DIY Rick-Rack Roses

So this whole project started when Linna posted this link from The Crafting Chicks on my Facebook wall, saying, "Can you PLEASE try these out because I maybe want to use them in my wedding?!" And of course I said YES and so while back we had a rick-rack-rose-making party! And I thought I'd share my thoughts on the project, so that YOU can make rick-rack roses too.

They make really cute bobby pins. I used medium rick-rack for these (it's about an inch in diameter), though you could use jumbo-sized if you wanted to make them bigger. Linna used some GIANT rick-rack to make some BIG flowers to decorate lanterns. I like the smaller ones for decoration, though. I cut two 10-inch pieces of rick-rack and twisted them together, like so:

Then sew down the center, or slightly off center, to give the petals a fuller look. In this case, I used thread that was the same color as the rick-rack, but of course you could always use a complimentary color to give just a little bit more pop (though the thread doesn't show too much). Because the medium rick-rack is smaller, stitching down the middle worked fine for me, but with a larger size, you definitely want to sew more to one side (and this will become the bottom of the rose).

Then start rolling from one end. Put little dots of hot glue to help the flower stay together. I used the glue pretty often, to make sure that it would stay. You also want to put the glue more towards whichever side is going to be the bottom of the flower, so that the petals can open up nicely and not get glued together.

When you've rolled the flower the whole way up, you can trim the tail or tuck it under and glue it to the underside. Peel the outer petals out to give the rose an open feel. I also put some extra hot glue on the bottom of the flower, to hold it together and also to attach the bobby pin.

And that's it! They are really quite easy to make. Linna and I beasted out about 25 of them in an hour or two (I was sewing, she was gluing). And they look great in your hair!