How to DIY a Fabric Flower for Sandals

Tools and materials:

• Soft fabric with no right or wrong side
• 2.5 inch by 1.25 inch piece of leather
• Leather for uppers
• Pre-made wedge
• Scrap leather
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Shoe glue or contact adhesive
• Hot glue gun
• Sewing machine, or hand sewing needle and thread used double

1. Cut your fabric strip

Cut a strip of fabric about 2.5 inches wide and 42 inches long.

I’m demonstrating with a short piece of netting so you can see the technique more easily.

2. Pleat the fabric

Fold the fabric in pleats of 1 to 2 inches in width. The narrower the pleats, obviously the more of them you will have. I’m using 1.5 inch pleats.

Fold the fabric concertina style, so each pleat is behind the one before it.

3. Cut the petal shape

When all the fabric is pleated, hold the pleats at one end to keep them together.

Measure half an inch from the edge that you’re holding. 

Starting and finishing half an inch from that edge, cut the pleated fabric into a curved petal shape.

When you open the strip out, you should have a row of petals joined at the base.

This part always reminds me of the strips of paper dolls we used to make as children!

4. Gather the petals

Either use your sewing machine to make a row of gathering stitches along the straight edge of the strip, or make running stitches with your hand sewing needle and thread. 

I’d suggest with hand sewing that you use the thread doubled.

5. Make the flower center

Fold the leather strip in half lengthways with the wrong side inside and glue the long edges together.

With the folded edge towards you, make narrow cuts about one half of the way across the strip.

Keep the cuts close together.

Run a little contact adhesive or shoe glue along the uncut edge.

Roll the strip up tightly with the glue on the inside. Keep the straight edge level. 

You’ll end up with a flower shape.

6. Attach the center to the petals

Use your hot glue gun to put a line of glue around the base of the flower center.

Use the gathering stitches to gather the edge of the petals into an attractive shape.

Don’t pull them up too tightly, as you need to wrap them several times around the center.

Wrap the straight edge of the fabric petals around the base of the center of the flower. 

When you’ve completed one round, add another line of glue above the fabric and continue wrapping in rounds until the base of the center is completely covered with the fabric petals.

7. Cut and attach the uppers

Cut a piece of leather 6.5 inches by 8 inches. 

Draw a line lengthways down the center..

Put a layer of glue on the inside and fold the two long edges into the center line.

Glue the upper underneath the insole before adding the pre-made wedge base.

8. Attach the flower to the shoe

Cut a round of leather the diameter of the base and glue it to the underside of the flower.

Use your shoe glue to attach the flower to the upper, wherever you want it.

DIY fabric flower for sandals

As long as the fabric for the flower is very soft and folds easily, you could even use suede leather to make this rose.

You need a fabric that doesn’t have a “right” or “wrong” side, so suede, organza or netting are all good choices.

This makes a great accessory for several styles of shoe. You could adapt it to make a stylish addition to clothes as well, making the center of a lighter weight fabric and sewing it in place.

I hope you enjoyed following along with this and I’d love to hear what you think of it in the comments below.