Tutorial Tuesday - Wandering Lydia's carnations

I just featured Wandering Lydia's great shop on Friday, and now she is generously sharing her sweater ribbing carnation tutorial with us!

Here it is, straight from her blog :

"Sweater Rib Carnation Instructions

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
You know me, gotta use every scrap! Here is an easy way to use the waist ribbing from a felted sweater to make a pretty carnation. This works best with a typical K2, P2 ribbing. Carefully cut the ribbing from the sweater and cut apart the halves. Trim the ends along the edge of a raised rib. Fold and pin the strip in half lengthwise matching the ribs. Thread a large needle with strong thread. Give it plenty of length because you'll use be using it to baste and sew the flower. I use the old fashioned way of measuring a yard. I make sure the threaded needle is long enough to reach from my nose to the end of my outstretched hand. Baste the strip without shifting or puckering the ribs.


Now cut between each raised rib to just under the line of stitches.



Gather the cut strip to compress the petals and tie a knot but don't cut the thread. Start rolling and sewing the petals into a flower. Once you get past the first bit you don't need to sew all the way through, just into the previous row.


It will naturally want to get a bit domed as you go and this is fine. This will give the blossom depth. Tie off the end securely and you're done."


Wandering Lydia even used one of her carnations as hair for one of her dolls. Isn't that clever?


I tried her tutorial and they were so fun to make! This is a great project for those who have no sewing machines, or like to have a project to take with you on the go or in front of the tv. Here are mine:

I used scraps of ribbing, but if I would have used pieces with more length they probably would have looked better... fuller, but I still think they turned out great!


Thank you for the great tutorial, Wandering Lydia!!!