You don’t have to be a quilter to use a quilting template! There… we said it. In fact, even if you are a quilter, you don’t have to reserve those templates for use in quilting projects.
We use quilting templates as guides for sashiko patterns drawing the shapes directly onto fabric and then stitching the outlines. We also use quilting templates to create fabric shapes for applique that we then place onto other fabric and machine or hand stitch into place. In the case of the Flower Power Patch, we do a bit of both!
For this project, we combined our love of all things recycled denim, sashiko, and the funky era of the 70s. Really… y’all should see the piles, bags, and boxes of old denim we have kept, salvaged, and saved from thrift stores over the years.
We added some much-needed Flower Power to a pair of jeans that were totally raggedy and were destined to become scraps for other projects. No more! Jeans that were once scraps are now groovy and Flower Power fueled. Remember, with great Flower Power comes great responsibility.
Use your Flower Power to rev up a tired jacket, pick up a sagging hoodie, power up a pillow, or, like us, bring a once favorite pair of jeans back to life.
You’ve got the Flower Power… now use it!
What you’ll need
Tools
- Carefree Curves Collection (Art. No 9578) – purchase on Clover Website or Amazon
- Sashico Needle-Long (Art. No 2009) – purchase on Clover Website or Amazon
- Ring thimble with Plate (Art. No 611) – purchase on Clover Website or Amazon
- Seam Ripper (Art. No 482/W) – purchase on Clover Website or Amazon
- Wire brush
- Pins
- Washable School Glue Stick
Materials
- Denim scrap – we used the leg from an old pair of jeans
- Thread – Aurifil 12 wt cotton thread held double from our FAB Sashiko Essentials collection
If you are using the leg of a pair of jeans, put that seam ripper to work to open up the side seam to make a flat piece of fabric.
Tip: We find that the inside leg seam is the easiest to open.
Using the Hearts and Gizzards template from the Carefree Curves Collection, draw the shape on your denim fabric.
The Flower Power Patch used 8 “petals” created from the smallest size on the template.
When drawing the pieces, turn the template back and forth to nest the shapes. This helps conserve fabric. Less waste!
Tip: For denim, you can draw on the right side or wrong side of the fabric and use whatever marking tool shows up best on the fabric. In our video, we used four different marking tools but found a regular ball point pen made the clearest marks followed by a regular pencil. Don’t stress about the marks on the right side of the fabric! You’re going to be cutting right through them then the edges will fuzz out later.
Cut out the 8 petals.
Now, using a 3 1/2” circular template, cut a circle from your denim fabric for the center of your Flower Power Patch. We used an acrylic quilting template, but you can use a glass, a can, or anything round!
Whether you are going to apply your Flower Power Patch to a jacket, a hoodie, a pillow, or a pair of jeans, play with the placement until you are happy with the distance between the petals and the overall placement of the Flower Power. We used our Flower Power Patch to bring life back to a truly raggedy pair of jeans… no kidding… they were headed for the scrap bin.
Once you are happy with the placement of the Flower Power Patch, temporarily pin the petals and center into place then glue them down. We use a washable school glue stick to hold our pieces in place while we stitch.
Sew the patches into place. We stitched ours using sashiko style running stitches in two stacked rows. Keep your stitches approximately 1/8” – 1/4” from the outside edge of the pieces so they have room to fray and fuzz.
Sew around each petal and around the center. Make sure all of the patches are secured in place.
Use a small wire brush to ruff up the edges of the patch. Don’t get too carried away. Just work over the edges a bit so they fluff up and fuzz after washing and drying.
Next, throw them in the wash and then pop them into the dryer.
Stand back and observe the Flower Power of your groovy handiwork!
Watch the video tutorial here:
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