Friday 7 August 2009

Kanzashi flowers



I got a craft magazine the other day which had a very brief article on Kanzashi flower decorations. There was enough information and pretty pictures to get me interested even if the tutorial was a bit basic.
Kanzashi flowers are Japanese folded fabric flowers, it's like origami but in fabric. I have found a few demos to watch on You Tube and finally took scissors to fabric and have started having a go.

These are my first, I'm not convinced I'm stitching them together right and it looks a lot more simple than it is in the videos I've watched but it's something new to try. These need finishing with nice big buttons in the centre and then I can see if they are suitable for brooches.

Found this link which is quite good on the folding techniques:



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Kanzashi - I recently got hooked on it. Does the magazine tell you to starch the fabric first? That was my biggest mistake when I first started - I didn't know to starch the fabric. Now i give it a good 4 or 5 coats of starch and it is so much easier to work with and it keeps its shape forever.

patty said...

Hi Corinne,
Thanks for telling me about starching the fabric as the magazine I have didn't mention that and the flower I'm making is a little floppy. I can't wait to try another one now I know.
I looked on your blog and found your notes on the Kanzashi very interesting.
Happy crafting!