DIY Fabric Pinwheels

The 4th of July is such a great holiday. I love celebrating our freedom with my family in fun ways. To get ready for the day I made some fabric pinwheels to use as a centerpiece on my 4th of July table. They are pretty easy, inexpensive, and make a big statement. You should make some of your own.

Here’s how to make them:

Pinwheel Supplies

• Fabric
• Cardboard
• Heat and Bond
• Wooden Dowels
• Paint (Optional)
• Buttons, Disks, or Gems 
• Scissors
• Glue Gun
• Pen
• Ruler
• Iron/Ironing Board

Pinwheel Instructions

• Measure and draw an 8 inch square on the piece of cardboard. I used a cereal box. Cut the square out.

• I am making five fabric pinwheels so I chose five different fabrics. I found these little bundles at Walmart for .97 each. On the back of each fabric trace your pattern two times and cut the pieces out. You should have 10 pieces.
• Also, cut out 10 eight inch squares of the heat and bond.

• Heat iron to hottest setting. 
• On the back of each fabric square place one square of the heat and bond, paper side up. Iron in place moving the iron around the square.

• Each pinwheel has a different front and back. Decide how you would like to pair up the pieces.

• Remove the paper from the heat and bond and align the front and back together (wrong sides together). Iron the two pieces together. (The double heat and bond will give you a stiff fabric to work with and make a prettier pinwheel.) Continue this with all five pinwheels.
• Trim around all five squares to remove uneven edges and thread.

• Using your ruler and pen draw a line from corner to corner going both ways to find your center.
• Cut on each line up to about a half inch from the center.

• Once all lines have been cut start folding the right side of each triangle up to the middle and glue into place. It should end like this:

• (Optional) Spray paint your wooden dowels. My dowels are 1/4″ thick and 15″ long. You can use any size dowel of your choosing. There is silver specks in some of the fabric I used, so I chose to use a metallic spray paint.
• Add a button, gem, or round disk to the center of your pinwheel. I used wooden disks that I also spray painted. Glue a dowel to the back. (These are just for decor so I didn’t need them to spin.)

That’s it. I added them along with a few flags to a tall glass container that I poured a bunch of red hot candies into. I think it turned out so cute.

What do you think?

We would love for you to pin this for us.

Here are some other festive decor ideas.

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