ric rac flower tutorial

 Aren't these little ric rac flowers gorgeous? I did not quite understand the full cuteness power of ric rac until recently, but I count myself enamored. My crafty cousin Jenni first showed me a flower like this last year at my sister's wedding, and I promptly (and sadly) forgot about them! Until I needed a quick add on to a skirt and had ric rac within reach and.....the rest is history.

They are scandalously simple. 

All you need is:

a yard of ric rac (3/4" worked best for me and I get mine from Ribbon Retreat. They have TONS of colors!)

matching thread (or not...I used white on the pink one cause I was too lazy to go get my pink thread.)
hand sewing needle

buttons for center

felt scraps

clippy if you want to make this clippafiable. (Ohh yeah that's a word. I just patented it. You owe me $1 if you use that word. You say you'll never use it? oh, fine.)

First off, cut out two circles the same size. They don't have to be perfectly circular, as you can see. I cut out a 2.5" square folded it in half, and then half again, and the rounded the corners.

Then thread up your needle, knot the ends together and tack down the end of your ric rac to the edge of the felt. 

Continue tacking (taking a small stitch) down each point around the edge of the felt.

When you come back to where you started, continue with the same piece of ric rac, moving inward towards the center.

Keep on going, layering and tacking the points down. When it gets smaller, you'll need to start pinching the rics and racs (ha!) so that it will fit better.

Then when you get close enough to the middle, trim off the end, leaving a little bit extra.

Then tuck that under and tack it down as well. 

Add a button if you like, or leave it plain.

These are adorable on clothing or as pins.

Then, if this ric rac flower is destined to become a clippy, cut a small slit in one end of your other piece of felt, making sure your clip will fit the size of the felt.

Insert the bottom of the clip through the slit.

Then hot glue the pieces together! (imagine glue in this pic)

 

Then you're done! easy as pie and cute to boot.