Felt flowers are so much fun to make. They're adorable, and they're VERY forgiving to crafters of any level. And they're cheap! And they're perfect for frames, corsages, barrettes/headbands, belts, purses, and more. *Sigh* I love them.
But if you don't think you're crafty, or you're not one of those people that can just look at a flower and know how to make it, take heart! I'm about to make your life easier and show you tutorials (some of my own, some linked up to other places that do it better than I ever could) for several adorable flowers so you can make your own at home! Most of them are VERY easy. So easy, in fact, my 6-year-old niece learned how to make a few in an afternoon and made her OWN hairbands to wear to school the next day!
Please bear with me on the super-long post...I wanted it all in one place!
ALSO, A QUICK NOTE ABOUT GLUE: Most of these flowers require glue. I'll tell you right now, because of my impatient nature, I am all about the hot glue gun. No, really. I use it for just about every craft, mostly because of how INSTANTLY it dries and I can move on. If you're not into it like I am, though, I recommend a fabri-tac kinda glue. Not much else works for felt long-term. Also, in almost all cases, you can sew things down instead if you're so inclined. But, seriously, invest the couple of dollars in a low-temp hot glue gun...you'll thank me later!
And now, without further ado: the tutorials!
THE LAYERED FLOWER
(All layered flowers shown are not mine--I did a google search a while ago for inspiration, so I can't really remember where they all came from...sorry! The rest of the pictures ARE mine, though...except the roses.)
This is the most typical felt flower ever. You just cut out flowery shapes of various sizes and layer them, staggering the petals, and sew or glue. You can embellish with ribbons, buttons, beads, embroidery thread, markers, and more, but they are all the same idea:
1. Draw or trace a flower shape you like. (If you don't have a stencil or an artistic eye, one trick is to use a pencil and office paper to trace an image you like from your computer screen...then zoom in/enlarge text on the screen to make it bigger, and bigger...then use that as your template). You can do various sizes of the same thing, or different shapes with the same number of petals each time, or completely different shapes altogether (see pics for inspiration!)
2. Layer them!
3. Sew/glue them together.
4. Embellish, if desired.
That's it!
THE (BUTTON) DAISY FLOWER
Okay, this doesn't look like a REAL daisy. There are other tutorials out there for that. But I kinda like the kid-ness of this flower...and it was really quite easy to make a ton of them! Here's how:
1. Cut a rectangle of felt. I think mine were about 5 inches long and 2-2 1/2 inches wide.
2. Fold it "hot dog" style so you get a long, skinny rectangle.
3. Cut strips from the folded edge to the not-folded edge, BUT NOT ALL THE WAY! Leave about a centimeter at the not-folded edge unscathed. Do this all the way down the fold, fairly evenly apart.
4. If you kinda bend the corners of the not-folded edge towards each other, you'll see the petals and flower start to take shape. That means you did it right! :)
5. Do a nice, wide
running stitch along the not-folded edge.
6. Pull that stitch tightly through the felt so it scrunches up into a flower shape!
7.
Whip stitch the last petal to the first along the open/unfinished sides...just up about a centimeter.
8. Flatten out into a pretty flower shape...turn it over so that the whip stitch doesn't show.
9. Put a little glue around the inside of the flower.
10. Glue down a contrasting circle for the center of your "daisy."
11. Put a button in the center of that, if you so desire...or another circle...or some pretty beads...etc.
12. Glue another circle onto the back center of the flower. Glue on a pin backing, magnet, or use this spot to glue/sew into headbands, belts, and more!
THE ANEMONE
The anemone is a lot like the daisy, in concept. It's also sometimes called a ribbon flower, because you can use a pretty, wide ribbon instead of fabric or felt...in fact, my step-mom put a white one of these on my temple dress, with a white button in the center. These are probably the easiest flower to make if you can sew a basic running stitch. I think they look like anemone flowers (especially if you put a dark, fuzzy button in the middle of a brightly-colored one), so that's what I'm calling it. :) Here's how to make it:
1. Cut a rectangle of fabric (the longer the better). The width of it will be about half the width of your final flower, give or take. If you have thin fabric instead of felt, make it twice as wide as you normally might and fold it over lengthwise ("hot dog style") to give it some form. Felt is pretty thick and you don't really need that.
