DIY tutorial – How to make twine flowers

It all started with a pic on Pinterest. Most of the crafts lovers on Pinterest stumbled upon this picture of twine flowers from a Finnish blog.

Narukukkia aka Rope Flowers from http://remppahaikara.blogspot.ro/

If you already own a Bow and flower maker tool, then you probably already tried making twine flowers. But in fact, for these little cuties, you don’t really need a special tool.

Since the blog showing the picture was in Finnish and it provided no instructions on how to make the flowers, crafty girls everywhere tried replicating the result and therefore you can find a few tutorials on the Internet.

So i found this tutorial for Twine Flowers and gave it a try. But i wasn’t quite happy with the result. The flower was ok, but for the second one i tried doing two rows for the center of the flower instead, giving it a braided look. And the whole setup with the two circles glued together was not very stable. So i searched some more and then went for corrugated cardboard, which was much better.

What you’ll need

• twine or other type of ‘stiff’ yarn
• corrugated cardboard
• toothpicks or pins
• scissors
• drafting compass or round object like a glass or cup (to trace on the cardboard)
• pen
• blunt craft needle (also called tapestry, darning, or finishing needles, these large eye blunt needles are good for weaving in ends and sewing up seams on your knit & crochet projects)

The process i used is very similar to the one Pam used, so i’ll just highlight the changes i made.

To start, trace a circle on the corrugated cardboard piece using a drafting compass or any  round object, like a cup or a glass. The cut it out using the scissors. I found that there’s no need to draw rays in the circle (because you don’t really need to be exact), just imagine it’s a clock and stick the toothpicks (trim one end  of each of the toothpicks to avoid injuries) or pins first at 12 and 6, then at 9 and 3 and go on until you have completed the clock.

Trim the toothpicks then start making the cardboard ‘clock’

Complete the cardboard ‘clock’

Then use the weaving technique Pam explained, but when securing the center of the flower (To secure the center, thread the end of the twine through your blunt needle), do two or three rounds for a braided look. Also, you can do 3 loops for each petal (3 loops around each toothpick) for a fuller flower.

Weaving 1,2 or 3 loops for each petal (loops around each toothpick)

You can either cut your yarn after doing the petals, leaving a long tail (1 m), or cut it in the beginning. You’ll need 3-5 m of twine, depending on the size of your circle, the number of petals, the thickness of the thread and the number of successive rings you want to do in the middle of your flower. So i’d say, start with 5 m of thread and see how much left over you get and adjust the length for the next flowers.

So, play with sizes, different types of thread, number of petals, number of petal loops, number of center loops, maybe even fluff the petals a bit… and find the flower you like best.

Different types of twine, different circle sizes

Finished flowers with 2 or 3 loops for each petal and 1,2, or 3 center loops

These can be used to decorate different craft projects as cards, gifts, banners, ornaments, guirlandes, gift wrapping  …or use them like i did… to decorate cute handmade flower vases (because i’m a twine and lace maniac) as handmade decor for my upcoming wedding.

 

You can check all the handmade decor from the recent twine and lace mania on my Facebook page. 

Hope you liked them and that this post will provide inspiration also.  Feel free to comment with any help, opinions, or suggestions. For special requests and orders, contact me on Facebook on using the data on the Contact page.