Summer in Atlanta brings out the Magnolia flowers and they are so beautiful!! I love them!! I saw the perfect space on the Farmer’s Market Tote Bag and I thought a Magnolia flower would be so pretty on the burlap side! But I had an awful time with a paper and glue flower … so I considered fabric. I grabbed a flour sack towel, my Tattered Angels, the Canvas Corp Farmer’s Market Tote Bag and got to work!! I love it! You can make one too and share my love for southern Magnolia flowers!
Canvas Corp Farmer’s Market Tote Bag
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist – Gilded Gold; Precious Metals; Key Lime Pie
Tattered Angels Color Wash Paint – Verdigris Faux Finish
Tattered Angels Chalkboard – Clover
Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze – Mercury Glass
Tattered Angels High Impact Paint – White
Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam – Clear
Gesso, Glue, Cream Colored Embroidery Thread, Burgandy Embroidery Thread, Flour Sack Towel
Paint brushes, craft sewing needle
Start out with a picture or a real magnolia flower! Keep it beside you as you work for reference. Take a clean, white flour sack towel (I buy them at my big box store in the kitchen towel section!) and scrape a layer of gesso all over the material. Then to give the white a little hint of color, spray the wet gesso with random sprays of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Guilded Gold and Precious Metal. Then hang it up or use a heat gun to dry the gesso and Glimmer Mist. (I loved hanging it up to dry, it was kind of like my Granny hanging the wash outside!!)
Once the fabric is dry you can sketch on the petal shapes with a pencil and cut them out. I dissected my magnolia flower at this point and looked all the different sizes and shapes of the petals. When they are cut them out, place some glue at the bottom of the big petals and further up the flower on the smaller ones. Fold the ends or where the glue is together so you create a fold on the petal. The smaller ones will use the very end of the flower to connect to the stem so leave it a little bit long.
After you make the petals, it is time to make the leaves. This is a fun part because you are just going to mix together a bunch of Tattered Angels products to make the color you want. Start off by brushing on Tattered Angels Chalkboard in Clover and while it is still wet, brushing on Tattered Angel Glimmer Glaze in Mercury Glass. Play around until you find a good balance of darkish green color. When it is dry, spread on a gloss medium. The flowers of the Magnolia are very glossy – so using the Glaze and the Gloss Medium will help achieve this effect. Then shake up your Tattered Angels Verdigris – Faux Finish Color Wash Paint and then pour a little over the green on the towel. Move it around with a paint brush and let the gold in the Color Wash Paint really stand out. The great thing here is that the towels are really cheap so you can play around (mess-up) as much as you want until you get to the look you want! When they are dry, cut them out. Use a very thin line of Tattered Angels High Impact Paint in white to create the veining on the leaves. When the white paint is dry, use Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Key Lime Pie to tone them down to a realistic magnolia leaf vein color!
When all of your pieces are dry and ready to go, lay them out on your Canvas Corp Farmer’s Market Tote Bag. Then break out your needle to secure the flower to the burlap bag. I stitched around the base of the leaves and you can see my stitiching isn’t great at all. Luckily, it will be covered up by the flower petals!
Roll up a small square of gesso’ed flour sack towel. Cut the bottom edges of it so you can use the flaps to attach it to the bag. Sew on the petals to the stem. It will be tricky but you will be having fun!! When it is done, wrap the mid section of the stem in burgundy embroidery string and coat the top with Glimmer Glam in Gold. We are going a little less realistic here, but I think the Glitter Glam gives it pop of color! Then you can sew the stem and the petals onto the burlap. I also used the craft glue to secure the flower onto the burlap side of the bag!
Print out the quote onto tissue paper and use Matte Medium to glue it onto a square of burlap. Make sure to coat the burlap with Matte Medium first, then place the tissue paper down and then coat the top with more matte medium. When it is dry – glue it down to the burlap and make a couple of stitches around the edges for some extra security!
Now, enjoy your bag next time you are running the market!
Karen Crossen
blog and InstagramÂ
'Flour Sack Towel Magnolia and Farmer’s Market Tote!' has 1 comment
October 8, 2018 @ 7:01 am Jean Marmo
What a stunning flower!