2. Sew a running stitch along one edge (if your fabric is folded, sew along the not-folded edge).
3. Pull tight and sew to join sides, right sides together (joining it into a full, continuous circle and sewing on the "back").
4. Add on a button or two, or beads, or extra fabric/felt to the center of the front (especially if you're using felt, because you'll have a gaping hole in the center). Tada! You're all done!
THE ROSE
I found a great realistic rose tutorial, with free printable pattern if you need it,
HERE. I haven't made one of my own yet, but this looks really easy to follow. And the end result is beautifully realistic compared to some felt flowers I've seen. Check it out!
THE ROSETTE
I think these are super cute and really, really easy! (No, really!)
1. Take a scrap of felt/fabric and cut into a square (this one is about 5"...the bigger it is, the thicker/wider your flower will be from a top view at the end.)
2. You don't have to actually draw this on, but if it's your first one and you want to, go right ahead...it does add an interesting tipped effect to the final product. :) You'll basically be cutting a spiral that's about 3/4" wide (or however tall you want your flower to be from front to back). Be sure to cut your beginning notch first, about 3/4", and then draw a circle around the inside of the square so that it meets up with the tip of that notch.
3. Continue all the way inward...cut out your spiral.
4. Starting with the outside, put a little glue at the edge and start rolling your rosette. The outside of the spiral is the top of the rose, and the inside side of the spiral is the bottom.
5. Keep rolling, putting a dot of glue along the bottom occasionally to help keep it from unrolling.
6. At the end, you should feel it pulling down to the bottom of your rosette. This is good! Put glue on the bottom and lay that end flush with it to cover up your glue spots.
7. Voila! Pretty, simple rosette.
8. Add a leaf to the back, and make lots of different colors for fun projects!
THE BOX FLOWER
I don't know what this is actually called, but I call it a box flower because you kinda lay the layers on it the way you fold a cardboard box top. It'll make more sense in a minute. :) If you're a visual person, just follow the pictures...if you're not, I've also written up the directions. These are REALLY pretty when you use pretty fabric scraps, btw!
1. Cut 5 rather identical circles (whatever size you make them, that's how big the flower will be).
2. Put a little glue in a line across the middle of one circle. (This and the next two steps aren't necessary for fabric, but they ARE for felt!)
3. Fold the circle in half so that the glue touches itself. Press firmly.
4. Repeat with 3 more circles (so that 4 of your 5 are the "petals" and the last 1 is your base).
5. Put a dot of glue in the top left quarter of your base circle.
6. Lay a semi-circle on the glue so that the glue is under the top half of the semi-circle and the rounded edge is flush with the base, facing left.
7. Put a dot of glue on the top right quarter of the base circle.
8. Lay a semi-circle down so that it overlaps half of your previous one and the new glue dot is under the right half of the semi circle. The rounded edge should be facing up. (Wow, this wording is way more complicated than the pictures...check them out if you don't understand!)
9. Put a glue dot on the bottom right quarter of the base.
10. Lay a semi-circle down, again, rounded edge flush with the base and now facing right, so it covers the glue dot on its bottom half.
11. Lift up the bottom left flap from your original semi-circle. (This is where it reminds me of a cardboard box.)
12. Put a glue dot under it and lay your 4th semi-circle so that it's over the 3rd but under the 1st...like when you're packing up a box!
13. Return the flap down.
14. Fluff open the "petals" a little.
15. Add a smaller version of this, flat felt/fabric circles, and/or buttons to the center to make it pretty.
16. Make lots more! :)
THE CHERRY BLOSSOM
This one is super easy...no, really, I promise it is!
1. Cut out five small petal shapes (about 1/2 inch tall and just as wide, but with a more slender tip) and one small circle (for the base). I like to "notch" at least one petal (sometimes all of them) for a more realistic effect.
2. If you want, use a permanent marker to draw a few veins from the bottom of each petal upwards about halfway. This isn't essential unless you're wanting to make it look super realistic, though.
3. Put a thin layer of glue along the bottom of each petal and pinch LOOSELY the corners together. If you do it too tightly, the petal looks funky and it looks REALLY weird when you put them together...I learned that the hard way.
