Felt Flower Pincushion

Mothers and grandmothers are often known by their craftyness - they are always up to some projects for their little (or already grown up) children. My mom started to knit socks again because of her granddaughter arriving.. and I started to make more crafts for my little ones as well. If you too recognize your mom, friend or granny when reading this, a felt flower pincushion is a nice Mother day gift - something you can give her back and show that you support her loving crafts.

Materials needed:

• A4 sized felt sheets (green for leaves and other color for petals)
• washable fabric marker
• scissors
• sewing machine and a needle and thread for handstitching (if you are patient you can do it without sewing machine as well!)
• a little woolfelt
• soap OR felting needle
• stuffing for petals - small fabric scraps, polyfill etc.
• printer and paper OR only paper and a pencil for drawing by hand.

Download the picture, print it (or draw it by hand) and cut out the two details - leaves (the base) and a petal.

Trace the outlines of the template on the felt with a washable fabric marker. You will need 12 petals and 1 or 2 bases for leaves - depending on how thick you want the base to be.

Cut out the details - make sure you have 12 petals.

Sew along the edges of the green leaves. You can cut of the excess felt if you like.

Using the template as an example, draw lines on the leaves with a fabric marker. Sew over these lines. The base is ready!

Sew the petals together (join every 2 pieces) leaving small opening at the pointy side for stuffing.

Stuff the petals. You can use a pencil to push the stuffing inside.

Sew the petals onto the base and close the openings so the stuffing doesn't come out. Sew on the first layer - 3 petals like shown in the picture. Then add the other three to create a layered look.

Make the center. You can use needle felting or wet felting. I realized a had lost all of my felting needles, so I did the wet felting. If you haven't lost or broken your needles, you can needlefelt by pushing the needle in and out of the woolfelt until it forms a ball. If you choose the wet felting as I did, put some soap on the woolfelt and start rolling it in your hands like you would be making a ball from playdough. There may be some cracks in the ball as it is a bit harder to manipulate the felt with this method - you can add a bit more felt. If it gets too slippery, wash away part of the soap and continue to roll. After a while the wool will be compressed into a ball. Wash away the excess soap and let the ball dry.

Sew on the center. You are done!