Felt Dahlia Flower Tutorial

I saw some pictures of a felt dahlia flower on a canvas on pinterest and wanted to make a few to hang in my daughter's nursery. Unfortunately I couldn't find a tutorial on how to make it, so I played around with it for a while until I found what worked for me. It is pretty simple, so here's how to do your own!

First I covered a canvas in fabric using a spray on adhesive.  Next I cut out all of my felt pieces. My canvas was 12 x 12, so if yours is a different size, keep in mind that you will need to change the sizes of your felt pieces to make the flower larger or smaller. 

For the first two outer rows of petals, I cut rectangles that were 3in x 4in. Fold each rectangle in half lengthwise and cut a rounded corner going down about 1/3 of the length of the rectangle. This will form the tip to each petal.

Next, hot glue the flat end of each petal into an accordion "M"shape with each corner and the middle of each petal glued together. 

Next, hot glue 8 petals evenly spaced with the edges of the petals reaching out to the size that you want the finished flower to be.

Add a second layer of 8 petals with the new ones overlapping on top but set in slightly towards the center of the circle. Each new petal should fit right in between the first layer of petals to form a layered look.

For the last row of petals, use a slightly smaller size of felt. I used 2in x 3in rectangles to make the inner petals. Continue to hot glue them in between the other petals set in slightly with each row. You may need to add several more rows depending on the size of your flower.

Now for the center! This can be a little tricky. Make a star-shaped piece of felt and some even smaller petals. I used 1in x 2in rectangles for the center. Glue the four corners of your star together.

Flip the star over and hot glue each of the four center petals into one of the open corners of the star.

Glue this piece into the center of your flower, making sure that it covers up all the edges of the inner circle of petals. I wanted the center of the flower to look a little more closed, so I hot glued some of the edges of the center petals together.

That's it! The whole project didn't take long at all, and I was so pleased with how it turned out! 

Get out your glue gun and go to town :)