Friday, March 23, 2012

Easy Felt Roses Tutorial (with Video!)

I never get tired of roses! (I have at least 21 tattooed on my body--I can never quite count them correctly.) The ones here are made from wool felt and I plan on making buckets full of them. They're great as a bouquet on your tabletop, but they're also fantastic for hair clips, brooches, sashes, etc.

I came up with my technique after reading this lovely paper roses tutorial. One day while working on my millinery class homework on the train (of all places), I realized that the process could be applied beautifully to felt-like fabrics, if they were stitched in place by hand. A tilted retro hat was born.

I became a little obsessed, and starting making roses out of a wool felt remnant I had on hand. (I'm using this lovely felt from Purl in the video below.)

To make one rose, here's what you'll need:
  • a 2 x 32" strip of wool felt (you can play around with longer or shorter lengths for different effects)
  • all purpose sewing thread
  • a long hand sewing needle
  • green florist's stems (optional, use these to make a rose to put in a vase) Note: I used a small-gauge wire for this, but I would recommend looking for something like a 20 or 18 gauge to support the weight of the felt rose.
Now's the part where I demo the technique. Please forgive the casual outfit; I got really excited about this and didn't have time to change out of my Pee-Wee Herman t-shirt or touch up my makeup.

 
I hope this is useful to you, my dear sewing friends. Let me know if you have questions! 

48 comments:

  1. Great tutorial! I suffer from really bad allergies in the summer and so we can't have flowers in the house. The fake flowers I have seen in the UK are so tacky looking, I'm gonna give this a go and hopefully be able to have a house full of pretty allergy free blooms this year.

    Yey!

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  2. Awesome tutorial, can't wait to try it. Thank you for posting!!!

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  3. Lovely! Thanks for the tutorial, I must try to make some roses for my new home too.

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  4. Thanks so much! I was just thinking yesterday that I wanted to make some felt roses for a hat! :)

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  5. Jeff's book is the Kindle daily deal today! If you haven't read it yet, you can install the kindle pc app if you don't own a kindle.

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  6. Loved your tutorial! Sorry, I couldn't see your Pee Wee T-shirt, LOL! You have a lovely speaking voice, never heard it before...ever thought of doing voiceover work??? Keep up the awesome work Gertie!

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  7. This reminds me of making ribbon roses with my grandmother. We used this method, which involves folding the ribbon until it looks nothing like a rose, and then pulling one end. It's magical!

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  8. These are gorgeous! Picking up supplies on my next notions trip to give it a go.

    Thanks Gertie!!

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  9. Enjoyed the tutorial Gertie - you're so generous with your knowledge!
    I once tried making silk flowers and got into bit of a tangle. I think felt might be easier to work with so might try it (if I can buy some felt.)

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  10. The roses are beautiful, but I'm commenting to say that you're so darn cute in the video! You've got to do more of those. You're so natural & unflustered & you put a smile on my face, so thank you.

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  11. I have a lot of a felt around here and can't wait to try this. I love the Frida Kahlo reference and will definitely try that out! Thank you :)

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  12. Thank you for your famous toutorial.
    LG
    Elke

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  13. Hi there,

    Gertie, late to say,big congratulations to you and Jeff on moving into your new home.

    Wishing you a lifetime of happiness.
    Marysia Paling.
    U.K.

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  14. Oh, that looks like fun! I'll have to give it a try now. But what I'd really like to learn is how to make that hat!

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  15. thanks for the tutorial!

    When you going to post your progress in millinery class? =)

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  16. Great tutorial! Lately I've been collecting tutorials for fabric flowers for my self-designed cloche...
    These roses look so pretty!

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  17. My husband brought me a beautiful blue and white vase for our 9th Anniversary from a local artist. It would be nice to use it more often. I will try this too. If it works out, it would be fun to have 3 or 4 different colors of bouquets to change once in a while.

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  18. I love your blog, kiss from Argentina :)

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  19. I love this idea! I will try it. Thank you so much! You look fabulous all casual-like, too.

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  20. used this technique for many years with silk,poly and lots of fine fabrics. really like the felt ones.

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  21. Fabulous roses, I'm definitely going to make some.

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  22. Love it. I'm making some tonight!

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  23. This is perfect for the hot pink and black bridal shower I'm hosting! Thanks!

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  24. Great! And where's Henry????? I thougt he would came to let some impressions about the new house...

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  25. Thank you for your tutorial. Loved your video and you have a nice voice for broadcasting. Looking forward to your next lovely post. xo

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  26. Very nice! I'm definitely going to try this for my table.

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  27. OMG- going out to buy felt now.... love love love!

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  28. You are such a sweetheart taking the time in the middle of your move. Thank you for sharing and inspiring!

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  29. I can see these in hand-dyed variegated wool...a pretty mottled red or hot pink and orange.
    Thanks Gertie!
    Krista

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  30. Love this clip! I too, find it fun tohear your voice. Makes you ever realer.......like the panel wainscoting in the background. Bet it's a great house.

    Brenda

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  31. I really liked that and enjoyed it very much. Thank you!

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  32. Thanks for this Gertie! I just made a rose out of taffeta. It was a bit hard to hold on to, but it turned out amazing :)

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  33. Thanks for the great tutorial! My head is spinning with all the ideas to use the roses!

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  34. beautiful! I'm tempted to try this from a fabric as an adornment for a jacket...

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  35. The flower is amazing!Thanks for sharing this great video!It helps me a lot!

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  36. I LOVE roses (and millinery!) Thanks for sharing, Gertie :)

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  37. Thanks for posting I am definitely going to try these!

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  38. I made flowers like that using ribbon for my graduation a few years ago. Great tutorial.

    Congrats on the new house :).

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  39. These are so cute...I must find something to embellish with them!

    PS, I want to see what the hat looks on! It looks so pretty!

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  40. these are gorgeous!! thank you so much for sharing

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  41. Fabulous tutorial, I'll definitely be using this! The roses look amazing and so life like and your hat looks fantastic! XxxX http://thesecondhandrose.blogspot.co.uk/

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  42. I love these! The perfect small project to keep at my desk at work!

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  43. Lovely! thanks for sharing.

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  44. I followed your tutorial to make little felt rose collars for my dogs to wear for easter :) Here are the pics. It was a lot of fun, thanks for sharing!

    http://thenewwifesguide.blogspot.com/2012/04/lesson-97-blogging-creates-incentive.html

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  45. I lovee this blog...plese I need the tutorial of de hat !!! XD bellisimo.

    fieltrotopia.blogspot.com

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  46. finally, i understand. thank you very much for your great tutorial^^

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  47. Lovely stuff. Nicely demo-ed - cheers!

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Thanks for your comments; I read each and every one! xo Gertie

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