Upcycling to me is all about turning the old and unloved into something more beautiful. One of my favourite things to make is faux flowers from repurposed rubbish. In the past, I’ve made beautiful map roses, a denim flower bouquet and sweater felt flowers. This time I show you how to make fabric flowers from old bedsheets.
Spring has finally arrived and to get into the seasonal mood I’ve decorated my house with flowers. I do love real flowers, well for about a week before they start dying and the water stinks.
The beauty of these upcycled fabric flowers is that they will last forever and require only occasional dusting. Also, there is no stinky flower water to deal with.
But don’t ask me what kind of flowers they are. They are a made up upcycled flower.
Upcycling Bed Sheets Into Gorgeous DIY Fabric Flowers
With this upcycle I managed to get the sharpies out once again. I love playing with sharpies, I have quite a collection as my eldest son buys me a pack every birthday.
As I was so obviously delighted with them the first time I received them, my son decided he was on to a winner so that’s it now sharpies every year! I desperately need to think of more sharpie crafts, as they are beginning to stockpile.
These flowers were made in an afternoon with an old bed sheet and some floristry wire. They cost very little to make. I made some pink
I also have made some fabulous fabric mushroom art out of old bedsheets that can be also seen on Pillarboxblue.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
What You Need
- An old bed sheet or any other cotton close weaved light fabric.
- Craft wire about 0.5mm thick – This comes in lots of different colours, I used pink for these flowers but I’ve also used silver in the past.
- Floral wire stems approx 22 guage
- Green florists tape
- Tacky glue
- Sharpies in various colours
- Isopropyl alcohol spray (rubbing alcohol)
How To Make Fabric Flowers
1.. First, cut a random piece of fabric from your bedsheet about 2ft square, and iron it flat.
2. Next, cut several lengths of the craft wire about 30cm in length. Baring in mind 6 pieces of wire are needed for each flower.
Make a frame for each petal by twisting each piece of wire into a long petal shape with a small stem.
3. Cover one side of the wire petal frame with a generous amount of tacky glue. Then stick the round part of petals down onto the ironed sheet. Make sure the wireframe lies flat on the sheet.
Top Tip: You can lay something heavy on top of the wires whilst the glue dries to make sure they stick to the bedsheet.
4. Next, after the glue is dried, carefully cut out each petal from the sheet.
This was my
Using a selection of pink, red and purple sharpies
6. Then, spray the
7. Next, gently squeeze and bend the wire petals into more of a flower shape.
8. Next, cover the wire floral stem with green floristry wire and then attach one petal to the wire by wrapping around the wire end around the stem.
Repeat with the remaining 5 petals, adding them one at a time and spacing them around the stem.
When all the petals are attached cover the stem with green tape, to hide the wires. It is easy to shape your flower by gently bending the petals.
When I started this craft the plan was to sharpie
I do think that both the pink and white flowers do look good together.
These fabric flowers would look fabulous in the
I also love to make faux flowers out of thick Italian crepe paper, I have several posts where I have made these flowers. Such as my gorgeous giant Boho flowers vase and the large faux flower pineapple wall decor.
Upcycled felt is also a great fabric to use when making faux flowers, I’ve used these felt flowers for a fun Frida Kahlo Pillow and have even made a whole repurposed faux felt succulent garden. Or you can even use yarn to make some pom-pom flowers.
You can find more cool craft ideas for adults here and some fabric flower ideas here too.
David johnny
Wow! This is great. I will try to make them at home. Thank You for your great article.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you
Rosie (@greenrosielife)
These are lovely and would be a great way to have flowers around the house in the middle of winter when real ones would all be imported and/or grown under heated glass. #GoingGreen
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, they were fun to make.
Debrashoppeno5
These are so pretty. I love flowers made from upcycled items.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, they are currently sitting on my window sill in the kitchen.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much.
Beverly
Your fabric flowers look lovely and it’s great that they were a recycled project. The waterfall effect looks great for these flowers. Thanks for sharing at Snickerdoodle. Pinning.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much. They are currently sitting on my window sill in the kitchen and look lovely there.
Mary
Simply gorgeous Claire!! The colors are stunning!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, Mary. You can make them any Sharpie colour you like.
Stephanie
They look great – you’d never know it was an old sheet. The white ones look pretty special and exquisite. #homeetc
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, Stephanie. I think the white ones are my favourite too!
Caro | The Twinkle Diaries
They’re lovely Claire — I like both too — the white ones are so simple. But also… THAT gin bottle!!! My eyes definitely lit up when I saw that!!! I’m a sucker for anything gin based — plus I do love a pretty label! #HomeEtc
Claire Armstrong
Thank you! The Gin was delicious too, Rhubarb. I’m a sucker for great packaging and this time the contents did live up to the packaging.
Julie
These are just gorgeous, I love both versions.
Isn’t it funny how the kids will go with something once they know you like it? I can think of much worse things than a stock pile of sharpies! In our house we all share a shopping list app and so I write very specific lists with amazon or argos links for craft gadgets near my birthday and surprise surprise I usually get exactly what I’m after.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you. It’s the same for my husband he gets a tube of feather shuttlecocks every Birthday!
Cecilia
Lovely fabric flowers! Thank you for sharing at Vintage Charm!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much!
Caroline J
Gorgeous! Such a fun idea x
Claire Armstrong
Thank you.
creativejewishmom/sara
Love it Claire, and would be so fun with patterned fabric as well, gotta try it! thanks for sharing on craft schooling sunday!
Claire Armstrong
Patterned fabric would be lovely too! Thank you.
Lorin Small
Cool project! I’m always on the lookout for faux flowers projects!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, faux flowers are fun to make and they don’t die. They just get dusty!
Chas
So very pretty and cute. Thanks for sharing on To Grandma’s House We Go!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you ?
Marissa | Squirrels of a Feather
I like the pink and the white too…have you tried to do this with colored sheets? I don’t have any white ones 😉 I figure you just need to make sure the sharpie markers are darker than the starting color?
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, just give it ago with darker sheets see how it goes.
Susanne
These flowers are awesome!! I didn’t know you could get a watercolor look with sharpies and alcohol!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, yes it’s a fun technique to play around with.
Schilly Construction Inc
How wonderful. I love how they turned out, even the fabric ones!
Claire Armstrong
Thank yo?
Victoria @DazzleWhileFrazzled
I love fabric flowers as well. Great tutorial. Would look great as a gift topper as well.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, Victoria.
Michele Morin
These are amazing!
Claire Armstrong
Ahh, thank you that’s very kind of you to say so.