Die Cutting Felt: One Die, Six Designs

Die cutting felt can be a huge time saver and I know lots of makers who use dies to create beautiful diy felt flowers.  But sometimes die cutting can feel limiting.  I know I am often tempted to purchase many different dies in order to realize my creative vision.  But the problem is that a) I don’t have unlimited space in which to store millions of dies and b) dies can get expensive.  So I’m on a mission to make the best use of a select few dies.  To that end, I challenged myself to use a single die and create as many different designs as I could with it!

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I tested and tested and tested so many ideas for this post!  It took me a while to find 6 florals that I was really happy with.  But I would call this little experiment a success and I hope you will too!

First things first, this is the die I used; Sizzix Bigz 3-D Flowers, number 656545.  I chose this die because I know that many people already have it in their die collection.  If you don’t happen to have this one, it’s fairly easy to come across.  I bought mine on scrapbook.com, which is my favourite shop to find die cutting supplies.

If you’re new to die cutting, check out this post on die cutting felt using steel rule dies. (Which is what this large type of padded die is called.)

Die Cutting Felt to Make Florals

Here are 6 beautiful floral designs I was able to create with the Sizzix 3-D Flowers die. 

Simple Rolled Flowers

This design feels a little bit like cheating, lol, but this is what the flowers look like if you just roll them and don’t add or change anything.  

I always cut all the little points off the bottom of each ‘petal’ because it makes rolling the flowers so much easier.  Starting the rolling process is always the most difficult part.  I recommend using scrap felt to practice until you get the hang of it.

These are sweet little flowers that can be used for flower crowns, wreaths, hoop art and anything else you can think of!

Lavender Stem or Foliage Sprig

This is a quick way to create a lavender stem or foliage sprig.  It would fill out a bouquet nicely.

This is an example of thinking outside the box when it comes to die cuts.  You can get creative and experiment with them.  You don’t need to only make the exact item the die was created for!

As I rolled the felt around the wire stem I gently pushed the ‘petals’ upwards to ensure good coverage and an interesting pattern.  I added glue sparingly in a few spots as I rolled.  

I used 18 gauge floral wire and 2 die cuts per stem of the smaller flower die cut.  For this design there’s no need to trim away the points before you begin.

Two Toned Flowers

This is a really easy way to create a 2 toned flower without all the fuss of cutting out multiple petals in different colours.

I used 2 die cuts of the larger flower and cut off all the points.  

Offset the two colours and use a small glue dot at every petal to secure the colour layers together.  

Trim away the centre circle and last petal.  

Simply roll the flower and add some leaves!

You can also use two die cuts of the same colour like I did in the pic above.  These would be really cute as hair clips!

Mini Pinecone

This is me, dreaming up some fall decor!  

I used brown felt wrapped around 1cm felt balls to create these cute pinecones, which I turned into a garland.  

I used one die cut of the smaller flower per pinecone and I didn’t snip off the points.

I used 4″ lengths of 20 gauge floral wire.  20 gauge is easier to wrap the twine than 18 gauge.

Using pointy embroidery scissors, snip a small hole all the way through a 1cm felt ball and feed it onto a wire. (the colour of the balls doesn’t matter, they’ll be all covered up.)  Snip a small hole in a second ball and glue it to the end of the same wire.  Apply a little extra glue to secure the two balls together.

Snip off the tiny centre oval of the die cut and glue it to the end of the top ball.  Glue the first 2 ‘petals’ of the die cut butted up against the oval center piece.  Practice wrapping the rest of the die cut around the felt balls to get a feel for the distribution of petals.  Then use glue sparingly to secure.

I put a pinecone on either end of the floral wire then wrapped it around a length of rope to create the garland. (I actually braided a thinner cord to create the rope base.)

I used coloured 1cm felt balls with tiny leaves as berry accents.

Flower Stems

A dozen of these little flower stems in different colours would be so sweet as an arrangement on your breakfast table!  This design could even be altered or tweaked a little, perhaps with the addition of another few layers of petals or a different leaf design!

I used a tapered felt strip measuring 5″ x 3/8″ – 3/4″ to create the base. I wrapped and glued the strip to the top of a length of 18 gauge floral wire starting at the wider end.

Then I topped it with a 1.5cm felt ball cut in half.  

I cut off the centre circle of the larger flower die cut and wrapped it around the ball glueing intermittently.  

For a leaf I fed a circle over the wire, applied a generous amount of glue and pinched it around the base.

Thistle

I really love how this thistle design turned out!  Creating the fringe top was super easy using these spring action scissors. These scissors are a great addition to your scissor collection, the spring action is perfect for certain types of cutting.

(Check out the Tools Page for more tips on felt crafting essentials.)

The fringe piece is 3/4″ x 4″. I snipped all along the length about 1/2″ in, making really thin strips.  I wrapped the fringe around the top of an 18 gauge wire.  

I snipped a hole all the way through a 1.5cm felt ball and fed it onto the wire.  I used a generous amount of glue to secure the ball to the bottom of the fringe.

I used one die cut of the smaller flower and gently wrapped and glued it around the bottom of the fringe and ball.  

Look how pretty all these florals are together in an arrangement!

So you see, one pattern can create several different floral designs!

I know this was kind of a long post, but it was so fun to challenge myself creatively in this way.  I loved figuring out all the different florals I would make, die cutting felt with this one die.

If you own this die, I’d love to see what you’ve made with it!  Add your pictures in the comments!