<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" This next stop on the tour of Manhattan holiday windows is a big one. &amp;quot;Curiouser and Curiouser&amp;quot;\u00AD\u2014also known as the Bergdorf Goodman windows at 58th Street and Fifth Avenue\u2014take Alice in Wonderland as their inspiration, and they&amp;#039;re stunning. (See New York&amp;#039;s behind-the-scenes video here.)    Leafless white branches and the mannequin&amp;#039;s winter coat aside, this isn&amp;#039;t even all that seasonal; what makes it a holiday window (other than the fact that Bergdorf&amp;#039;s visual director spent all year putting it together) is the sheer profusion of whimsical stuff, flowers and gadgets and animals all jumbled together. Seasonal decorations don&amp;#039;t have to have explicit connections to holidays; actually, if they don&amp;#039;t, you can get away with leaving them up all year (the branches and foil snowflakes I told you about in my last post stayed in our living room for months). But I digress. This window: A great collage that uses an adult palette to make you feel like a kid in a very cool toy store (or a really good book). My how-to for you: Fabric roses, which take about five minutes to make (after a bit of practice) and add a little punch of Victorian craftiness to garlands, wreaths, centerpieces, cardigans\u2026you get my drift.  You&amp;#039;ll need: Scissors A strip of fabric, about 14&amp;quot; long and 2&amp;quot; wide (mine&amp;#039;s a sample square of Sunbrella fabric left over from a home story here at the magazine); anything will work, though rougher fabrics are a bit more tricky) A paper clip A needle and thread Floral tape and floral wire (optional)    Cut your strip of fabric in half lengthwise, stopping about an inch short of the end; cut the corners from that same end. (Please don&amp;#039;t judge me by my scary Sweeney Todd scissors; I inherited them with my desk.)      Make a 45-degree fold or two so that the inner edges of the fabric form a right angle. (The mechanics of the fold itself aren&amp;#039;t important, but the right angle\u2014seen here between my middle finger and index finger\u2014is.)      Now fold the vertical strip up and over where the two strips meet so that you have an inner right angle opening up and to your left.      Now take the horizontal strip and fold it back over the vertical strip the same way so that the inner right angle opens up and to your right.      Keep alternating those folds between your two strips of fabric, moving clockwise; the inner right angle will move 90 degrees each time. When you start running out of fabric, you&amp;#039;ll have a little square of accordion folds, like so.      Pinch the last few folds between your thumb and forefingers and let the bottom unfurl.      Now here&amp;#039;s the tricky part: While holding the last fold or two in place with your thumb and forefingers, use your other hand to grab the bottom strip. Keeping the last folds secure in one hand, pull the bottom strip with the other so that the accordion crumples in on itself and forms &amp;quot;petals.&amp;quot; You&amp;#039;ll end up with one short strip left in your pinched fingers and one long strip streaming out below. Stop pulling when you get to where the two strips meet; that&amp;#039;s the center of your rose. This step takes a bit of practice, and the fabric doesn&amp;#039;t always crumple in a good-looking way; if your first try looks a bit odd, just let the rose unfold and give it another try. Don&amp;#039;t worry about fraying the fabric; a little extra texture along the edge of your petals actually looks rather good. If you do like the look of your rose but don&amp;#039;t quite like the petal placement, grab the center give it a few twists; a little rotation can change the look quite a bit.       Use a paper clip to secure the part of the rose that you&amp;#039;ve been pinching and cut off your extra fabric.      Use a needle and thread to secure the underside a bit more permanently (make a knot, stab your fabric, then wrap the thread around the base a few times and knot it again), and you&amp;#039;re done.    Like snowflakes, rosettes work almost anywhere; as in the Bergdorf window, they cluster nicely on branches and could be part of a nifty sculptural centerpiece. I made a handful in complementary colors and turned them into a bouquet of stemmed roses by attaching each one to a green wire stem with floral tape (extremely useful stuff that&amp;#039;s available at most craft stores); it took awhile, but the finished product was worth it. They work in your hair, on candlesticks, atop gifts\u2026and I think using modern or masculine fabrics really updates the look (less Renaissance Faire, more Alexander McQueen). Good luck!     "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/home/decor/a5750/fabric-rose-tutorial/>