now trim any stray threads and turn the pillow cover right side out.


Place your pillow form inside and zip it shut.  You’re finished!


Place it where you like and enjoy your one-of-a-kind pillow with gorgeous, expensive-looking detail!

This project was simple and took less than an hour.  Because I already had the pillow form, fabric and zipper it cost me less than $4.00 to make.  I always use zippers in my pillows so I can change them often and store only the covers.  I re-use the pillow forms all over my house.

If you try making one, I’d love to see how it turns out!

Hopeful Homemaker

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Parfait Pincushions

Quilting and Sewing

This quick and easy project was fun to make with my mom, sister and sister-in-law a few weeks ago.  We sat at one table and stitched while the guys sat at my dining room table and played a game.


The pattern comes from this issue of Quilts and More.  I purchased it at my local grocery store because it is full of projects I want to make.  I’m guessing you might still be able to find one at a Barnes & Noble.  If not, it would be easy to draw your own pattern.


You need a large circle of felt, about 8 inches in diameter, and two pieces for the “toppings.”


With two strands of embroidery floss, blanket stitch the first, larger topping to the center of your circle.


Repeat with the second, smaller topping.


Add a red or pink button for your cherry on top.


Your circle should look like this.


Turn the circle over, wrong side up.  Thread a needle with 36 inches of sewing thread.  Knot the ends of the thread together and begin a running stitch around the perimeter of the circle, about 1/4 inch in from the edge.


Gather the circle.


Stuff with filling.


Tighten thread until the hole is less than 1 inch in diameter and carefully knot your thread.


Cut a circle of felt to cover the hole.


Whip stitch into place.


You’re done.  All you need is a parfait glass.  We found ours at WalMart.  This pincushion is designed to sit on the top of the dish.


This allows you to store buttons or other notions in the glass beneath the pincushion.


It was so easy to make that I experimented with other colors, too.


My girls quickly saw the potential of these creations and whisked them away to the toyroom for use with their little kitchen.


I’ve seen some of the cute felt food that people are making for children to play with but I had no idea how much fun it might be to make it!  This project left me wanting to stock the playroom with sweet little bits of food.  Whether it’s used as a toy or a pincushion, this was a fun project.

Hopeful Homemaker Shared at DIY Day

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