These fabric pinwheels use everything I love in a quick craft project ….. pretty fabrics, heat ‘n bond, my snap press (every home should have one!) and a hot glue gun.
Grab some fabric scraps and ‘sandwich’ two pieces together using heat ‘n bond. Cut out a square whatever size you like, I went with 6×6 inches for no other reason than I have a quilters ruler that is 6 x 12, so it made it quick to cut out two at once. Mark from corner to corner diagonally and cut from each corner towards the centre, stopping approximately 1 inch before the centre. This gives you eight corner pieces, fold the point of every second one to the centre.
If you are lucky enough to have a snap press or pliers, insert a snap to hold it all together. Getting the pinwheel into the press, and keeping it all together takes a bit of wrangling, of course you need to squint your eyes just the right amount, hold your tongue at just the right angle, and a few quietly uttered words such as ‘please .. oh come on …. stay, dammit, stay!’ never go astray either. Then just when you get it in there you’ll realise you have it the wrong way around. It needs to be bottom up, see the photo below and don’t make the same mistake I did.
Alternatively you can pop a few stitches in there, a button on top would be cute, or you could fire up the hot glue gun, another personal favourite of mine.
Next step …. find something to attach it to! I added a snap (the opposite half to what’s on the pinwheel, make sure you get that part right) to a t-shirt and stuck one on there. It looks adorable! The snap means I can take if off when the shirt goes in the washing machine.
With the help of my trusty hot glue gun I added another snap to a piece of dowel and attached a pinwheel to that. I was hoping it would spin, and it does, if I push it with my finger. I’m sure with enough experimenting I could work out the perfect combo of fabric weight and pinwheel size to get it moving when you blow on it. Or if you work it out, please let me know! In the meantime its still cute and decorative.
How clever!
Ooo what a cute and easy project!! I’m going to do this with my daughter today. Only yesterday she was facinated by a paper ($20!) pinwheel at the shops. Thank you!
P.S. I agree with your comment re: every home needing a snap press… I have two! So I don’t have to change the male and female dies over
I love the idea of the pinwheel on a shirt.