Needle felted flowers are pretty, and they are easy to make for children as well as for grown-ups.  By attaching a pin, the flowers can be made into a brooch, as I will describe below.  In fact, a flower brooch would be a wonderful handmade gift for Mother’s Day!

For needle felting, you will need: some wool roving in different colors, a felting needle, and a sponge or brush mat.

I have used both types of mats, and have found that a brush mat is easier to use than a sponge mat (though it is a bit more expensive).  A brush mat does not catch wool fiber as much as a sponge mat does, and so is less messy.  There is however one thing to remember when using brush mats; they are meant to be used with a needle felting tool, which is essentially a tool that holds one or more needles together.  So, if you are using a single needle by itself, I recommend that you wrap a rubber band or tape around the needle about 2 cm (3/4″) away from its tip, as shown in the photo.  This stopper will help you to avoid hitting the bottom of the brush mat while poking, which can damage or break the needle.

Before starting, loosen up the wool roving as shown above.  The small handful in the photo above is how much wool I used to make each flower petal.  In the finished brooch below, each petal is approximately 5 cm (2″) long and 3 cm (1 1/4″) wide.

The actual needle felting is rather simple and repetitive.  Roughly shape the wool into a petal and then place it on top of the mat, and start poking with the needle.  Flip the wool and adjust the shape every once in a while.  The more you poke, the firmer the wool gets tangled and thus the better it holds its shape.

If you are needle felting for the first time, you may find this basic needle felting tutorial helpful.

In addition to the needle felting supplies listed earlier, here are additional materials that you will need to make a needle felted flower brooch.  The measurements indicated below are those that I used to make a brooch that measures approximately 10 cm by 10 cm  (4″ by 4″) :

• 1 button for the center of the flower, 1.5 cm (5/8″);
• 1 small circular wool felt piece for the center of the flower, 2.5 cm (1″);
• 1 large circular wool felt piece for the center of the flower, 3.5 cm (1 3/8″):
• 1 brooch pin, 2.5 cm (1″) long;
• 2 circular wool felt pieces for the back of the flower, 3.5 cm (1 3/8″);
• 1 needle;
• Thread to sew on the button and the pin; and
• Craft glue.

	1.  Needle felt 5 petals, as described above. Once you have made the 5 petals, place one of the circular felt pieces for the back of the flower onto the mat.  Then start arranging the flower petals around it, letting them overlap, as shown in the photo. Poke the overlapping areas with the needle a few times to secure each petal into place.
	2. After making sure that you like the arrangement of the petals, poke the central area of the flower with the needle repeatedly until the petals are securely attached to each other and to the felt piece. On the reverse side of the flower, the felt circle will have some wool fiber sticking out of it, but do not worry.  We will cover it over with another felt piece later.
	3.  Prepare a needle with thread to sew on the button. Place the large and then the small felt pieces on the center of the front side of the flower, followed by the button at the very top. Sew the button and the two layers of felt onto the flower.
	4. This step is optional.  If you like, make cuts into the large felt piece to give the flower a bit more texture.  (As shown in the first photo of this post, I also trimmed the edges of each cut to make them stand out more.)
	5. Sew the brooch pin onto the second circular back piece.
	5. Apply glue to the back of the flower, and carefully place the second circular piece on top.
	5. Your needle felted flower brooch is finished!  Now you just have to wait until the glue dries.

I was inspired to make a flower brooch because of the colorful needle-felted flower bouquet that my daughter made for me, which is shown in the first photo of this post.   If you would like to make a bouquet like hers, you can attach needle felted stems to the back of the individual flowers.  Then connect the stems to one another by needle felting them a bit.

If you would like to share images of your needle felted creations, please visit Muumade’s Gallery.

Happy needle felting!