Crinoline Chrysanthemum Tutorial

Hello,  I'm back with you today to share how to make this lovely fall chrysanthemum out of crinoline. 

Supplies Needed:

A piece of crinoline 3 inches x 35 inches or thereabouts (look for crinoline at your local sewing center.  If you can't find it, I have a limited amount in my Etsy shop)

Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die

Cuttlebug Dandelion die

Dye (I used a couple of drops of SU Really Rust with a dash of Chocolate Chip to darken it a bit)

Glue (I use Beacon Fabri-Tac)

Something to hold it together  - a brad, a jewelry headpin (or you can glue it and put a decoration in the center such as a button or large rhinestone) 

#1 Cut the Crinoline

You will need 5 crinoline flowers cut with the next-to-largest flower on the Tattered Florals die and 5 cut from the Cuttlebug Dandelion die.  If you don't have these dies, substitute something similar (dies with long pointy petals will work best for this flower).

2.  Dye your cut crinoline - follow dying/drying Steps 2, 3 & 4 in the sunflower tutorial.

3.  Crumple each flower into a tight ball and then carefully unfurl them.  A petal may pull off here and there but that should not be a problem.  An occasional missing petal won't be noticed (arrows show where a couple of petals pulled off mine).  

3. Using a jewelry headpin or a brad, start adding your flower layers from the top down.  If you are using a button or a glue-on decoration for the center, it is easier to build from the bottom up as I showed in the sunflower tutorial.  When building on a head pin, I add all five of the smaller flower layers first and then separate while still on the headpin and add a bead of glue every other layer.

4.  Once you have all five layers added and the glue applied, push them up so all the layers are tightly compressed and using both hands, pinch the base of the flowers.  You may feel some glue oozing out as you pinch.  That's okay.  You should end up with a compact base while the upper petals are in tight bud.

5.  Now add all five of the larger flower layers and repeat the gluing process with a small bead of glue every other layer. 

6.  Push the remaining 5 layers all the way up so they are tightly compressed with the upper layers.  

If using a head pin, bend it to a 45 degree angle and add a drop of glue so the flower layers can't wiggle off.

I glue a small circle as a cover over the head pin and when dry, using a wire cutter, clip off the excess.

7.  All done - enjoy using your pretty fall flower on your fall crafting items.  A word of caution about using it for apparel, the stamping re-inkers are not color fast.  If you want to use it for apparel, I would advise using a color fast fabric dye and maybe sewing the layers together, although Beacon Fabri-Tac is made for gluing fabric.  

I hope you found this tutorial helpful.  If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section and I will respond to them at the bottom of this post so everyone benefits from the information.  

Crinoline Sunflower Tutorial

If you are a regular visitor here, you know I'm crazy about making flowers out of crinoline. I already have two tutorials on making crinoline flowers (here and here), but have had many requests for the three fall flowers I have made recently. This first tutorial is for making this sunflower.   Soon to be published tutorials will be on marigolds and on chrysanthemums.  You can enlarge the photos to see the details by clicking once and make them larger by clicking a second time.


If you can't find crinoline at your local fabric center, I have a limited supply available in my Etsy boutique here.

You will need:
Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die
Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die
Yellow dye or reinkers
Green dye or reinkers
Something brown for the center - I like a button and brown burlap string
A 20 inch by 4 inch piece of crinoline
A small square of canvas for the leaves
Rubber gloves

Let's get started:

1.  Cut 5 flowers from the crinoline using the second largest flower on the Tattered Florals die.

2.  Mix your dye solution.  If I am making just one or two flowers, I mix my dye solution on my craft sheet.  If I'm doing a batch, I use a shallow bowl.  Here I have misted my craft sheet with water and dropped 3 drops of yellow reinker.  (all of the smaller brown marks are stains on my sheet - please disregard :).

Mix the water and the dye.  Wearing a rubber glove, I mix it with my hand.

Add more water or more reinker to achieve the strength of color you desire.  I often mix colors to achieve the shade of color I want.

3. Saturate your crinoline flowers in the dye solution.  Here you can see I didn't have enough dye solution so I quickly misted more water and added a couple more drops of reinker to fully saturate and color the crinoline.

4.  Let your flowers dry.  They will dry in a couple of hours.  Alternately you can dry them with your heat tool but don't get it too close or you will scorch the crinoline.





5.  Once dry, the crinoline will be nice and crisp again.  To give your flowers body, crinkle them up into a ball and then GENTLY unfurl them again.  This particular flower on my Tattered Florals die has a weak petal at the base and it frequently rips/falls off, especially during this step.  No worries, one missing petal will not be missed on the finished flower.


6.  Because this flower doesn't have a brad or pin, I glue the layers together from the bottom up.  (The arrow is pointing to where one of the petals fell off this flower).  The glue I use is Fabri-Tac by Beacon Adhesives.  Buy it at Jo-Ann's with your 40% off coupon!  It is also the glue I use for making my cards - no warping like water-based glue does.

7.  Continue gluing layers until all 5 are stacked and glued.

8.  Add whatever center piece you wish

9.  I used the Tattered Leaves die to cut leaves out of canvas and dyed them with a green reinker.  They ravel a bit, but I like the shabby look.  I glue two leaves together in a cluster and then glue the sunflower on top. 

All finished - a beautiful crinoline sunflower ready to embellish a special project.  Warning:  If using as a clothing embellishment, please be aware that stamping inks are not color safe.

I hope you found this tutorial to be helpful. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section here.  I will update the post with the requested information/clarification so all will be informed.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for any comments you care to leave.

