Sew Felt Flower Hair Bow

you’ll need-
-a 9×12 sheet of wool felt
-a stretchy headband (I found this one at Michael’s [random, right?], but I’ve also had luck finding plain baby headbands at Target and at Dollar Tree)
-sew on pearl beads
-invisible thread and needle

1. Cut out a whole pile of wool felt petals in three different sizes. As suggested by Not Martha in the tutorial for the glued version, I cut my felt into a few 2″ rows, a couple 1.5″ rows and a couple 1″ rows (and used the leftover to make my circle flower ‘base’). Then, I cut the rows into rectangles and then made ‘petal-ish’ shapes. It’s not an exact science- just freehand it. Be sure to make a point at the top of each petal, though, if you want your finished flower to be dahlia-esque.

2. Fold the bottom of the flower in to make a pinched petal.

3. Secure the pinched petal to the circle base (my circle was about 2″ wide) by handstitching with invisible thread. It worked best to stitch across the base of the petal horizontally and then secure with a vertical stitch as well. I usually did one more stitch just for kicks, so three stitches per flower.

4. Continue around the entire base, using your biggest petals.

5. Repeat entire process for the middle layer, using your middle-sized petals.

6. Finish off petal-ing by handstitching the smallest petals into a top layer. There should be only a small spot in the center that isn’t covered in petals.

7. In that uncovered center spot, stitch a pile of pearl beads (I think I used about 20 total). For full coverage, some of the beads will be stacked on top of each other. Oh, and the back of your flower base will be a mess of invisible thread- haha!

8. Sew around the perimeter of the felt base, securing the flower to the headband. Sew threw the petals- if they aren’t stitched in place, they have the tendency to flip up and get all backwards.