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Celebrate the arrival of summer by crafting a vase full of maintenance free felt hydrangea blooms to enjoy all summer long and beyond! Our new floral die designed by felt flower artist Kelsey Linville allows you to create a beautiful bouquet of hydrangeas in various sizes that you can mix with other felt flowers. Follow along to learn the technique, or watch the full assembly video on YouTube.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Time: 35 minutes, plus drying time
As an alternative to using a die, these shapes can be easily cut by hand or with an electronic cutting machine. Use our SVG and PDF files and follow the instructions below.
Directions:
1. As on optional first step, shade the petals first to create beautiful two-toned hydrangeas as seen in nature! Use pan pastels, eye shadow, an airbrush, watercolor paint or your preferred method to add color.
2. Cut 25 petals (one of each leaf) and five rectangles. Use scrap felt or negative space from the petals felt sheet to cut rectangles.
3. Lay petals on a scrap surface, such as cardboard, and spray with fabric stiffener. Allow to dry for approximately one hour. Stiffening the petals makes them easier to work with and helps petals hold their shape.
4. While petals are drying, prepare petal centers. The example hydrangea uses five bunches of five petals, 25 petals total. It can be made smaller or larger by adding more or less bunches. For the petals, set aside five 18” 22-gauge stems. Use wire cutters to cut twenty 3.5 - 4” smaller sections of 22-gauge wire.
5. Position the top of one stem on the left side of a small rectangle, just under top edge. Add a very small amount of glue on either side of wire, and fold edge around the wire, pressing and wrapping firmly. Secure with glue and cut excess. One felt rectangle will make several stem ends.
Continue this process to add a petal center to tops of all stems.
6. Once dry, thread a petal up a stem until it reaches the center. Add a small drop of glue around center hole in petal, and pinch around center with thumb and index fingers to create a slight cupped shape. Repeat this process until all petals are glued on.
7. Sort stems into five piles. Each pile should have one long 22-gauge stem and four short stems. Each pile will be used to make a bunch.
8. Make a center bunch of the hydrangea with one pile - one long stem and four short. Hold stems together so that petals are all the same height, and use floral tape to combine them into one stem.
Start taping approximately 1.5” below petals, and wrap tape tightly a few times in the same spot until it feels secure. Continue taping down stems until ends of the four short stems are covered. Spread out petals and set aside.
9. The next four bunches will be identical. Hold stems together so that two petals are the same height (one long and one short) with remaining three petals (short stems) below. Tape together. Repeat with three remaining piles, taping stems together with two petals above and three below.
10. Hold center bunch of petals with the four identical bunches surrounding it. Position four identical bunches slightly lower than center bunch, so the combined petals create a spherical shape.
11. Tightly tape all five bunches together down full length of stem. The petals will become compressed by taping, so use your fingers to separate and style them back into shape.
12. Add desired amount of leaves to the floral stem. This example uses a large and small leaf. Position a long 22-gauge wire in the center of a leaf. Add a line of glue down center. Fold in half and allow to dry completely before opening. Repeat for subsequent leaves.
13. Use floral tape to secure each leaf to floral stem. Clip stems approximately 1" above where tape stops to prevent unraveling.
Experiment and create a variety of blooms by shading your petals, changing the size with more or less petal bunches and using the leaf dies to complement your hydrangeas with greenery!
Kelsey Linville, creator of In Bloom Felt Studio, is a self-taught felt florist who loves to brighten up spaces around the world with her bold and colorful forever blooms. Kelsey’s philosophy is that creativity sparks joy. She wishes to share that with others through her designs and tutorials. When she’s not in her studio, Kelsey loves to spend her time in the great outdoors with her husband and two children.
