A Twist on Rolled Roses Tutorial -Using Felted Wool

I love flowers, those created by nature and those created with paper, fabric and felted wool. One of the flowers that I like, is the frayed rolled roses. I have made a couple out of fabric. One of the library books inspired me to try this type of rolled rose with felted wool. So here is the result, along with a few photos of the process.

This technique worked great for this particular felted wool sweater. After I washed the sweater in hot water to felt it, I discovered it was peppered with lot of holes...this is problematic. I could not use this felted wool sweater to make a handbag/purse or even layered flowers.

However, by cutting the sweater into strips of 1.5 by 18 inches I was able to conceal the imperfections of this sweater and make something out of it.

I folded the strip in half (length wise) and started twisting...

As I went around, I started stitching it to secure the flower as I went along. When I was done, I tucked the tail to the bottom part of the flower. I added beads to the center of the flower. Handstitched each bead.

I also used my Sizzix Die cut Machine to cut leaves.

I cut circles using my Sizzix Die cut Machine. These would be on the botton of the flower. I attached the leaves first, using hot glue. Then the pin and felt circle to the bottom of the flower. The picture below illustrates the back part

Thanks to this technique, I was able to salvage a felted wool sweaters that was not suitable for many felted wool projects. Upcycled something that definitely would not of been usable!

I will be posting these new flowers on Etsy in the coming weeks.