My daughter's first stocking flower

This is just a "proud mama" post - my 7-year-old daughter Adriana has made her first stocking flower. And it seems to me it's not the last one :) The amazing part? I didn't have to teach or help her in any way - she's learned all the techniques by simply observing me at work.

Tender purple nylon flower

Tender purple nylon flower - a perfect reflection of my springful mood :)

Purple nylon flower

How to make a nylon daisy (chamomile) - a super easy tutorial

Daisies are charming in their simplicity and beauty. I’ve always liked this flower in all the forms – big decorative daisies from my mother’s garden, small and humble plants on the hills near the village river, packages of dry flowers from the nearest drugstore – it makes an excellent relaxing tea. I used to rinse my hair with daisy water to give it a golden shine. My little nephew was given chamomile baths to increase his immunity. Anyway, I couldn’t skip these flowers in my stocking flower making experiments, so here is a simple tutorial on how to make a nylon daisy. 

You'll need

    Get all the materials ready – you’ll need a thick wire for the stems, thin wires for the petals, white and yellow nylon fabric, a bit of cotton, scissors, threads, readymade leaves (you can do without), and green sticky tape.

        

      Step 1

 Cut your thin wires into pieces of the same size and form the petals. The size may vary depending on your preferences – daisies can be really small and relatively big.

Step 2

 Stretch the white nylon fabric, put it over each petal and fix it with a thread.

Step 3

 Form a cotton ball and wrap it with yellow nylon fabric a few times.

Step 4 

 Fix the ball to a stem with threads and start fixing the petals one by one.  

Step 5

Wrap the stem with the green sticky tape, inserting readymade leaves.  

Step 6

 Admire your work. :)

A few daisies like this make a nice bouquet, especially if you place it in a straw basket. I’m going to buy a couple of baskets soon, so stay tuned for a picturesque stocking flower photography:) For now – Buddha and daisy, an unusual, but nevertheless harmonious  combination :)

How to make a calle lily - an easy stocking flower tutorial

What I like about stocking flowers is the easy techniques, affordable materials and lots of space for one's imagination  and self-expression. Making a calla lily stocking flower was so rewarding - I just let my thoughts flow while my hands were busy making something of an aesthetic value (at least I hope so! :) ) 

 YOU'll NEED

So for a single calla lily flower you'll need purple stocking fabric for the spathe (or white, pink, red - it's up to you), tissue paper and yellow fabric for the spadix, stem wire, threads and green sticky tape.

Step 1

Take a tissue paper stripe and fold it twice. Then wrap it around the stem wire and fix with the thread. 

 Step 2

Wrap 3 layers of yellow stocking fabric around the spadix.

Step 3

Make a spathe by using a wire and purple stocking material. Check out the basic stocking flower tutorial to see how petals are made.  

Step 4

Thread the spathe to the spadix and shape it. 

Step 5

Wrap the green tape around the stem. 

Your calla lily stocking flower is all done!

 

Blue theme (nylon flower composition)

Actually, the theme was purple, but my stubborn camera has turned it blue. fine, blue is in my favorite color after all (as you may have already guessed after looking though the nylon flowers on this blog :))

Red and orange nylon flowers

Red, orange, crimson, yellow, auburn and pink - these are the colors of many Indian flowers. IF you'd like to see my photo collection of these floral beauties, fell free to check out this post on another blog -

Flowers in India – red, orange, yellow, auburn, crimson, pink…

 That site of mine is dedicated to expat life and travel in India. But let's go back to our flowers. Although the Indian flowers are a great source of my inspiration, the floral composition I made yesterday was inspired by a different kind of orange, yellow and red - the colors of the Ukrainian autumn. The birdie and autumn fairy kindly helped me showcase the flowers. Enjoy :)

Blue and white stocking flower arrangement

I've made this bunch quite a while ago as a gift for one of my friends. To be honest, I even forgot about this composition, but recently I've been going through all the photos, and it was a nice surprise to find this photo. I think blue and white flowers along with pink stamens make a beautiful combination.

Fabrics for stocking flowers

Choosing fabrics  is my favorite part of shopping for stocking flower materials - they come in a vast array of colors and it's so hard to limit yourself to buying just a few pieces :) When I lived in Ukraine, it was rather difficult to tolerate the grayness of the world around from November to March, but then I read somewhere about so called color therapy. The concept is to create something beautiful and full of color on your own. They recommended to buy a lot of watercolors or oil pains and try to express yourself by using them, even if you're really lousy at painting. And you know, it works.

