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Did you know that you can dye fabric by pounding flowers? This unique craft project makes a perfect Mother's Day gift - and the kids will love creating it!
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Flower Pounding Tote Bag

Learn how to make a DIY flower tote with real flowers! This is a fun craft for kids, and makes a great gift.
Course Crafts
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Dry Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Servings 1 tote
Cost $2

Equipment

  • Rubber gloves
  • Board
  • Hammer

Ingredients

Instructions

  • To help the natural dyes take to the fabric, you need to prepare the bag first. Wash the bag to get rid of any residue.
    White canvas tote, wood board, flowers, hammer, parchment paper
  • Dissolve 1/4 cup of alum in two cups of hot water. Soak the bag in the mixture, wring it out, and let it air dry. Iron to get out the wrinkles.
    Blank canvas tote and bag of alum
  • Slip a piece of parchment paper inside to keep the dye from leaking through.
    Place a piece of parchment paper between two layers of a tote
  • Gather flowers and leaves. If the flower is really full, with lots of layers of petals, you'll want to pluck a bunch off first, so the prints come out nicer. Lay your flowers out on the bag, and secure them with lots of masking tape.
    Flowers taped down on the front of the tote
  • Put the bag on top of your board and hammer away. Make sure you hit every part of the flowers.
    Child pounding flowers on a canvas tote with a hammer
  • Peel the flowers and tape off to reveal your print. Add some additional flowers in random areas and hammer as needed.
    Printed colorful flowers on a tote
  • When you are done, let everything dry, then put another piece of parchment paper on top of the bag and iron over your design with a hot, dry iron on the highest setting. This will help the colors set in and keep them from fading.
    Pounded flower tote bag with the hammer laying next to it

Video

Notes

Step 4: The smaller ones that we used are marigolds and petunias, but I'm not sure what the other ones are. The marigolds definitely worked the best. I love the bright orange!
I left the green stems on the flowers, but told the kids not to hammer them. You can try to take them off, but I didn't want the flowers to fall apart.
Step 5: At first we had some flower prints that turned out just looking like a bunch of dots/hammer marks. It's a good idea to try it out on some scrap fabric or paper first.
Washing Instructions: You should be able to wash your tote just fine; obviously don't use any bleach, and cold water is preferred.