Saturday, July 31, 2010

Rolled Felted Wool Roses Tutorial

Aren't these cute?  I have been wanting to make some of these...

I have made all sorts of colors and styles, some look more like roses, some more like zinnias, some, well, some just don't look like any flower I have ever seen!  But I do know they do look good on headbands and hair pins and they make excellent pins/brooches.
You start with some felt scraps, you can use felted wool as I have, or you can use regular felt.
You cut strips of the felt, the wider the strip, the taller the flower. The shorter the strip, the smaller the flower. Taper each end in width to create a realistic rose appearance.
Now roll them up, experimenting with how it looks, if you don't like it unroll it and either trim or change the end you start the roll with.

Make it look however you want it and then stick a straight pin all the way through the side, catching the end under the pin.  Please do not laugh at my hot glue gun that came over on the Mayflower...my brother gave it to me and he got it at an auction.  The great thing about it is that it is cordless.  Pop it off the base and it lasts for 10 min or so...makes all sorts of projects very easy!
Next cut a square (or you can cut a circle) a bit bigger than your flower, in the same color felt.
Next put a glob of hot glue just a bit smaller than your rosette on the square.
Now, keeping your fingers away from that hot glue, gently push the back onto the rosette.
Apply a dot of hot glue under neath the end of the felt strip and remove the straight pin.
Allow the hot glue to cool a bit and then trim the extra around the rosette off.  Do I need a manicure or what??
So it looks like this on the bottom...
Cut out a felt leaf slightly wider than your rosette.  And center and glue the rosette onto it. The leaf is optional...
You can leave the flower standing up or you can fold the "petals" down so the flower is wider.
See the difference between the top two pics?

I have bunches of these now!
I love the way they look...the dark pink ones I made from ribbing at the bottom of a wool sweater.


I like how it looks kinda nubby.
The brown flower is a lot prettier in person (or in flower I guess).  Much like me, it doesn't photograph so well. 

5 comments:

The Autocrat: Haley said...

ooo Super cute! Thanks for sharing them!

Tania Pelletier said...

Very cool, I think I'll definitely be making some of those!

Tania

Jill said...

What gorgeous flowers and great tutorial! I wish my glue gun was cordless!!
Thanks for linking up to A Round Tuit!

Anonymous said...

These are so lovely. Thanks for the tutorial but you really do need to have the touch to get them just right...but it does give me something to shoot for. Great job.

hair clips said...

I was looking for something to do for the weekend. I think these roses are perfect, not too difficult but still look so pretty. Thank you so much for the great tutorial!