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

Flowers with wings...

I mean butterflies, of course. One can forgive this planet a lot when looking at a beautiful butterfly sitting on a flower.

One more attempt to make life more flowery

The other days I spent some time photographing flowers in a garden nearby - I was going to the supermarket and decided to reward myself in advance for doing the boring job of buying groceries. So here is what I've got:

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 :) 

My inspiration for making stocking flowers

I've never been engaged in any sort of crafty activities and the last thing I expected from myself was to start making artificial flowers. However, when I moved to India from Ukraine, I missed the garden I left behind in my homeland, so I thought if I couldn't grow flowers anymore, perhaps I should try making them. I tried, and you can see the result in my previous post. Not only I liked the way my first bunch of stocking flowers looked, but I also enjoyed the pacifying process of making them. You just let your thoughts flow while your hands are busy creating something lovely. I suppose that's why so many of us are going for crosshatching, knitting, candle making and what not. 

The nearby parks and gardens in India are a permanent source of inspiration for me - the tropical flowers are utterly beautiful. This is a slideshow featuring the blooms from one of my favorite parks in Nerul, Navi Mumbai. Hope you'll enjoy it - the flowers and classical music go well together.