Felt Sunflower

Sunflowers are the perfect flower to decorate with for summer and autumn! Learn how to make a DIY felt sunflower in two sizes with this easy to follow tutorial! These felt sunflowers are an inexpensive way to make your own adorable faux flowers!

Hey friends! I am back with a fun summer craft for you all! Today I am going to teach you how to make a felt sunflower. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to make the sunflowers big or small so I decided just to make both! Ha! So the pictures in this post show the process for the big sunflower, while the video follows along making the small sunflower. Don’t worry though, they are pretty much made the same way with just a few differences.

I have wanted to make some faux flowers for a while now, whether they be from crepe paper or felt. Since felt is so easily accessible, I started with felt flowers. I have been practicing some other varieties of flowers lately too, so eventually I will have a whole felt flower series but for now we will start with this adorable felt sunflower.

What kind of felt to use for felt flowers

Speaking of felt, when I was researching felt flowers, lots of people suggesting using wool felt instead of the acrylic craft felt sheets that you can buy at the hobby stores. Evidently the wool felt is much stiffer and can form to shape better but since this was my first attempt at making felt flowers, I did not want to spend a lot of money on wool felt. I made my felt sunflowers from the craft felt and I have to say that I think they turned out great!

It could be that I don’t know what I am missing but I am happy with them, so there is that. LOL! If you want to use wool felt, be my guest, but your flowers will end up costing a lot more! I will link to some wool felt in the supplies list if anyone is interested. 

As you can see the main difference between the big and small sunflower is the middle part. I really like how they both turned out so I am glad that I did them differently. The other difference is the color of the felt of the sunflower petals. The bigger sunflower is more of a gold color while the smaller flower is more yellow. It is a little hard to see the difference in the pictures but it looks nice in real life.

This will be a pretty long post with lots of pictures, so buckle up! In case anyone is interested in knowing the time involved in making these felt sunflowers, each flower took about an hour to make. However, I think they are worth the time investment as they are not very expensive to make and are something you will have around to use year after year. You could also give them away as gifts. I am sure the person who receives them will love it!

Watch the quick video

Don’t want to read all the instructions? I have included a video in this post showing you how to make the small felt sunflower. If you can’t see the video, turn off your ad blocker. Also, if you ever want to slow down the video, just click on the three dots in the lower right hand corner of the video and you can change the playback speed. If you want more detailed instructions, continue reading.

Supplies to make a felt sunflower

*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use. If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase. I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself.

• Felt craft sheets – I got mine from Hobby Lobby and Walmart. The colors I used are:
  • Black
  • Brown (Walmart)
  • Copper Canyon
  • Olive
  • Gold
  • Yellow (Walmart)
• Wool Felt – If you are interested in using wool felt instead
• Pinking Shears
• Small scissors (snips)
• Floral tape
• Floral stems – 22 gauge for leaves and 2 gauge for stems
• Cutting mat, rotary cutter and 24″ ruler – this is optional, you can just use scissors to cut your fabric but this makes cutting fabric so much easier!
• Fine tip hot glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Chalk Pastels – I have had mine for many years, but these are similar to mine
• Needle nose pliers – like in this set of jewelry making tools
• Printable Freezer paper – optional (see below)

Print off the templates

In the instructions and video, I cut all the parts of the sunflower by hand, which you can do as well. However, if you are not confident in your cutting skills, I have also included a PDF of all the parts you will need. The easiest way to cut these out is to print them onto printable freezer paper then cut that into the sections that you need and iron it onto the felt sheets. Then you can cut out each individual shape. Here are the PDF files for the parts you will need:

• Large Sunflower Petals – You need 40 petals in total so print this twice
• Large Sunflower Leaves and Sepals
• Small Sunflower Petals – You will need 24 petals in total
• Small Sunflower Leaves and Sepals

The most important thing is to print these templates at 100% to make sure the size is correct. Every printer is different so just make sure your settings are NOT set to ‘fit to page’ or that the box is not checked letting your printer make changes.

