Dahlia Fold Flower

I ran across a flower fold tutorial posted by Kitty Blevins and had to try this intersting design. As I experimented with the flower I found several posts on the web with variations of the technique. I'll share here what worked best for me.

The flower is usually made with a simple set of circles. I used 1.5" circles that I punched with a Creative Memories punch. I did find examples of this folded flower that used scalloped edges, and that produces a very different look which you might consider trying.

The other thing I liked about Kitty's version of the Dahlia flower was that she distressed all the circle edges. This gave the flower a special look that really made the difference for me. I have made several different versions of the flower now, and each takes on a different look depending on the paper choice and the distress ink.
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For my example here I am starting out with a 2 sided paper that had a big color difference. One side very dark and one side a very light color. I did this on purpose so that it would be easier to see the folds. However, the distressing really doesn't show up on an extremely dark color. So, I have also displayed a finished version of the flower that is a better example of the distressed look. The flower itself can be made with a varying number of petals. I tried versions with 10, 9 and 8 petals. I liked 8 petals the best because the finished flower had a more scalloped look. The 10 petal flower had a finished look that was more circular. I will demonstrate an 8 petal flower here. Aside from the 8 circles for petals, you need one circle to use as a base to attach the petals. I found that a circle 2" or slightly larger provided an easy to use base.

To make a petal, first fold a circle in half. I tried not to put a hard crease in the petal because you are only going to use this fold as a guideline, so we don't necessarily want this crease to show on the finished flower.

Next you will fold in a narrow portion of the petal edge using the center fold as your staring point. You can change drastically the look of the flower by varying how large you make this folded edge.

Repeat this fold on the other side of the petal. You can see that these two folded edges only extend about halfway up the circle.

Now turn your petal over and fold the same petal edges into the center. You should still be able to see your faint center crease to guide the folding. The finished petal will look like this. Complete these same folds for the other 7 circles. You may have noticed that I did not distress my circle yet. I actually wait until all my folding is done and go back and distress the shapes. I do this because you need to distress both the front and back side of the circle, but only small sections. I found if I distress the petal after I folded it, I could tell just were the distressing needed to be placed.

When your distressing is complete you can begin attaching the petals to your base. I draw two lines on my circle base so I can easily identify the center. Then I just hold my petal by the top most folded edges and place the petal on the base keeping the petal point very close to the center of the base circle.

I continue placing petals around the circle. I make sure the petals touch each other, or have a very small overlap. I have used both glue dots and repositionable adhesive (Hermafix) to attach the petals. The nice thing about the repositionalbe adhesive is that I can adjust the petals a bit to get the best look.

Here is a completed flower. With a paper choice that has a medium to light color, the distressing of the flower edges really show up. Hope you enjoyed this. Have fun!