How to make a flower pin

This week I worked on altering a grad dress. It had a midriff showing bodice and a long skirt. It was a little too 90's! I attached the bodice and modernized it with a shorter hemline. Turned out great but I was left with some extra fabric so I decided to make a flower pin and thought I'd do a little tutorial on how to make this very simple sewing project.


For a medium sized rose:
1. Cut a 7 x 36 inch rectangle of fabric (if you want a smaller rose make the length and width smaller like 4 x 20 inches)
2. Fold this rectangle in half and narrow one end to a point by angling down 8 inches on the raw edge. 
3. At the opposite end (squared one) take the bottom corner and fold the raw edge to match the top raw edge. It should form a triangle shape.
4. Pin and sew a long gathering stitch 1/4" from raw edge, breaking every 10" or so for easier gathering. For extra strength while gathering use a heavy top-stitching thread for the bobbin thread.
5. Starting from the pointed end begin gathering and hand-stitching while rolling up like a newspaper.
6. Once rolled up and hand-stitched tidy up the raw edges with some more hand-stitches.
7. Cut a 2" square and make into a circle wide enough to cover the raw edges on the bottom plus 1/4" to turn under the circle's raw edge.
8. Slip-stitch the circle onto the bottom of the rose.
9. Either sew or hot glue a bar pin or other pin fastener to the back and voila!