How to make a felt sunflower

As I stated above, I made a large and small sunflower. The finished size of the large sunflower head is 7.5 inches in diameter and the smaller sunflower is 5.5 inches.  The written instructions below go over how to make the large sunflower. The video shows how to make the small sunflower but I will also note any differences between the two in the instructions below.

The first step is to make the center of the sunflower, also known as the disk florets. To make the big sunflower center, you will need to cut 1.5″ strips along the long edge of the felt sheets in three colors . Cut one in black, two in brown and one in the copper canyon color.

Glue along the bottom edge of the strip and fold it over in half onto itself. Repeat this step for all four strips.

Using some sharp scissors or snips, cut some slits into the folded edge of the strip. Keep the cuts about 1/4″ apart and make sure you do not cut all the way through the strip. You want the glued edge to remain intact. Repeat this for all four strips.

Apply some hot glue to the uncut edge of the strip. Only glue about 3 inches in for now. Start to roll up the strip. Continue adding glue and rolling the strip until it is all rolled up.

Next add the copper canyon strip in the same way butting it up next to the end of the black. 

In hindsight, I wish I would have cut off the copper colored strip where it was in line with the start of the copper color. That way it would have looked more uniform with only two rows of the copper color around the whole center. Where it overlaps, it looks like three rows which bugs me a bit. Learn from my mistake. 😉 Add the two brown strips in the same manner as well.

On the back of the center, add some hot glue over the whole back just to secure it.

Changes for the small sunflower

The center of the small sunflower is made similar to this, although instead of folding over 1.5″ strips, you will only cut one black and two brown 1″ strips. Cut off one edge of the strip with some pinking shears to give it a zigzag edge. At each valley, cut a slit into the strip but not all the way through again. Now roll up the strips just like above starting with the black and then adding the two brown. You can see how this is done in the video. 

Cut the sunflower petals

To cut the sunflower petals by hand, you will need to cut one whole felt sheet along the long edge into three 2.5″ strips. The leftover strip should measure 1″, keep this around. Cut the 2.5″ strips in half so they measure 2.5″ x 6″.

Keep the two halves stacked together and cut them into 1″ x 2.5″ rectangles. Cut the remaining 1″ strip into four 2.5″rectangles. You will end up with 40 rectangles in total.

Take a two stack rectangle and cut it into a petal shape. Cutting two deep speeds up the process. Unstack them and trim off the hard edges of the petal to make it a smoother shape. Make sure one end is pointed, the other end does not have to be pointed as much.

Changes for the small sunflower

You will make the petals in the same way for the smaller sunflower however they will be cut at 2″ in length instead of 2.5″. Also, you only need 24 petals in total for the small sunflower so you will only need to cut two strips of 2′ x 12″.  The other difference in the petals is that because the color of the felt was more yellow than gold, I use some orange chalk pastels to add color to the base of the top 12 petals. 

Glue the petals onto the sunflower

Add some hot glue to the bottom of a petal and glue the petal to the sunflower center. As you are gluing the petal on, pinch the bottom to shape the petal. 

Continue gluing on petals, overlapping them a bit as you go.

You will use about 19-20 petals on this first layer. The more you use, the more you will have to cut. 🙂 I accidentally used 21 petals on this one so I had to cut a couple extra. Oops! 

Here is the sunflower with the first layer of petals finished.

Next, start gluing on the second layer of petals. After adding some glue to the end of a petal, nestle it in between two of the first layer. There is no need to pinch these petals as the bottoms won’t show on the second layer.

Continue gluing the petals on until you have filled the whole sunflower.

Changes for the small sunflower

The only change in the way the small sunflower petals are glued on is that I pinched the bottom of the first layer of petals before gluing them on. Then it was easier to glue them onto the smaller center of the sunflower.

How to make felt sunflower sepals

The bottom green part of the sunflower head is called a sepal. To create the sepals, cut a 5″ and 4″ square, then cut the squares into circles.

Fold the 5″ circle in half and make a 3/4″ cut in the middle of the open side of the half circle. Make two more evenly space cuts on each side of the center cut. Lastly, cut on each folded edge to make 12 cuts in total around the circle.