Same applies to stocking flower making. Choosing fabrics for stocking flowers is extremely enjoyable and working on a floral composition that comes from your imagination gives you a very soothing and pacifying effect. 

Sometimes I buy stocking fabrics spontaneously, choosing whatever colors I like, sometimes I plan my purchases in advance and go to the shop with a clear idea of what I want - a pink fabric for roses, white and yellow - for my nylon plumeria, red - for hibiscus, orange - for tiger lilies and so on :)

Stocking flowers as wedding accessories

The quality of the photos is not the best, but I think they are still worth sharing. These wedding decorations - flower baskets, hair and hand decorations for the bridesmaids and buttonhole flowers for the best men  - were made by a person who first inspired me to try the whole flower making thing.

Blue and yellow stocking flowers

I always liked the combination of blue and yellow, so it was a pleasure to work on this stocking flower arrangement.

Where to get stocking flower materials in Navi Mumbai

Sometimes people contact me asking where to get stocking flower materials. Well, if you don't get them in your local craft store, there are lots of offers on eBay and AliExpress - you can fin everything there from green sticky tape and ready made leaves to stamens and stocking material for the petals.
As for me, I didn't have to do online shopping as I always manage to find everything I need at the local markets in Navi Mumbai. I just enter a shop selling all sorts of ribbons, buttons, lace and what not and ask them whether they have stocking flower materials. If they have- great! If they don't have, most probably they'll tell you where you can get everything you need to unleash your creativity :).

Here is the address of one of the shops in Navi Mumbai I visit from time to time:

Guru Krupa Nx
JN-1-51-B-3, Sector 9 (opposite Mini Market)
Vashi
Navi Mumbai 400703

They specialize in lace, buttons, wool and embroidery materials, craft materials and so on. 

Indian Style Stocking flower

A few weeks ago I made this stocking flowers using the colors of the Indian national flag - green, orange and white. I just thought it would be a nice little souvenir for one of my Indian friends on the Independence or Republic day.

The technique is the same as described in this post - How to make a stocking flower - step by step tutorial

Stocking (nylon) flowers as a gift wrapping accessory

Beautiful stocking flowers make a nice gift wrapping accessory - not only they add a special touch to the present, but they are also a great alternative to the traditional bows. Just add some ribbons and fix them on the box - the effect will be fantastic. 

This is just a little example of how you can go about it. I gave it to one of my new friends here in India years back and she still keeps it :)

How to make a stocking flower - step by step tutorial

Making stocking flowers is not difficult - it's a nice hobby for just anybody with a bit of patience and inspiration. And of course you'll need the materials to start with. Some of them you can find at home, like your old stockings for petals or wires for stems and branches. As for the stamens, leaves and green sticky tape, they can be easily obtained from a hobby store.

It won't take you long to make a pretty button-hole stocking flower which can be also used as an original addition to a valentine card or a gift wrapping accessory. 

So, you'll need:

scissors;

thread;

stocking (nylon) fabric;

ordinary wires for stems and golden wires for petals;

a few stamens;

one leaf;

green sticky tape.  

You can choose any color of the nylon fabric you like. There is no harm in choosing different colors for the petals of the same flower or for different flowers on one branch. It's up to you - feel free to unwind your imagination. 

1. Let's cut the golden wire and form the petals. The more petals you will use for one stocking flower, the more sophisticated it will look. 

2. Now let's wrap them with your stocking fabric and fix it with the thread. Make sure the fabric is tight - it doesn't look very attractive when it's loose and wrinkled.

 

3. Now, fold the stamens in half and fix it to the stem with threads. 

4. Choose a few petals (ideally, three or four) and fix them to the stem with threads as well. 

 

5. Take a few more petals and place them below the petals you've just fixed. Experiment with the shape of each petal by bending the wire - you might get the most unexpected and beautiful results. 

6. Wrap the green sticky tape around the stem. Make sure it's tight. By the way, it's not necessary to stick only to the shades of green when choosing this tape. White tape, for example, looks original and very refreshing. 

7. Choose a placement for the leaf and join to the stem with the sticky tape. Wrap the sticky tape around the second flower and join two nylon flowers together. 

It's all done :)