Easy Steps to Make a Felt Flower

Last Updated on May 30, 2022

Yet another felt flower DIY! These are a simple, large rolled rose flower that I used to make headbands. And I included a free printable pattern. I like to share! This particular DIY sings the praises of my favourite glue gun, which is a key component in how to make felt flowers.

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Have you ever seen those felt flower tutorials where they tell you to start with a square of fabric and free-hand cut it into a scalloped spiral, add a dab of glue and you'll end up with a perfectly formed rose? Yeah. I've tried those. Unless you have incredible scissor skills, that plan is not gonna work. The flower always comes out wonky and lop-sided.

Instead, I created a pattern for a large rolled felt flower that is basically fool proof. The hardest part will be cutting it out. And trying to stop yourself from glueing felt flowers to every surface in your home.

This DIY rolled flower tutorial first appeared on my other website, Wildflower Felt Designs. I'm in the process of moving all my posts to this site so I can shut down WFD. So if you've seen this post elsewhere, don't panic! This is 100% my own design, pattern and photos. I didn't steal them. 🙂

How to Make Felt Flowers

The key to a successful felt flower lies in the tools you use. Especially your scissors and glue gun. I've tried a handful of glue guns, and let me tell you that the wrong one can really affect the quality of your florals. The last thing you want is globs of glue all over your beautiful felt flowers.

Lucky for you, I went ahead and did some research and I can recommend the best ever hot glue gun that I've used for working with felt; the Surebonder Detail Mini glue gun.

It has a fine tip nozzle so you can really get into detail work without ending up with globs of glue everywhere. It has a handy dandy on/off switch, which is a lifesaver if you've had to plug it in behind furniture. And it doesn't get gummed up if you lay it down while it's on instead of standing it up. Win! You need to be speedy once you've added the glue to your piece and it's nice to know you don't need to fumble around with your glue gun if you've knocked it over.

But Surebonder glue guns only work with Surebonder glue sticks. Don't forget this! If you use a different brand of glue stick it will leak all over the place.

Large Rolled Rose

This flower is really versatile since it has a flat bottom. You can use it for headbands (as you'll see below), you could turn it into a magnet, add a wire stem and create a bouquet or even make a sweet nursery garland. I've found that most patterns or dies out there are for teeny tiny flowers, which are great for some designs, but sometimes you need a big flower to make a big statement!

If you're looking for a tinier rolled flower, check out this post for a felt flower headband that includes free patterns for 3 flowers!

What You'll Need

Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks (You will not regret trying out the Surebonder)
9″x12″ Coloured Felt Sheet, per flower (I used this felt in Blush, Swan and Thistle)
Green Felt for leaves (I used this felt in Fern)
Matching Elastic for Headbands – 1/8″ wide
Printed Pattern
Scotch Tape
Freezer Paper(optional)
Scissors – Shears and Snips

Cut it Out

My favourite way to cut out complex patterns is to tape them with scotch tape directly on the felt and cut through the felt and tape simultaneously.

You could also print the pattern directly onto freezer paper and gently iron it onto your felt. The freezer paper will easily peel off after you've cut out the flower. I've used this technique and it works quite well. I just often can't be bothered to fire up the iron. Using scotch tape usually means I don't have to get out of my chair! Haha

Use large fabric shears to cut along the straight inside curve. Then go back with smaller snips to cut around each petal shape. It's time consuming to cut out, but then so quick to assemble.

You'll end up with a circular scrap from the middle of the pattern, save that for later.

You can simply use straight pins to attach the leaf to the felt and cut around it with snips.

(I made this flower using the older version of the Surebonder mini, that's why it's blue in the pics.)

Roll It and Glue It

Starting at the outer end, run a line of glue along the bottom of the first petal and roll it on itself to secure. Place the rolled end upside down between your thumb and middle finger, roll it and add glue periodically till the whole flower is formed. The precision tip of the Surebonder glue gun means you'll get great control over how much glue ends up on your flower!

(check out the Tools page for more of my favourite products for making felt flowers.)

Once your flower is rolled, apply a generous amount of glue to the back and affix the circle that you saved from earlier. Press them together well.

I decided to turn my flowers into sweet headbands. It's important to know ahead of time what you'll be using your DIY felt flower for because elastics or clips need to be attached inside of the leaves.

To attach a length of 1/8″ elastic, glue one side of the leaves piece to the back of the flower, place the looped elastic between the flower and leaves and glue down the other side of the leaves.