It’s beginning to look a lot like Craft-mas!!

Wahoo!  2 days until the official start of the Christmas season!  And although I’m totally on the “Save Thanksgiving” wagon (Sonny says it’s the best holiday ever…no gifts, no church, just food.  I agree!), I cannot wait to get started on decorating!  We are like Nordstrom’s, we do not start decorating for the Christmas until Thanksgiving is officially over.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t start crafting things!!!

I’ve seen this adorable felt Dahlia all over Pinterest and decided to try making it myself. Just to be fair…I traced back the original source to here.  She gives a great tutorial…where mine is more like a lesson in what not to do. Although…I’m kind of thinking that I’ll go more the poinsettia route…which if you really want to know the difference, it’s just me calling it a poinsettia instead of a Dahlia. 

Here’s mine, in an all white version

There’s 2 things that I should have done right off the bat: the first is to use stiff felt.  The softer kind really does collapse on itself.  The second thing is to pick a method and stick to it.  I followed the directions to glue them together, but then got impatient so I used my sewing machine, but then the bobbin ran out and I didn’t feel like reloading it so I started to sew it by hand and then was getting upset at the thread and went back to gluing.  Which I should have just stuck with in the beginning.  Anyway…here are the tools that you will need (minus the needle and thread and other things that I used and you should not).

• Felt (remember, use the stiff kind)
• Scissors (would be ideal if you had a rotary cutter…but not necessary)
• Fabric tack glue
• Cardboard (not pictured, I just used a cereal box)

The first step would be to cut a circle from the cardboard, and a circle from the felt (cardboard smaller than the felt). I used just one of my Corningware ramekins and used the top for the felt and the bottom for the cardboard. Then you cut strips of the felt…I cut (2) 2” strips, (2) 1.5” strips, and (1) 1” strip. 

You then cut them into squares accordingly( 2”, 1.5”, 1”)

You can now proceed in making your petals!  Hooray!  First you cut your squares into a petal shape.  I just freehanded mine, which is why they all look a little different.  But…in nature…nothing is uniform, right? 

 

The ideal one in the top right.  All you do is make a little bell curve in the squares.  Just that simple right?  Haha!  Next you glue the wide part at the bottom corner to corner.  Again, glue really IS the best way although it takes a bit to dry.  I again used my handy dandy ramekin to keep the first pieces together while they dried.

After you wrap the cardboard circle with the slightly larger felt circle (use glue) you can start assembling from the outside in.  The biggest piece go on the edge, then just layer in accordingly!  Then you get something fabulous like this!

Isn’t it cute?  It’s just waiting to go up…with some other friends as soon as their done…but I wanted to photograph him on the wreath to get an idea of what he will look like on Christmas greens.  I’m going to get the proper kind of felt, and will probably use them along my banister with some mixed faux garland and real sprigs of evergreen.  Love my little guy!

Side note: My mom is here for Thanksgiving and is very upset that I have dubbed this poinsettia a “HE”.  She said it clearly looks more like a girl that a boy.  Love you, Mom.