California Golden Poppy - Felt Flower DIY

I love California Golden Poppy flowers. They are so simple yet breathtakingly beautiful and are dispersed all throughout the Golden State. Golden Poppies are the state flower of California and ever since I moved here when I was 8, just the sight of them growing wild along the highway or in a field somewhere has brought me joy. I especially love their vibrant yellow-orange hue and the way they fully open up when the sun first hits them in the morning, then close back up once it gets dark and wait patiently for the the next day to open again. They welcome sunshine daily in such a bold and joyous manner – I feel it’s a reminder of the way we should welcome love and Light into our lives daily and trust that each morning brings us a fresh chance to start again, even if we failed in some way yesterday.

*Gets down from soapbox*

In other words, poppies make me smile. Another reason I love this flower is that making one out of felt is super easy and quick!  Below is a tutorial on how to make one which uses many of the same detailing processes explained in my last post, but only requires a total of 2 colors cut into just six pieces of felt! I’m once again going to provide a few notes on how to speed the process up even more if you aren’t concerned about making a super detailed flower.

Supplies

• 1 piece of felt in a sunny yellow or orange (or color of your choice)
• 1 piece of felt in green of your choice for leaves
• Scissors
• Glue gun or thread

Optional – for the more detailed look:

• Iron (regular iron, flat iron, mini iron…any of these should work but are likely to cause fingertip burns, so please be careful!)
• Orange marker – I used a dry erase marker because….well….it’s what I had on hand.

Cutting the Felt

Start by cutting out four petals. Next cut a short long, narrow rectangle out from the same color. You can use this stencil if you’re not sure what shape and size to cut.

Cut a small circle out of the green felt and however many leaves you want to make. That’s it for cutting!!!

Adding Detail

Petals

If you’re making the super duper fast-tracked version, you can skip this part for the petals entirely.

First, take your marker and softly add in some color in a gradient from more color to less, starting at the center of the petal going outward. While the ink dries, warm up your iron.

Once your iron is hot, fold one of the petals like you would if you were making a paper fan. Press the outside edges of the pedal (probably the last 1/4) with the iron to create some creases and let cool before spreading back apart.

After the piece has fully cooled, tug on the edges some as shown in the picture below and shape the petal the way you want it. Do this with all four pieces. Lastly, snip a little slit down at the base of the flower.

Pistil/Middle

The detail in the pistil is very similar to the one from the felt peony post. Cut deep and V-shaped slices out of the rectangle so that it looks like the example in the picture below. Next, for added character, take your marker and lightly apply some color from the base to the edges of each point. Make sure you leave a little of the original felt color showing, but not too much.

Flower Base and Leaves

This process again is just like the peony leaves from my last post, only the green circle that makes up the base of the flower is much smaller. Snip out small, irregularly sized V’s all around the circle. Afterwards, for a more detailed look, fold the piece in half and iron a crease into the circle. Let that cool, open it up and fold it in half the other direction and iron additional creases in. Repeat a few times, each time folding the circle in half but in a new direction where no crease is present yet.

Cutting out the leaves, if you choose to include them, can take some time if you’re concerned with the leaves looking somewhat similar to real poppy leaves. If not, grab the stencil from my Peony post and use that leaf – it’s much easier!

Either way, cut as many as you want to include and use the iron to place a crease down the middle, the long way, to give it a little more character.

Assembling the Flower

Hooray for already being at this point in the process!!! Wasn’t that a quick and easy process this time?!?! 

Making the pistil

To assemble, start with the pistil and wrap it around itself just like I explained with the peony post. Tack the felt down as you go with glue or thread to ensure it stays tight.

Adding the Petals

First, cross the two pointed ends of the petal over each other and glue them in place to give the petal a slightly rounded look.

This next part has a few nuances regarding the order in which you apply the petals; you’ll want to pay attention to this in order to get the best looking flower possible. Add two petals, on opposite sides of the pistil from each other, first. Of course add them one at a time but make sure they sit directly opposite from each other when you do. Next, add the third petal, attaching it to the pistil 90 degrees from where the current petals are attached. You should have something like what you see in the photo below now. Attach the last petal on the opposite side from where you placed the third one.

Now grab your cute little green base/circle and tack it down on the bottom of the flower and slightly up and around the base of the petals. Guess what – you’re all done!!!!

You can use this to create a broach, a hair clip or hair band, or some sort of home decor wall art – the possibilities are endless, really! I stuck one in with some of my air plants and thought it added a very fun pop of color. Another cute option would be to find a stick from your backyard and attach the flower as though the stick is the stem – add a few leaves and pop this sucker into a vase! If you go that route, I recommend adding the stick before placing the green circle/base onto the bottom of the flower. Cut a small hole in the center of the base and put the top of the stick through it, glue the stick to the base of the flower, then glue the green circle/base up around where you attached the petals. Voila!!!

For reference, here are a few old photos I took of some poppies next to the felt one I made (felt one on the top left, obviously).

I’m not sure whether I want to turn my new felt poppy into a barrette for my daughter, make a bunch more and create a new baby mobile for my our shop, or leave the one with my air plants for a nice pop of color in my family room. Maybe I’ll do all three….this flower is so quick and easy to make that it wouldn’t take very much time to make enough for them all!

I hope you enjoyed this super easy but fun flower tutorial. Leave me a comment and let me know if you like this type of tutorial and/or plan on giving it a try, want to see any other types of flower tutorials, or have any questions at all! Or if you have suggestions on how to make my tutorials better – I am always open to feedback!

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