Precious Little Pansy - DIY Felt

Hello again!  I hope the temperature is starting to cool down for you, wherever you’re from, and that the joy of fall’s crisp, cool morning air has become a reality (if you’re into that sort of thing like I am, that is)!

Today I’m going to walk through the process I took in making this felt pansy. It was my first time making one of these, although the photo below is actually of the third and final version (I had two prototypes that I thought were ok and cute enough, but weren’t exactly what I had in mind for this post. That’s why they call it the “creative process” right?!).

I made a video tutorial this time (my very first one ever!) which covers every step in detail, but will outline the information below as well.

As I was preparing for this post, I was trying to think of the best flower to use to attach to one of the headbands Katie made from our last post.  I wanted something that didn’t stick up too high but had a decent amount of detail to it.  The poppy flower from my previous tutorial was out of the question since it indeed would have stuck up to high, and the peony was just too big.  I started searching through Google images for different types of flowers and at first was looking at orchids and daisies when a pansy popped up in my screen.  I never would have thought to make a pansy – In the past I’ve had almost a disdain for pansies (maybe because I remember my mom giving me the chore of planting them in our garden what felt like all of the time when I was a kid lol).  But as I looked through pictures of them, I started to realize just how intricate and diverse they are and found a whole new appreciation for these beautiful flowers!  I love them so much now that may even plant some in my own front yard…maybe.

A couple of disclaimers: The photos below are from screen shots of the video, so please forgive their lack of clarity at times. Also, for the video, it is my first one like I said so hopefully I did a decent job and explained my process well!

Supplies

This time around I decided to sew the flower together instead of glue.  This was partially due to the fact that this is for a baby’s headband and I worry that somehow my crazy-strong daughter could pull a glued one apart (I doubt it but that thought did cross my mind), but mostly because I don’t want the extra bulk from the glue. That and I want to use embroidery thread to add details that using glue just wouldn’t accommodate. So here is the list of supplies:

• Felt (I used 2 colors, but you don’t have to)
• Scissors
• Embroidery needle
• Embroidery thread (I used 2 colors, but you don’t have to)
• Optional:

• Markers in similar colors to your felt. I used some Tombow brush pens that I already had on deck.

Cut out the following from the color you want the front petals to be:

• 2 medium sized petals

• 1 larger heart shaped petal

Cut out the following from the color you want the back petals to be:

• 2 medium-large petals

Optional - for extra detail:

• 2 small petals
• 1 small heart shaped petal

You can download this pansy flower template if you’d like and use it to get the same shape I have for my flower. Here is what my petals looked like once I cut them out initially.

Below in the Adding Details section, I added steps on adding some curves and movement to them, which is something you may want to do as well.

Adding Details

There are pansies with really clean, crisp petals and some where the petal has waves alllllllll the way around it. There are some that have both crisp petals and wavy petals. Some have multi-colored and others are fairly monotone. Your options are pretty endless on how to make one. For mine, I wanted a monochromatic appearance for the most part but with a soft, organic appearance and a lot of extra detail.

All of these next steps are optional – you can do as few or as many of them as you’d prefer.

Cutting waves

I’m going for a softer, slightly wavy look, so I cut small shallow curves around mine.

Adding lines with markers

Next I added lines in a fan shape, starting at the point and fanning out toward the petals edges. I used some brush pens I have which if I’m being honest was not the best choice. They turned my fingers so very blue as I worked with them because it took forever for the ink to dry! Oh well – love and learn, right?! :oP

That being said, I used a dark blue for the dark teal petals and a light blue for the aqua.

Shaping

Then, I pulled the edges of each petal in all different directions to add movement to them.

And this is where I REALLY started to get blue fingers…if you watch the video, they just get more and more blue as I go along. It washes off within a day, thankfully, but I don’t think I’ll use these particular markers for working with felt ever again lol!!!

Adding embroidered lines

The last step I took was to add some embroidered lines on the petal in the same fan shape as I used to add the marker lines. After I was all finished, I took my dark blue marker and colored some of the thread lines at the base of the flower just to add even more depth.

I walk through the steps of how I added my embroidery lines in the video tutorial.

Putting the flower together

This part is easier than it sounds and actually very quick to do.

I wanted my Pansy to have a yellow center, so I used yellow thread to sew the points from each of the front three petals together. First I placed two petals together face to face and added a few stitches to the just side of the points to secure them. Next I took the third petal and placed it face to face with one of the two I had just sewn together. I added a few stitches to the side of the points (the opposite side on the one that I had previously sewn) to secure them together. I placed the remaining two front petals face to face and stitched them together as well.

Then, I took my needle and thread and embroidered a circle in the flower’s center. I went about 1/4″ from the center to start my stitch and always went back down through the center as shown in the photos below.

With my last few stitches of yellow thread, I attached the two back petals securely using the same method of adding to the yellow circle as I did. And then took a step back to admire the result. I really love the way this flower came out and have a new adoration for pansies that I never thought I would thanks to the process of making it!

Just for reference, here is what it would look like if you chose not to add all of the wavy lines on the petals and used a different method of embroidery.  It was the my first prototype in preparing for the post.  For it I added short stitches for the lines rather than the long stitches in the alternate example.  I also didn’t put the “heart shape” into the bottom petal.  This flower is adorable but is just more “cutesy” than I wanted my final product to be…

Attaching the Flower to Katie’s Headband

The final step I took was to sew the flower onto the incredible headband Katie had made. I secured the center of the flower down first, then tacked the bottom and top petals to the band a bit as well so that the flower didn’t stick up more than I wanted it to. I think it looks SOOOO AMAZING!!! Don’t you?!

And is even cuter when you put it on an adorable baby!!!  I am biased since I’m her mom, but still…..the level of cuteness here is off the charts!!!!

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial! Let me know what you think about making it yourself in the comments, and be sure to check out the video version for step by step details. If you give this a try and/or have anything you’d like to share about it, I would love to hear from you!

Update 9/2020: We launched an online store last year! Check out our unique handmade jewelry designs