DIY - Sequin & Bead Flower

Last weekend, I worked to re-create a version of the bead and sequin flower I had fallen in love with, which turned out to be from a Laura Lee Designs handbag.  I spent a lot of time staring at the flower, working to "reverse engineer" it, without a physical version.  It was time consuming and difficult.  But, the end results were worth it:

This and all following pics were taken on my brand new Canon Rebel XS (thank you, woot).

It was tricky even starting this project without a DIY tutorial...  How dependent we've all become on the internet.  It's good because I usually feel like I can tackle any project, given a wireless signal and the right tools.  It's bad because I realized how hesitant I've become to try making something without explicit instructions.  And, this is definitely a habit learned later in life, I can't imagine what it's like to be younger and not remember what it's like not to have so much information a search string and click away.  But, I digress.

Here's how I made the flower:

I made a trip to Jo-Ann Fabric and looked for the items I thought I'd need to make the flowers.  I bought several colors of sequins in two sizes: 5mm and 8mm.  I also got some glass beads in a couple sizes and invisible and silver threads.  Finally, I picked out a couple loose sheets of green felt.

When I got home, I organized everything in a tackle box my mom bought me a few years ago for Christmas...  She said I'd find it useful for keeping small things in order.  She was right.

Ooooh, sparkly!

I didn't take pictures while making the first flower.  So, this morning, I decided to make another and take pictures of the steps involved.  I swear it had nothing to do with creating an excuse to use my new camera.

First, I cut out a piece of felt about three inches square.  The original flower had been made on a too small piece, so I erred on the too big side this time.

Then, I thread my needle with the invisible string and started to sew on the middle "stamen" beads.

I had decided to use two of the larger round beads, instead of the long beads I used in the original flower because the long beads were a bit too large for the small sequins.  I came up from the bottom side of the felt with my needle and thread on two of the beads.  I then went back through the bead closest to the felt on my way back through the felt.  This forced the top bead to turn sideways and locked the two in place.  I did this three times, all close to each other and ended up with this:

Next, I picked out my bead pattern.  I used two small, round beads, a small sequin, a large sequin, another bead and another set of sequins.  Finally, I added one last bead to the end because I realized in the first flower that it was difficult to get the second row of flowers where I wanted them when the first row's sequins were flush to the felt.  I pulled the needle up, close to the center beads, and thread the "petal".

The next part is probably the most difficult.  I let the beads slide down to the felt and held the thread taught, in the direction I wanted the petal to go.  I made sure the the sequins were laying the way I wanted and held them in place with my pointer finger on my left hand.  With my right hand, I put the needle back through the felt under the last bead, where I thought the middle should go once the thread was pulled tight. 

I slowly worked my way around the middle, adding the same number of beads and sequins to each petal and placing them in a way that looked good to me.  It is a subjective kind of thing.  I ended up with eight petals (the first flower had ten).

Next, I started adding the second row of petals.  I used the same pattern of beads and sequins as the first row, without the last bead.  I placed two petals between each of the ones on the first row, leaving me with sixteen outside petals.

Here's the end product:

That's it.  It probably took me about two hours total to complete this flower, but I feel like I could get through them a bit faster now that I know the process a bit more (and if I wasn't stopping to take pictures).

Not sure if I'll use these anywhere in wedding or, even if I did, how I would use them.  They'd probably need to be sewn to something, not sure how they'd hold up on a "stem" of floral wire.  Maybe a wrist corsage made with different sized flowers, tied with a ribbon?  Or, attached to a hair pin?  We'll see.

Either way, I'm glad I tried to make something without actual instructions available.  It was a great challenge and a lot of fun once I got some of it figured out.

Did you try to make something you saw and fell in love with without having any instruction?  Do you find yourself making things that you're not sure if/how you'll use?