Menu Close

Puffy Petals on Loomed Flowers

Flower loom carnations
Flowers with puffy petals can be made from ribbon straw or a soft, flexible ribbon about an inch wide.

To make a this style of flower you will need any loom that has two or three rounds.

You can use any strong ribbon straw or a light, soft ribbon about an inch wide. Avoid soft 100% rayon ribbon straw as it tends to shred when you open it out. I have used vintage Turabast ribbon straw to make my sample flower.

You will also need to know how to wind your loom and stitch a backstitch centre.

Winding the loom with swisstraw Wind the largest round on your loom three times. Try not to twist your yarn on ribbon too much as you wind as it will make it a little difficult to fluff out your flower later on.

Use the layered wrap, which means to wind each petal once, working all the way around your loom, then go around another two times.

If you are using ribbon you will probably find it best to fold it in half widthways so that it’s easier to stitch when you get to the centre.

Stitch the center Wind the middle round four times and stitch the centre using back stitch.

You can work a different number of rounds on your flower but after making several samples, I found I liked this number the best.

Smoothig out the petals Take the flower off the loom and darn the ends into the back.

Now comes the easy part if you have used ribbon. Open the ribbon out where you folded it in half and arrange the petals.

If you have used ribbon straw you may need to mist your flower with water or wet your hands and gently open out the strands of straw. You can do this without moistening the straw, which method works best depends on the brand and type of ribbon straw that you have used.

The finished flower loom carnation Let your flower dry and fluff the petals out a bit more if necessary. This is my finished flower.

You can fluff out the petals on almost any ribbon straw flower to create different effects. Working all six rounds on the same size petals will create a rounder carnation shape or you could combine puffy petals, regular petals and cut and frayed petals in the same flower.

You also might like to try making these flowers with a calyx and stem.


Copyright Sarah Bradberry, April 17th 2011. All rights reserved.