Premature Summer

The past several weeks has been summer, following the long not-a-winter.  For some reason, the weather has given me a sudden urge to decorate one of my straw hats.  This, of course, requires that I pick up a new craft: Kanzashi!

Kanzashi are flowers made of folded fabric, traditionally used to make hair ornaments for geisha.  I'm using cotton for my kanzashi, though traditional kanzashi are more likely to be made of silk.

Here's my first flower:

I haven't decided how I'll finish the center yet, but most likely I'll use beads.  I used 2" squares, which means the flower is just about two inches in diameter.  I'll be experimenting with different sized petals and with pressing the petals as I fold them.