What does your garden grow?

I mentioned in a previous post about the contest going on at Sew Mama Sew. I finally finished what I am going to enter. I had seen a picture of some flat shoes with ballerina straps and a flower on the foot and it had stuck with me. I wanted to recreate my own version, so I made a pair of shoes for myself and my daughter with a flower made out of a ribbon. I wanted a "poofy" flower look, like a zinnia, so I came up with this. *****Tutorial at end of this post*****


I used this tutorial from Burda Style (the Dorothy Ballerina Slippers free pattern) to create my shoes. I just added a loop to the inside back to thread the ribbon used to wrap around the ankles.



I used this tutorial from Star Dust Shoes to create my daughters. They are for a smaller size, so I just enlarged it for her.


I also made the headband she's wearing. I took one of hers that was a color I didn't like, wrapped it in ribbon, and then glued on a bow. Her dress is from one of her great aunts, and it came from TJ Maxx.


For my outfit, the dress is from Old Navy. The earrings are from Forever 21. I made the apron from an old vintage curtain panel and a vintage napkin. To make the tulle underneath, I just sewed and bunched a long strip and pinned it to another skirt I had. I didn't have time to make another skirt just for the tulle. Plus, I can just take it off and reuse it now.



Zinnia Ribbon Flower Tutorial

Supplies:
-For a child's shoe flower: 25 inch and 10 inch long piece of ribbon
-For an adult's shoe flower: 35 inch and 20 inch long piece of ribbon
-Thread
-Needle
-Glue ( I used fabric glue)

1. Take one of the ribbons and fold it in half. Then fold that half in half. Fold in half again if possible to cut through all the layers, if not, don't fold again.

2. Cut in a half cirle pattern all across one of the long sides.

3. Starting on a side at the top where you just cut, begin basting the ribbon. Turn once at the bottom and sew straight stitches all the way across. At the end, sew straight up the second side.

4. Scrunch up the ribbon (by pulling the thread tight) to the desired tension and sew the ends together.


5. Do the same for the second piece of ribbon.
6. Glue the smaller one on top of the larger one.
I glued mine straight onto the shoes, but you could glue it onto a clip or tack it on a shoe (or whatever) if possible.