4. Put glue all over the base circle and arrange your five petals on top into a pretty cherry blossom flower!
THE RUFFLE/BUSTLE FLOWER
I call this a bustle flower because I saw a bustle skirt on a blog and you fold circles in the same way to make it. This one is nice and orderly (meaning you could bust out a dozen that look exactly the same), and not too complicated. Note that I'm using felt here, but if you are using fabric you'll need to make a LOT more "bustles" since it won't be as stiff as the felt.
1. Cut a few circles (for a 2" felt flower, I made seven (7) 2" circles...you may need more if your flower/circles are bigger, or less if they're smaller, or WAY more if you're using thin fabric).
2. Put a little dot of glue in the center of a circle and fold into a semi-circle, pinching in the middle.
3. Fold again, putting a dot of glue in the "corner" you form and pinching just at the corner until glue sets.
4. You should have one bustle completed...see picture and compare. :)
5. Do this again for all circles except one (leave the one as your base).
6. The numbers are going to vary a little depending on your flower, but the basic idea is the same here: Put glue around the edge of your base and lay the ruffles (facing in different directions for a randomized look) along the edge so that the ruffles are facing out of the circle and the corners are in the center. I know that stuffing 5 right angles together doesn't mathematically work perfectly, but that's kinda what I attempted here.
7. Use any remaining ruffles, scattered in different directions, to fill in the gaps (put a dot of glue on the corner and just press down wherever you want it). In this felt flower, I only needed one extra ruffle/bustle to fill it in. You may need more.
8. Admire your work, put a pin backing or magnet on it, etc. And enjoy your beautiful flower!
THE HYDRANGEA
Each hydrangea is a little different--some flowers look like triangles or four-leaf clovers, while others look just like scrunched up circles. To make a hydrangea flower, you'll notice a lot of similarities to the ruffle/bustle flower above, except it's not so neat and orderly. Each time you make it, it will look different. That's good! That's just like the real thing.
1. Cut a few squares of different shades of the same color--here I made 1" squares, 5 light pink, 4 medium pink, 3 dark pink.
2. From each square, cut the shape you want each individual flower to be. I promise, it doesn't matter what you do, they're all kinda cute! In the tutorial pictures I did a three-leaved flower, but I also experimented with squares, circles, and hexagons...you can see that when it's scrunch time, there's not much difference between those three.
 |
| See? Can't even really tell which is which... |
So, if I were you, I'd stick with either the squares or a leaved pattern.
3. Put a dot of glue in the center of your flower shape/square.
4. Pinch JUST THE CENTER together tightly (to give the flower dimension).
5. Do this for all the flower shapes/squares. (Come to think of it, if you made each flower shape with 5 petals, this could be an easier way to make the cherry blossoms! But I digress...)
6. Glue these in a random mess on a felt circle or oval. Et voila! Your hydrangeas are complete!
THE DAFFODIL
Daffodils kinda make me smile...the first signs of spring, and it's my birth month flower! Even better, this flower is fairly easy to make. If you're interested in a daffodil, there's a great tutorial and free printable template
HERE! I just sort of eyeballed it and I used a hot glue gun and pinched tightly instead of sewing on this one, so mine looks a little different than the original...but I think it's still pretty!
THE DAHLIA
This is the one Clair gave me, and I just had to look it up and make a few more! I love them. They are so cute--and a combination locket and corsage! Honestly, I couldn't do this one without the wonderful, clear visual tutorial given
HERE by a talented Megan Reardon--so just check out that link, it's as good or better than anything I could come up with for you!
THE POINSETTIA
I followed the tutorial
HERE...except I didn't sew anything, I just used hot glue (if you do this, I learned to pinch the ends LIGHTLY instead of TIGHTLY because it gave the petals/leaves a nice, loose shape that way! Can you see which petal I did first, and too tightly?). I also used small pearl beads instead of wooden ones (I thought they were cuter...plus, that's what I already had in my stash!), although I definitely overdid the huge glue glob in the center. Ah, well. These are cute and fun for Christmas pins, ornaments, magnets, headbands, and more.
*WHEW* That's all I've got for you today. I may add more as time goes on...but that should be plenty to get you started! I hope I was clear in all my tutorials. If not, ask questions or email me and I'll try to make it more clear! So, you ready for some fun? Go create your own little garden! Accessorize everything for yourself or a daughter, niece, neighbor, VT-ee, etc. And never pay a lot of money at a store for something you can make on your own again! :)
Linking up
HERE and
HERE and
HERE.
