Step-1

Draw and cut out a simple heart shape with a rounded bottom. Pin this template to your sheet of pre-felt and cut out five petal shapes.

Step-2

Place your first petal shape onto your needle felting pad and sparingly add tufts of the yellow wool roving to the bottom of your heart. Use your felting needle to stab the wool into your pre-felt base.

Step-3

You should now have five petal shapes with needle felted bottoms.

Step-4

Wet felting the petals – For this stage you'll need to move into the kitchen. You'll be using hot water and washing up detergent. On a kitchen tray, lay out your piece of bubble wrap bubble side down and position your petals so there is a bit of a gap between them. Sprinkle with a little washing up detergent (a little goes a long way), and saturate with hot water.

Step-5

Roll everything up and secure with elastic bands. I roll on top of a hand towel to soak up any suds and water. Roll your bubble wrap backwards and forwards 20 times. I count one backwards and one forwards motion as one roll. Open up the bubble wrap and turn the petals 90 degrees, re wrap and re-roll a further 20 times. Repeat until the petals return to the original position. After every roll, just tweak the and re-shape them.

Step-6

Pop your petals into a small bowl and submerge them in hot water from a kettle.

Step-7

I used a clean spoon to prod them around a bit, the water is really hot so use the spoon to pick them out and be careful handling them! Lay them out on the bubble wrap and repeat as before, rolling backwards and forwards 20 times and turning the petals 90 degrees after each roll. This is where you really see the wool shrink!

Step-8

Rinse the petals thoroughly, scrunch them up a bit and leave to dry. Once dried they should have a lovely 3D quality to them. You're now ready to sew them together and start making your rose!

Step-9

I stitched my petals together in the below configuration, concentrating on where the petals overlap in the centre.

Step-10

Carefully thread the floristry wire up through the petals and back out again. Thread on the sepal and twist the wire on itself to secure everything in place.

Step-11

Make a wet felt bead for the centre of your rose by pulling off a piece of merino brown wool roughly the length of your open hand. Lay this over your hand so that the centre rests over your open palm. Add a small amount of hot soapy water and begin to pinch the fibres from the centre until it is the desired length. Roll between the palm of your hands until the wool starts to tighten (you can add more water if needed). As the wool tightens start to apply more pressure and keep rolling! Once happy with the shape of your bead, rinse out the soap and leave to dry.

Step-12

With brown thread sew the bead into the centre of the flower, secure your knots on the sepal side.

Step-13

Now for the very last stage! Pull off a very small tuft of the green and wrap it around the base of the wire where it meets the sepal, carefully with your felting needle attach the wire into the bottom of the rose. This should hide any visible sewing and just finishes it off beautifully. Wrap your floristry wire with tape, and then you're done!

Step-14

The finished rose . . .

How to Felt a Wild Rose

You will need

Soft Grip Scissors 14cm

Hemline Size 5 to 10 Embroidery Crewel Needles 16 Pack

DMC Cream Mouline Special 25 Cotton Thread 8m (Ecru)

DMC Brown Mouline Special 25 Cotton Thread 8m (008)

Felting Needles 3 Pack

Clover Large Needle Felting Mat

Pukka Bubble Wrap Clear

Cream Polyester Felt Sheet A4

Trimits Chocolate Natural Wool Roving 10g

Trimits Grass Green Natural Wool Roving 10g

Trimits Yellow Natural Wool Roving 10g

Oasis Flower Tape 1cm x 27.5m

Oasis Green Hobby Wire 25cm

How to make

Craft with us at our workshops

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