Pansies : 4 simple ways to recreate this flower on fabric

Who loves Pansy? The Pansy flower, of a thousand hues –  I have seen this flower in gardens and marveled at the many different shades of it- the perfect flower, other than a rose for embroidery. Many a girl is lovingly named Pansy after this beautiful flower. 

I have attempted to make Pansy flowers here with embroidery and with fabric and ribbon. With a severe lack of imagination, I have used only blue and yellow colors to make these pansy flowers but as you can see from the pansy images given below, God was very generous with colors when he designed the pansy (those who labored for the hybrid pansies also have a hand in this)

Colors and designs of Pansy flower

A pansy flower can be made in any wild color combination you like and you wouldn’t be too far off from the original. No need to tax your imagination as to which shades to give to your pansy flower petals; just look at the original pansy pictures and start making.

Drawing a pansy flower is quite easy. It is a 5 petal flower – with four petals pointing upward and only one pointing downward. You can simply draw a circle and fit in the pansy petals if you have difficulty freehand drawing.

Pansy – Needle painting

Pansy is one of those perfect flowers just right for needle painting. The subtle way different colors glide across its petals can be recreated beautifully with the needle painting technique.  Know more about this beautiful thread painting technique here in the post on needle painting

Pansy – ribbon embroidery

Pansy can be worked very nicely with simple ribbon embroidery stitches. Check out the ribbon embroidery for beginners for more details on the stitches used.

Nothing complicated about the stitches used in ribbon embroidery for making this pansy flower – you bring up the needle and then lay the ribbon as you wish, slightly puffed for a 3d effect, fold the ribbon and then bring down the needle just below the top fold.

When you pull the needle down a small curl is formed at the top edge. Use this to make all the petals of the pansy.

Pansy – Fabric flowers

This is a very simple fabric flower.

Simply cut out petal shapes from fabric.  If you use felt no need to even finish the edges as the felt edges do not fray. If you are using satin, simply use a candle flame or lighter flame to singe the edges just so lightly to harden the fibers

If you are using thin satin you may wish to adhere interfacing to the back for some stiffness.

Stack them in the order you want. Glue them in place ( or stitch) You will have to attach a bead in the middle to hide the joining of petals.

Pansy – fabric flowers

This is a pansy flower that you can make with wide ribbons or fabric strips which are about 2 inches wide.

If you are using fabric strip, singe one of the fabric edges.

But in some cases, you cannot use flame to finish the fabric edges. I am using a polyester fabric in light colour which singed to a black colour so I folded the fabric and it worked alright. So if you donot want to use flame just fold the fabric by half ( you should be taking twice wide fabric)

Cut out one 4.5 inch long fabric strip/ribbon for the big bottom petal ; two yellow ones 3 inches long ; two blue ones for top petals 3 . 5 inches long. I have given a lighter blue petal as a shade to the bottom petal – for that cut 3 inch long piece.

Make running stitches as in the picture above. These stitches are made to gather the edge. ( The unstitched edge will form the top edge of the petal so make the stitches in the bottom part.)

Gather by tightening the stitches. Tie around the petal and keep aside. Make all the petals

Gather them together in place. Use needle and thread to stitch the petals in place.The thread bunches in the middle is not a very beautiful sight but by adding beads in the middle you can make it look great and hide the unsightly stitches.

This is a pansy flower which I think I will turn into a brooch

Pansy Flower trivia 

• The word pansy means thought.
• This flower is considered as a symbol of remembrance.
• There is a reference to pansies in Hamlet with allusion to thoughts.
• You will not find pansies in hot climate areas. It is totally a cool weather flower.
• It is an edible flower, so go ahead and try the taste of its petals
• Heartsease the plant from which pansy derived was once considered a weed.

Ref : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansy; https://www.theflowerexpert.com

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