Hello, friends! It’s Julia from Bayhill Studio. Today I am excited to share a fun and easy art project with you.
Are you looking for something dramatic and 3 dimensional to spice up your wall? This bold poppy art piece is so fun and fast.
Recreate this look, or come up with your own floral design using the techniques I’ll be sharing.
For this project, you will need:
- A burlap canvas. (I used and 8″x10″ burlap canvas)
- Fabrics of your choosing. I am using various colors from the Painter’s Watercolor Swirl collection designed by J. Wecker Frisch for Riley Blake Designs
- HeatnBond Lite Sewable Fusible Adhesive
- SpraynBond Fabric Stiffener
- Needle and Embroidery Thread
This project was very freeform for me. I started out by drawing various petal shapes that I thought would mimic poppy petals. Nothing is exact — this is abstract art — but I was going for a general “feel” of poppy petals.
I drew the petals on the back “paper side” of the HeatnBond Fusible Adhesive.
Next, For the back petal, cut out one larger petal and lay the fusible adhesive down on the fabric so the glue side of the fusible adhesive faces the wrong side of the fabric. Press. *I used a lighter red/orange fabric for the back petal.
I repeated this process for the front two petals, but I used a deeper red shade of fabric here.
Repeat the first step to make the flower center. Next, cut out a small strip of yellow fabric for the filaments.The strip of fabric should be as long or a little longer than the width of the black flower center.
To make the filament, cut thin strips almost to the base of the strip. The uncut portion of the base will hold all of the filaments in place. I cut my strip about 3″ wide, but the width is up to you. You can always trim the little filament sections, so don’t worry if it is too long at first.
Remove the paper backing from the fusible adhesive from the petals and black flower center. Keep the paper backing – we’ll use it in a future step.
Arrange the flower pieces where you want them on the canvas, but don’t press them in place just yet. I wanted to add two flowers to this canvas, so I kept that in mind as I decided where to place the flower.
Once you have the pieces positioned, remove the outer petals and set them aside. Arrange the yellow filament so the uncut portion is behind the black flower center. Press everything in place. Now arrange the outer petals and press them in place.
Next, arrange the second flower how you want it. For my second flower, I layered more petals in a way that gives a top angle, versus the side angle of the first flower. You’ll also notice I layered the orange and red petals to add depth and interest.
Once you have layered the petals, do NOT press. I like to take a picture here so I can remember the petal placement. Carefully remove all of the top petals, leaving just the base petals.
Now, carefully remove the paper backing from all of the petals and black flower center.. To remove the backing from the base petals, I tried to hold the petals in their position while removing the backing, but a little movement one way or another won’t hurt the overall look of the flower.
Note here that I decided to add a flower stem to the first poppy. I added the fusible adhesive and positioned into place under the flower layers of the second flower.
Position all of the petals into place, but set aside the black flower center for later. Press all of the petals and green stem into place. My stem and petals extended over the sides of the canvas. If that is how you arranged your flower, simply press the sides as well.
Before adding the black flower center, we need to add the filament. This filament was a little trickier than the first, but still pretty easy. Cut a long strip (a longer strip will wrap around more and give you more layers of filament) of the yellow fabric.
I cut mine longer so it wrapped around three times. To arrange the filament, pin the black flower center loosely in place, then start arranging the filament so the uncut base tucks under the black flower center. I pinned the filament in place as I arranged it to keep it positioned where I wanted it.
*I also trimmed my filament strips so they were different lengths to add a little more depth.
Press the black flower center in place over the filament. Because the filament is in contact with the glue on the back of the black fabric circle, the glue isn’t reaching the flower petals, which makes for a loose flower center. To fix that, and to add additional texture and interest, take some yellow embroidery thread and stitch little french knots all over the flower center of both flowers.
Next, it’s time to give the filament some shape. Roll up those discarded pieces of fusible adhesive backing from the flower petals. You’ll want the shiny side facing out.
Carefully spray the delicate filament strips with SpraynBond Fabric Stiffener. Arrange the tiny filament pieces so they lay over the rolled up paper backing.
Repeat for the second flower.
I let the filament set for about five minutes before removing the rolled paper. The fabric has set up just enough that it retains its shape, and hasn’t dried so much that the paper rolls are too difficult to remove. You’ll see everything is still quite wet. Let the Fabric Stiffener dry completely.
And that’s it! You can see here the three dimensional look the fabric stiffener adds. Those tiny fabric filaments dry hard and aren’t going to move anywhere. You can also see here the petals that extend over the side of the canvas. I love the added interest this creats.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Follow me on Instagram @bayhillstudio and subscribe to my YouTube Channel @bayhillstudio for more creative content and project inspiration. Have a blessed day!
