Softball Wall Flower

Last year I found this little project in an issue of Flea Market Style magazine.  I have held onto the magazine waiting for the perfect opportunity to make one.  I liked it so much I wanted to share the project, so my friend Janelle and I decided to offer it as one of our classes at Sugar Creek Homestead.

Supplies needed:

3 used softballs or baseballs (each flower requires 1 1/2 balls)

decorative button or object for the center

hemp or heavy thread

hot glue

Tools needed:

pointy scissors

nail or sharp object to pierce holes 

heavy duty sewing needle

Step 1.  Clip the thread on the balls. Pull skin off the center. Remove threads.

Step 2:  Layer 3 skins, centering them to make the petals equal distances. Punch  2-4 holes (depends on how many holes you have in your button)  in the center of the skins.  Be sure to punch through all the layers.

Step 3: Sew skins together with heavy thread.

I started going down through the top, being sure not to pull the thread all the way through,

 then back up through to the front.

It should look like this. Leave the thread long enough to lace through the buttons.

Step 4: Attach button and tie the thread in a square knot.  Trim the thread.

Step 5: Finishing touches. You can hot glue your flower onto any type of board. I used rusty, twisted baling wire to represent the leaves and stem of the flower.  To attach the wire, I drilled holes into the wood, just deep enough to set the wire in, then used hot glue to help hold the wire in place. The magazine also suggests framing the flower, attaching it to a hat or tote bag, or adding a wire stem and place it in a vase.

Here are some pictures from our class.

For the class, the ladies put their softball flowers on old door panels we picked up at the flea market. The paint on the panels was perfectly old and chippy. 

Such a beautiful display of flowers!