How to make a fabric ranunculus

As promised, here's a little how-to on the fabric ranunculus.

First, cut your fabric into strips on the bias.  The width and length of your strips depends on how big you want your finished flower to be.  For this small flower, the strips are about 3/4" wide and around 10 to 15 inches long.  I used four strips here, but you made need a few more or maybe one less so cut as you go.  For a bigger flower, make the strips wider and longer.

 

Next, using a small zig zag stitch (about 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm), sew along one long edge of your strip.  The idea here is for one side of the stitch to catch the fabric - you really have to be on the absolute edge.  Going slowly will make it easier.

Along the other long edge, sew a gathering stitch (straight stitch, long in length).  Leave the thread tails long and gently pull one thread to gather.

Starting on the outside of the flower, pin the gathered edge into the shape of a circle.  Stop pinning when you complete a full circle.

Using a zig zag stitch, sew along the gathered edge of the circle.  When you come to the curves, leave the needle in the down position, lift the presser foot and rotate the fabric.  Continue until you finish sewing the pinned circle.  Back stitch and cut the threads.

 

Continue gathering and pinning the strip in a circle, slightly overlapping the ends in a soft spiral.  You can fold the end of the strip under if you want.  Sew it in place.  Back stitch and cut the threads.

Keep adding strips to your flower in this manner.  I varied the start and stop points of my strips and the direction to add interest - some go clockwise and some go counterclockwise.

When you get to the center of the flower, zig zag back and forth at different angles to ensure that all edges are sewn.

Before you stitch on a pillow or a skirt or a t-shirt, get out some scraps and try a practice flower.  It'll be worth the few extra minutes because you will get a good feel for how much you need to gather and how big to make the flower.  If you do this on a t-shirt, make sure you don't sew the back to the front.  Ahem.  Go slow, use lots of pins and have fun.

I'll answer any questions in the comment section.