DIY Fabric Flowers with Stems and Free Pattern

These DIY fabric flowers are a great way to use fabric scraps or fabric craft bundles from Dollar Tree. These easy fabric flowers are made for Fall home decor in soft creams and a small plaid check fabric, with long stems and posable leaves. Although I enjoy sewing fabric flowers, these handmade fabric flowers are almost no sew, a simple gathering stitch with needle and thread all the sewing needed, no sewing machine. I know we can buy artificial flowers instead of making our own fabric flowers, but these add a one-of-a-kind personal touch to your Fall home decor.

Unlike most artificial flowers, these fabric flowers aren’t meant to replicate fresh flowers. They are sort of like a small sunflower, but they are more funky and fun, with various-sized petals.

How to Make DIY Fabric Flowers with Stems

Supplies Needed for One Flower

The colors you choose for your flowers will likely depend on the time of the year, and the scrap fabric you have on hand. As my flowers are for Fall I chose leftover cream duck cloth and purchased plain brown fabric and orange plaid fabric from Dollar Tree. I would love them with green tartan and blue petals for Christmas.

I was able to purchase everything for this bouquet of fabric flowers at the Dollar Tree and the Dollar Store. I used the heat and bond I had on hand, but I recently purchased some Dollar Tree interfacing I have not used yet.

Fabric Flower Tutorial

Step One – Cutting the Fabric Flower

The first step is to add interfacing to the wrong side of the petal fabric with an iron. Iron the fabric smooth, cover with the interfacing glue side down, and iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions. We only need to add interfacing to the petals.

Print out both patterns.

Using the flower petal pattern, cut two flower petals for each flower. I pinned mine in 2 spots to hold it in place and cut it out on a flat surface.

Once the flowers are cut set aside, the raw edges are left as they are.

Cut out one central circle and two leaf patterns in the second coordinating fabric.

Then two more leaf patterns and one or two strips of fabric (about 12″) in the stem fabric.

Step 2 – Make the Flower Centers

Cut out a round piece of fabric, and sew a running stitch around the edge. Pull the thread to form a little pocket but don’t close it.

Take one pipe cleaner and twist it into a dime-sized circle, then wrap the rest of the pipe cleaner along the sides.

Place a small piece of stuffing into the pipe cleaner. Place the pipe cleaner in the fabric pocket, add more stuffing as needed, pull the open end closed, and stitch tight. Tie in a knot and dab with hot glue.

Step 3 – Make the Flower Blossom

Glue the flower center to the center of the first cut-out petals.

Let cool, then pick up the flower and glue each petal along the side of the center, holding it in place as the glue cools. The finger protectors come in handy for this. Once done you can use an elastic to hold it in place while the glue hardens.

Fold the second petal pattern in half and cut a half-inch slit across the bottom. Insert the scissors in the slit and make two cuts to form a criss-cross opening.

Fit the opening over the back of the center with the first set of petals and glue it in place in all four corners. Do not glue the center as we will be piercing it for the stem. (You can see where I placed my hole in the second image)

Step 4 – Make the Leaves

These little leaves are so fun and cute. They add so much personality to the flowers, you can make one or two leaves for each flower stem.

With the wrong side up lay the first leaf pattern down. Take a piece of florist wire and fold it into a loop, to form a wire stem for the leaf.

Place the wire stem in the middle of the leaf, and secure the bottom with a dab of hot glue. Outline the edge of the leaf with hot glue then place the second leaf on top. Press the wrong sides together to hold them in place.

Trim the excess fabric from the leaf, and repeat for the other leaves.

Step 5 – Make the Flower Stem

Take either a dowel or a stick. Attach the leaves (s) where you want them along the stem, then wrap the excess wire tightly around the stem. Take one of the long strips of fabric Glue it to the end of the stick and start wrapping it around the stem.

Be sure to wrap the fabric around the leaf wires to hide them. You may need more than one fabric strip depending on how long your stem is. Once you get to the other end of your stick trim the strip of fabric and and a little bit of glue to hold it in place.

Step 5 – Putting the Flowers Together

Begin by piercing the bottom of the finished flower head with the point of a pair of scissors.  Twist the scissors in while pushing gently.  When I pierced the blossom I was able to push the stem inside the lower until I could feel the stiffness of the pipe cleaner inside.  Take the stem out, fill the opening with hot glue, and replace the top of the stick in to the flower.  Set your finished flower aside to cool.

Other Flower Tutorials To Try

​Here are some other blog posts with DIY flowers.