Tutorial: Sew Easy Peasy Felt Flower Brooches!

Today I'm sharing a super simple felt flower tutorial which is perfect for beginners, crafting as a family, or just for when you want a quick and easy make. 

I've made my flowers into brooches, which always make lovely gifts, but they'd also be great for decorating a spring or summer wreath or for adding to lots of crafty projects. 

 

You could also add a hairclip to the back instead of a brooch clasp, or sew each flower onto a piece of ribbon to make bookmarks - like these I made years ago:

You can make small flowers...

 ... or large flowers...

 ... or a selection of both sizes.

I've sewn my flowers in a pretty spring / early summer palette: orange, yellow, pale pink, lilac, and aqua blue. I've used yellow felt for the flower centres except for the yellow flowers which have orange centres.

I chose to use matching thread throughout - yellow thread to sew yellow felt, pink thread to sew pink felt, etc - so the thread almost disappears against the felt, but you could choose contrasting colours to add detail and make your stitching part of the design. Here's a batch of these flowers I made years ago, all sewn with yellow thread:

For more detail and variety, why not add a sequin, small button, or some seed beads to the flower centres? Or play around with embroidery thread and some simple stitches to add lines or simple patterns to the petals?

It would be really fun to make these flowers in colours to match a favourite outfit - maybe a trio of flowers, each picking out different colours from a dress you love? Or in shades that really pop against a favourite jumper?

For each flower, you will need:

- Felt in two colours

- Matching sewing thread

- A sewing needle, and a pin

- Sewing scissors (embroidery scissors are great for cutting out small shapes!)

- The templates included at the bottom of this post

- A brooch clasp or a safety pin

To make a simple flower brooch:

1. Use the templates provided to cut out one flower centre, and two flower shapes. Hold or pin the paper templates to the felt as you cut out each shape.

If you're making a large flower, cut a large (L) centre circle. If you're making a small flower, cut a small (S) centre circle.

2. Position the centre circle in the middle of one of the flower pieces, and sew it in place with matching sewing thread. For the small flowers I stitched the circles in place with an X of two single stitches. For the larger flowers I used running stitch. 

I've marked this stitching on the photo with black to make things clearer as it's hard to see yellow stitching on yellow felt!

3. Now take the other flower shape and turn it over.

If you're adding a brooch clasp or hairclip, sew it in place with a double thickness of matching thread and lots of stitches to make things nice and secure.

If you're using a safety pin, use matching thread to sew a small rectangle of felt over the fixed bar of the pin, holding it in place. I used running stitch for this, sewing two horizontal lines as close as possible to the pin then three vertical lines, as shown.

 

4. Finally, place the front and back flower pieces together and sew around the edge with running stitch and matching thread. Start your stitching inside the flower so your knot will be hidden between the felt layers, then finish your stitching as neatly as possible at the back.

Then repeat these steps as many times as you like! :)

This tutorial is for personal (non-commercial) use only. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial / share my templates on your site. Thanks!

Enjoyed this free tutorial? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!


P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter (currently taking a break but hopefully back v soon!) for free patterns and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Click here to open the templates in a new window, then print them at 100%.

Craftivism: Black Lives Matter Embroidery

I'm very late blogging about this, but... 

Way back in the autumn of 2020 I was absolutely delighted when Miranda got in touch to ask if she could include my Black Lives Matter embroidery pattern in an article she was writing for Love Sewing magazine about craftivism. Of course I said yes!

It felt like a real privilege to have my work included in a piece like this, and it was a joy to get hold of a copy of the magazine that winter and see it in print.

 

Then I got another lovely surprise last spring, when a friend spotted the article had been reprinted in Crochet Now magazine. Obviously I had to go to my local newsagent to track down a copy of that one, too...

I remain incredibly proud of this pattern and the (small) impact it's had through people around the world stitching it and using it to raise funds for important causes. If any of my work deserved to be printed in a pair of magazines like this, it's definitely this piece!

Click here to read more about this pattern, and download it for yourself.

Home Is Where My Cat Sleeps: Free Embroidery Pattern

I'm dipping my toes back into blogging after a long break, with a free embroidery pattern for cat lovers!

The pattern features a cute sleeping kitty (adapted from my cat pincushion tutorial) and the text HOME IS WHERE MY CAT SLEEPS. Super cosy!

It's designed to fit nicely inside a 5 inch embroidery hoop, but I'd recommend using a 6 inch hoop when stitching to give yourself more room to work. It would look fab framed in a hoop, or stitched onto larger projects like a bag or a patchwork quilt, and would be a sweet gift for any cat ladies (or cat gentlemen) in your life.

I've not had a chance to stitch this myself yet, but when I do I'm planning on keeping things simple and sewing the whole design with backstitch - remember that smaller stitches will help you sew smooth curves.  

Click here to open the pattern in a new window, then print it at 100%. A hi-res PDF version of this pattern is also available in my Patreon pattern library.

This pattern is for non commercial use only: you can use it to stitch as many sleepy kitties as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. Thanks xx

Enjoyed this free pattern? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!

P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter (currently taking a break but hopefully back soooon) for free patterns and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more creative projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns and lots more:

50% off everything today!

Yesterday was the FIFTEEN YEAR anniversary of my very first sale on Etsy. I had no idea what an amazing creative adventure I was setting out on when I took that first tiny step - but I do remember how exciting it was.

To celebrate, I'm having a very special sale in my Etsy shop: 50% off absolutely everything, for 48 hours only (ends midnight tonight, 17th Jan 2022). It was meant to just be for 24 hours but it turns out that I still don't have a full grasp on how all of Etsy's features work, haha.

Shipping for physical items is UK only at the moment (sorry!), but no matter where you are in the world you'll be able to snap up some of my digital patterns at half price. Hurrah!

Click here to visit my shop and grab yourself a bargain.