Post Updates:
Reader's Question - what reinker did I use?  Here I used Stampin' Up's Daffodil Delight.  Sometimes I add a hint of So Saffron or a really tiny bit of Pumpkin Pie to mellow it out a bit.
Reader's Question - where can I buy crinoline?  Try your local sewing center.  If they don't have it, I do sell it in my Etsy shop here.  You can also try buckram, which might be more readily available.  It is heavier and stiffer than crinoline and generally about twice as expensive.  

Removing the Background of Images

I'm happy to know that people actually read my posts and don't just look at the photos.  I know that because I get inquiries and requests for a tutorial every time I talk about removing the background of the vintage images I use so I can layer them over other images.  Here is an example of the image I used on the card I shared yesterday.

The first image is the way I received it (downloaded from a free vintage graphic sharing site but unfortunately I don't know which one).  I wanted to use it layered over some digital designer paper I had and I didn't want it to look like a square block sitting on the paper.  Using the Magic Extractor in PhotoShop Elements, I removed all the background leaving only the image itself.  And rather than reinvent the wheel, here is a tutorial I found on the web that tells exactly how to do it.  I will tell you it is a little fussy and time consuming.  It's not quite as clean and easy as the tutorial shows.  After I used the Magic Extractor, there were still areas that I removed by using the eraser in the main edit panel.  You can enlarge the view and make your eraser point very small to get into all the small areas that the Magic Extractor didn't removed.  It took me around 20 minutes to do the complete job.  I don't mind because I am a slow fussy crafter.  Plus I enjoy messing around with digital stuff to stretch my art.  Once I had the background removed, I opened my digital paper, layered this image over it and then reduced the opacity to give it a faded look.  You will need to save the image as a .png file so it has a clear background.

Hope this helps those of you who are interested in this process.  If you have any questions, let me know. I am definitely not a PSE expert, never taken a class.  Everything I know has been learned with the help of tutorials such as the link I shared above and my trusty PhotoShop Elements for Dummies book.

What the Heck is Fiber Paste?

For my altered box project that I posted on Monday, I used a product called Fiber Paste made by Golden.  I've had a number of questions about it so I thought I would share what I know - which ain't all that much - LOL!  I used it for the very first time on that project.  

I picked up two exceeding ugly boxes at Tuesday Morning a few months back with the intent of altering them.  They were cheap which is one of my main decision factors when making mixed media art.  I had never heard of this stuff until I joined the Simon Says Stamp and Show design team.   One of my team mates, Lynne Forsythe, has used it several times on her DT projects.  It caught my attention and I was interested in trying it out.  I purchased it at Michael's with my 40% off coupon.  It's a bit pricey to buy it for full price - around $14 a jar.  I used about a third of a jar on this box.  

You just slather it on and smooth it out or not depending on the look you are going for.  I needed 3 coats on my box top.  I applied it with one of those sponge paint brush thingies and left the surface rough by design.  

Looking at it from this angle, I think I need to lightly sand along where the fiber paste meets the tissue tape and then maybe ink the edge with Vintage Photo.  It looks a little raw the way it is.  I hadn't noticed that before.  The brown flecks you see are where I misted it with my homemade glimmer mist - water, vintage photo reinker and a couple of small scoops of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls shaken well in a mini mister.  

That's it, folks.  No experience necessary.  I just jumped in and played around with it.  Had a blast and was pretty satisfied with the way my box came out.  I will definitely be using the stuff again!

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any questions. 

Tutorial - Hand Dying Rayon Seam Binding

Do you want to make shabby, crinkly seam binding ribbon that looks like mine?  I'm sharing my method of how I hand dye it.

Recently I have sold rayon seam binding to a number of crafters.  I've had a few inquiries about dying and crinkling it and was asked to do a tutorial on it.  When I first started using this product, I purchased it in a variety of colors already died and crinkled.  But I found that I never seemed to have the right shade and the ones that I did have, I hoarded because I love it so much.  Then I purchased some white non-crinkled seam binding and started to custom dye it to match my project.  I love being able to do that.  Any color of ink I am working with can be carried over to the seam binding.  Here's the process I follow.

Select an ink color to use for dying the seam binding.  You can use a pad or a reinker.

Smoosh your ink pad upside down on your craft sheet several times 

to leave ink on the craft sheet.  

An alternative is to drop several drops of reinker on the craft sheet.

Add water - I mist the sheet with a Mini Mister filled with water. 

 If you don't have a mister, just drip some water on to your craft sheet.

Mix the water and ink together to make puddles of dye.  

You may want to wear rubber gloves for the next several steps.

Add a length of seam binding.

Roll and smush the seam binding around in the dye puddles,
mixing more dye and water if needed.  

You can give it as much dye or as little as you want.  

Some people like to deliberately leave white or lighter spots for a variation.

Scrunch it up real tight.

Lay it back down on your craft sheet and blow with your heat tool - just not too close.  

You don't want to melt/burn it.

Toss it around to dry it, stopping to scrunch it up periodically as it dries.  Your heat tool will relax some of the crinkles out.  Depending on how scrunched you like it, you may want to scrunch it up really tight several times during the drying process.

And you're done.  It's ready to add to your current project and it only took a few minutes.  If you don't like the way it came out, wet it and dry it again, or add more dye for different effects.

This seam binding ribbon has become one of my most favored embellishments.  It's shabbiness just makes my heart happy!  If you need crinoline or 5 yard increments of plain rayon seam binding, I have it available here in the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  

Hope this tutorial was helpful to you.  Please feel free to ask ask any questions you may have!