Starting in the center of the flaps, cut a curved shape toward the end of the cut. Repeat this for all the flaps. Next, flip the shape over and now cut the other side of each flap in the same way. You will be left with a 12 pointed sepal shape. You can see this process in the video if you have questions on it.

Repeat this with the 4″ circle to make a smaller sepal.

With the smaller sepal, we are going to glue the leaves to give them a budded look. Add a dab of hot glue to the base of one of the 12 points. Pinch the base of the point together holding it for a few seconds to allow the glue to dry. 

Continue this step with all 12 points. As you get to the last couple of points, it is easier to flip the shape inside out as it gets very wrinkled. This adds to the realistic look of the sepal though.

You will be stacking the sepals on top of each like this on the bottom of the sunflower head when we glue them down but first we have to make a stem. Set the sepals to the side for now.

Changes for the small sunflower

The only change to the sepals in the small sunflower is the size. You will cut 4″ and 3″ square to start off with instead. Otherwise the process is the same.

How to make a sunflower stem

Using a 2 gauge floral stem, grab the end of it with a pair of needle nose pliers and start turning it on itself to make a spiral shape. It is a pretty stout wire so it is a little hard to bend. After you get it started, it is easier to bend the wire around the pliers instead of the other way around.

Grab the spiral with the pliers and bend it at a 90° angle.

Add hot glue to the bottom of the spiral and glue it down to the bottom of the sunflower head. You have to offset the spiral from the center of the sunflower head so that the stem actually shoots from the center.

Add the sepals to the felt sunflower

Take the larger sepal and fold it in half. Cut a tiny slit in the center of the sepal. Slide it onto the stem and figure out the placement of it to make sure it covers the whole back of the center of the sunflower. Lift it back up the stem a bit and add glue to the back off the sunflower. Add hot glue around the edges of the center to make sure all the brown is hidden.

Next, cut a slit in the smaller sepal and add hot glue to the center of the first sepal around the stem. Slide the small sepal with the pinched leaves facing down onto the stem and glue it down. You can adjust it around until it looks the best.

How to make felt sunflower leaves

To cut sunflower leaves, start with two 3″ squares.

First, cut two opposing corners into rounded shapes. Cut the top corner into a wavy shape. Make notched cuts from the point to the curves into each side of the leaves. You can see how these are made in the video.

Cut two lengths of 22 gauge floral stems to about 4-5″ long.

Add a generous bead of hot glue down the center of the sunflower leaf starting at the wavy end and ending about an inch from the point. Lay the end of the floral wire into the glue and fold the leaf in half, pressing the glue down until it is dry.

Open the leaf back up and bend the floral wire back into a curved shape.

Changes for the small sunflower

The sizes of the leaves for the small sunflower start with 2.5″ squares. Also, I did not bulk up the floral stem like below on the smaller sunflower. The rest of the process is the same.

Bulk up the floral stem

The stems of sunflowers are pretty thick at the top, so to make our stem look a little thicker at the head of the flower, we will add some felt. Use a scrap strip of felt about 1/2″ in width. It doesn’t matter on the color as this will be covered with floral tape.

Glue the strip around the stem starting right under the sepals. Wrap it around a couple of times then start winding it down the stem. After you get about 2-3″ down, you can cut it off. 

Starting a little below the top, add floral tape to cover the felt. Make your way back up to the top and come back down the stem with the floral tape. A good tip about floral tape is that to activate the adhesive, you have to stretch it a bit so stretch it some as you as wrapping it around. You can use a bit of hot glue at the beginning and end just to make sure the ends are secure.

On your way back down, add in one of the sunflower leaves.

Then add the other one on the other side. 

Continue to add the floral tape until all the stems are covered.

Display your pretty sunflowers

Whew! We made it! What do you think? It is not really hard to make these sunflowers, but it does take some time. It is a great activity to do while listening to your favorite audiobook! If you have the time to do it, I would highly suggest to make some! They are so cute and literally make me smile when I see them! 

I hope you enjoyed these sunflowers as much as I did! I am working on some more felt flowers so eventually I will share those with you too. Until then, have a wonderful week!