How To: Felt Flower Hairpins

Yesterday (day 308) my crafty task was making lots of felt flower hairpins ready for our evening out. I was wearing a flame red dress with a floral print and wanted something really bold for my hair to match it... so I thought, why not make something out of felt? Here's the finished product, stuck fairly at random into a bun:[You can see a better picture here!] I think they looked pretty effective, and they'd work really well pinned into a looser hairstyle too. They're a very quick project, and very affordable for the amount of impact you get. To make your own, you'll need:
- a couple of sheets of felt to match your outfit (I used two 9x9 inch squares of red wool-mix felt, but obviously you'll need more or less felt depending how many flowers you want to make)
- a small piece of contrasting felt to use as the centres of the flowers (I used brown to match my dress & for a dark poppy-ish look)
- sewing thread to match the flower centres (matching thread means you can be as messy as you like with your sewing and it won't show!)
- a pack of kirbygrip hairpins
- a sewing needle and some scissors, and some pins and paper for pattern-making

You'll be making two types of flowers - large layered ones (for lots of impact) and small ones to add a bit of extra detail and fill in awkward spaces. You can make as many of each as you like.To make the large flowers, you'll need three layers of your main felt. I cut all my flowers out freehand in a bit of a rush, but if you want to make a pattern you can. The back layer will be the largest (seven petals) the middle layer slightly smaller (six petals) and the front layer smaller still (five petals) so you can offset the petals for a great layered effect. Draw all three together like this, then trace over each shape and cut it out and there you have your main pattern:
Pin the pattern pieces to your felt and get cutting! Now you need the centre of your flower. For this, cut out a circle of your contrasting colour (you can draw round something circular and make a pattern if you like, or cut freehand) and then cut a series of small triangles out of it, like this:
Put all four pieces together so the flower is how you want it, and sew them together right in the centre, starting and finishing on the back of your flower so you can hide your knots and finishing off. I used about 8 stitches to hold each flower together - it doesn't take much as the felt is so light.Then get your hairgrip, lay it on the back of the flower and sew it on tightly. The joy of this is that the back will always be hidden against your hair so you can be as messy as you like. You might want to experiment with the angle of the hairgrip - mine were destined to be stuck in a bun so it didn't matter, but if you're clipping the flowers flat into your hair you'll need the clips to be the right way up, etc.
Then: that's it! Finished. You can make as many flowers as you like, and the small / single layered flowers are made in the same way just, you know, only using one small flower shape.If any of that made no sense, please do let me know by leaving a comment. This is my very first how to and very hastily written! :)

Anyone is very welcome to make as many of these flowers as they like, but please don't sell them (this tutorial is NOT for commercial use) or reproduce my tutorial anywhere without my permission. If you give it a mention, please do link back to the original page & if you make the flowers please let me know - I'd love to hear how it went & would adore to see pictures!

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