How To: Felt Poinsettias

Sunday, December 27, 2020


Felt Poinsettias in a planter

After viewing these pretty pink felt poinsettias from Lia Griffith, I decided I'd try my hand at a few to make a centerpiece for the dining table. After maaany experiments, I have a whole bucket of poisettias, and the art of poinsettia-making down to a science. I've made about 15 in the past week, in varying shades of white, red, and pink to adorn dog collars, gifts, and holiday trees. This is the best technique I've found.

Felt Poinsettia Tutorial

I've made felt flowers on the blog before, who knows why I attempted a hot glue version. It just never comes out as well as hand-sewn, at least not for felt!

  1. Supplies include three colors of felt (petals + leaves + pistil), a bit of ~18 gauge craft wire, scissors, a marker, and needle & thread. And the pieces pattern, too.
    0. Materials
    Felt Poinsettia Pattern
  2. Trace and cut the required number of pieces, according to the pattern. I try to reduce tracing by only outlining the tips and a dot for each side.
    1 Trace 19 Felt pieces
    2.0 Cut 19 Felt Pieces
  3. To make the pistil, fold the pistil rectangle in half, and make many cuts along the fold, as in the photo:
    2.1 Cut pistil by folding in half and slicing on the fold
  4. Select three large petal pieces.
    3. Select three large petal pieces
  5. Fold them in half length-wise, aligning by the least-pointy points.
    4. Fold each in half, and align by least pointy side
  6. Stitch through least pointy points 3 times, to secure the folded shape.
    5. Sew through least point ends (folded) 3 times
  7. Repeat steps 4-6 for the remaining 3 large petals, having least pointy-points facing inwards. Do not cut thread in-between.
    6. Do the same (steps 3-5) for remaining 3 large petal pieces, but in opposite direction 7-0. Secure thread with a locking stitch
  8. Sew in a circle around the center of the flower to help the petals spread out a little more. Secure thread with a double-locking stitch.
    7-1. Sew a circle through the ends, to allow petals to spread out evenly
  9. Repeat steps 4-8 for the 6 medium-sized petal pieces, do not cut thread in-between!
    8-0. Repeat steps 3-5 for three medium petals 8-1. Repeat steps 6 & 7 with remaining medium petals
    8-2. Repeat step 7-1, sew a loop through the centers.
    You could consider skipping the 3 small petals, and just adding the pistil at this stage!
  10. The 3 small petals are attached in a similar manner as the previous two rounds, but as there's only 3, we arrange them slightly differently, with two in one direction, and one in the opposite direction.
    9. Fold 3 small petals in half, arange 1-down, 1-up, 1 down, with least pointy tip in center.
  11. Repeat steps 6-8 for these newly-arranged small petals. Secure with a double-locking stitch (perhaps even going through the center of the flower to secure all layers together). Do NOT trim thread!
    10. Sew through centers 3 times, as before. Secure with a locking stitch
  12. The pistil is made by folding in half length-wise, and then rolling, keeping the un-folded edges aligned.
    11-0. Fold pistil in half. 11-1. Roll pistil, keeping unfolded edges aligned
  13. Stitch through from one side of pistil to the other several times and then secure to center of the flower. Stitch through top to bottom layers, ensure that all edges of the pistil are secured to the flower. Secure with a locking stitch, do NOT trim the thread.
    12. Stitch through unfolded pistil edges three times, then secure to center of flower with several stitches. Go all the way from top to bottom a few times, ensure all edges of pistil are secured.
  14. Leaves are arranged similarly to the small petals layer, but attached to the bottom of the flower, rather than the top. Some additional stitches are necessary to secure the leaves to the flower.
    13-0. Leaves are done similarly to the small petals, but on the bottom of the flower. 13-1. Secure leaves to bottom of flower with several stitches.
  15. At this stage, we need to prepare the wire fastener: either a stem with a loop at the end, or just a loop/circle/ring to fasten to objects. Shown is the stem. (It's a good idea to bend the pointy ends so no one gets hurt!).
    15. Prepare wire attachment fixture: either a stem with a loop at the end, or a single ring for securing to objects
  16. Thread two of the leaves through the loop. Secure wire loop with several stitches.
    16-0. Thread loop over leaves. 16-1. Secure wire loop to flower with several stitches, one one side.
  17. Sew through center of flower, top to bottom several times. Secure thread with a few double-locking stitches. Finally, push needle up through flower center and cut the thread.
    17. Secure thread with several double-locking stitches, thread through to center/top of flower, and FINALLY cut the thread.
  18. Poinsettia with stem completed!
    Completed Felt Poinsettia with steam.
    Completed Felt Poinsettia with steam.
  19. I use the non-stem version with just a single ring to fasten the flower to dog collars (ignore dog fur all over this!). Can be secured to the collar with a paperclip, or a bit of prepared wire.
    alternative: a single ring for attaching to objects (like dogs)
Dogs will generally tolerate the flower on their collar, so long as it's fastened closely and doesn't droop too much. Smaller dogs require smaller flowers!
Felt Poinsettia on a dog. Flower secured to collar with a paperclip.
Holiday poinsettia for dog

I've made smaller versions of these flowers that come out well for smaller fur-beasts, dropping the larger layer of petals and adding an additional 3 small petals. I reduce the number of leaves to 2, and cut them using the medium-petal pattern. Everything else is pretty much the same.

Fill a planter with river pebbles, make maaaany poinsettias, and you have a centerpiece!

Posted by h Tags: , , at 5:23 PM

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