Hi, I'm Anna. I had three kids in three years, and whew, has my life changed. Just a few years ago, I had a great job, lived in the city with my hubby and my dog, and I had a social life. Then we had our three kids, I turned 30, we moved to the suburbs, we bought a minivan, and I quit my job. Can I get some mom jeans to go with my new life?
Now I spend my days with two toddlers and a baby, and I spend my naptimes doing crafts and fixing up the neglected house we bought in the suburbs. And in my spare time, I blog about it all at
My Life and Kids.
Now onto today's tutorial.
Felt Flower Magnets
These little beauties look so lovely on my fridge. And they're my new favorite gift to make for friends and family. Now you can make them too!
I first saw something like this in Woman's Day magazine. They used buttons and created them as pins. I loved them instantly, but I didn't feel like I'd get enough use out of it as a pin. So I changed things up a bit and made them into magnets. (You can see the Women's Day tutorial here.)
Supplies:
1 or 2 coordinating colors of felt
Button, earring, jewelry - something round that you can use in the center
Measuring tape or ruler
Scissors
Needle and thread
Pins
Glue gun
Magnets (.75 inches in diameter work the best)
Cut the larger piece of felt (the color that will be the back of your flower) into a 2 1/4" wide strip. And then cut the length down to 6".
Fold it in half lengthwise, and pin the long edges together.
Cut slits along the folded edge. You can play around with how wide you want them to be. You really can't mess this up - just don't cut all the way through the felt. Leave about a 1/3" uncut border along the bottom - but it doesn't have to be exact.
Using your needle and thread, sew a running stitch all along the pinned edge. As you sew, tug at the thread so that the sewn edge gathers and begins to form a circle. (You won't be able to see the thread, so any color will work.)
Once your circle is fully formed, cut off the excess felt, leaving the needle and thread still attached.
To keep your gathers in place, sew a running stitch back through the circle around the sewn edge.
Join the two ends of your circle together by folding it in half. Sew a few whipstitches along the edges to keep it together. Start at the center of the circle and end it where the slits begin. Knot your thread and cut.
Your circle should look something like this. See? It doesn't have to be perfect.
In your coordinating color of felt (this will be the inside circle of the flower), cut a 1 3/4" wide strip and then trim it to 6" in length.
Follow the steps above to sew a second, smaller circle.
You should have two circles like this.
Fire up your glue gun, and glue the smaller circle on top of the larger circle.
Then glue your button, earring or jewelry on top of both circles to cover the hole in the middle. I used an old clip-on earring here.
The back of your flower won't be so pretty. No worries, just glue your magnet onto the back.
Ta-Da!
These magnets are the perfect way to dress up a fridge, magnet board, locker or tin bucket. And they make wonderful gifts!
Stop by My Life and Kids to see my other tutorials, like making curtains out of twin sheets, creating a US map out of scrapbook paper and what to do if you accidentally toss a disposable diaper into the washing machine. Yikes!
Awesome guest post! :)
ReplyDelete