Ha. It's Done.

Kept looking at that black and white checked shirt I refashioned the other day, thinking that it still needed a little something more.

I went through my stash and found two remnants that would coordinate, and also used a strip that I had cut off the bottom of the blouse.  I cut each of them into a strip about 22" long by about 2 or 3 inches wide.  Then I rolled them up diagonally, starting at one corner, using the tutorial I found here.  I put a spot of glue at that corner to keep it from unraveling, then put a spot of glue every couple of inches or so until I got to the end, then put a spot of glue at the final corner.  (In case you were wondering, I used Crafter's Pick Ultimate.  I would have used my Beacon Fabri-Tac, but it had dried up.  Same with the bottle of Mend-It that my boss had given me about a month ago.  And that one had never even been opened.)

Top: black velour
Middle: scrap from the blouse
Bottom: a scrap that came with a bunch of freebies at a sewing/crafting sale

After the glue was dry, I started coiling up the rolls and stitching at the bottom, while putting in a fold every quarter turn.











After that, I stitched the end of the coil under the finished piece and voila - roses!

 Shabby Chic Roses!  My camera still hates this black
 and white check fabric - it can't tell where to focus!

Added some beads and some lace "leaves" - you can't see the beads
on the black rose or the checked one in this photo - the grey
patterned fabric was hogging the camera's focus.

Here's a shot of the finished blouse - looks much better with a new focal point by the tie.  You can't see it in the photo but I also added an inner tie to help stabilize the front.

(Note to self:  in the future, photograph the finished tops with some kind of skirt or pants.  The mannequin's bottom looks a little weird, there.)

This will fit a woman's size medium (10-12).  Let me know if you are interested.