How to Make Felt Leaves - 8 Ways to Wire Felt Leaves
Source: The Hardwood Forest • Full tutorial: www.craftingstepbystep.com/crafts/how-to-make-felt-leaves
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Hands-on time
- About 30 minutes
- Cost
- About $3 to $8
- Makes
- 8 wired felt leaves
Tools
- mini hot glue gun
- fabric scissors
- small snips
- needle nose pliers with wire cutter
Materials
- wool blend felt in several greens
- blue-gray felt for eucalyptus
- 22 gauge floral wire
- 18 gauge floral wire
- hot glue sticks
Steps
1. Glue a Felt Leaf to Wire With the Pinch Method
This is the easiest way and the one The Hardwood Forest uses most. Put a small dab of hot glue at the bottom of a cut felt leaf.
Tip: Pinch right at the base. Pinching too high makes the leaf look like a taco.
2. Cut a Felt Leaf From a Glued Felt Sandwich
Take two small squares of felt. Spread hot glue over one, lay a wire down the middle and press the second square on top.
Tip: Stop the wire short of the leaf tip. Cutting wire dulls fabric scissors fast.
3. Glue a Wire Between Two Halves of a Felt Leaf
Cut a pre-cut leaf in half down the middle. Run a thin bead of glue along the straight edge of one half.
Tip: Line the halves up before the glue cools. You only get a few seconds.
4. Fold a Felt Leaf Over the Wire to Press a Vein
Run a bead of glue down the center of a leaf and lay the wire on it. Add a second thin bead on top of the wire.
Tip: Watch your fingers here. The glue sits right where you pinch.
5. Add a Second Felt Leaf to Make a Double Leaf
Pinch two leaves at the base first, without wire. Each pinch leaves a small flat spot.
Tip: Use two slightly different sizes. Real leaf pairs are rarely twins.
6. Rotate a Side Felt Leaf Off the Same Wire Stem
Start with a pinched leaf on the top of the wire. To keep going down the stem, put a dab of glue lower on the wire and pinch a second leaf onto it, flat against the stem.
Tip: Alternate sides as you go down. It looks more like a real branch.
7. Snip and Fold the Base of a Round Felt Leaf
She jokingly calls this one the bend and snap. Make a small snip into the bottom of a round leaf.
Tip: Keep the snip short, about a quarter of the leaf. Longer and it falls apart.
8. Pinch Eucalyptus Felt Leaves on Both Sides of the Wire
Feed the wire through to the bottom of a small double-sided leaf. Add a dot of glue, then pinch both sides around the wire.
Tip: Blue-gray felt sells the eucalyptus look better than any green.
