How Kate created this month’s bold Teddy Bear sunflower tutorial

It wasn’t until I started working on this month’s tutorial that I realized sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers. As a child, I loved the magic of planting a little striped seed in the spring and by late summer having an eight foot monster of a plant bursting with seeds for birds and field mice. I have happy memories of playhouses built from sunflower stalks and morning glory vines, and of the colorful cut bunches, my parents would buy at the farmers market.

 I’m always happy to see the traditional sunflower with the fuzzy brown center fill up grocery stores in the summer, but it’s the bold weirdo varieties that capture my heart. I love the strange misshapen seed heads, the intricate patterns of seeds and florets, and the way the petals can be both scraggly and elegant at the same time. I’m sorry to say that I spent a truly crazy amount of time trying to decide how to do a center with a delicate spiral of thousands of seeds that another human being would actually want to take the time to reproduce and would look realistic. Crochet? Knitting? Beading? Clay? Intricate cardstock cutting? 

 And then I learned that Quynh’s favorite sunflower variety is the sweet, fluffy Teddy Bear sunflower, which meant the flower would be all about puffy, glowy cuteness. Rather than doing a fussy center that might not stand out nestled among several layers of bright yellow petals, I created a nice green rolled center for a contrast in color and texture. I think I have the sunflower bug, though. This big Teddy Bear needs a vase full of friends, and I have so many ideas for the next one I craft . . .

Here are three tips to help you build your sunflower as you follow the tutorial: