These easy felt Lunaria stems come together so quickly, you’ll have a vase full of them within an afternoon!
This post contains affiliate links. Read more.
I’m coming at you today with the quickest of tutorials. I’m actually swamped with a great big work project at the moment, and it’s not leaving time for much else. I can’t wait to reveal what I’ve been up to, but not just yet. 😉
I call these foliage stems Lunaria but they’re also known as Silver Dollar. They’re seed pods in real life and when they’re dry they become pearly almost translucent shimmery delights!
These easy felt Lunaria stems are so delicately glimmery. You’ll have to take my word for it because unfortunately the photos don’t do them justice! But trust me, they subtly catch the light and are a perfect filler stem for felt flower arrangements.
And they’re so so simple, that they don’t even require a template.
You’ll Need:
White or Cream Felt
Brown Wrapped Floral Wire
18 Gauge Floral Wire
A Neutral Eyeshadow Palette
Brown or Light Coral Sharpie – Optional
Hot Glue Gun
Fabric Scissors
My favourite shop for purchasing felt is Benzie Design. I used the colour Linen from this listing for this simple tutorial.
Easy Felt Lunaria Stems
Step 1: Cut out 14 squares of felt per foliage stem, 2″ x 2 1/4″ each.
Hold or pin 2 squares together and cut them into circular shape using large fabric shears. These circles are a matching pair now, don’t mix them up with the rest of the circles!
You should have 7 matching pairs in total.
Step 2: Cut 3 lengths of the brown wire, 4.5″ long. Cut another length of brown wire, about 30″ long, fold it in half and twist it together.
Step 3: Sandwich and glue 6 of the circle pairs over the ends of the shorter wire lengths. Make sure to cover at least an inch of wire with the felt.
Glue the remaining circle pair over the end of the longer wire.
Optional: Use a sharpie to very lightly add some colour to the outer edge of the circles. I tried one foliage stem in brown, one in pale coral and one without any colour. In the end I think I preferred the one with no colour.
Step 4: Create the foliage stem by wrapping the shorter wires around the longer wire a few times or until you’re happy with the placement of the leaves.
Step 5: At this point I realized that the brown wire I had used was not strong enough to hold the weight of all the leaves. If that’s the case for you as well, you can add an extra wire support.
Cut a length of 18 gauge wire (green is fine) 10″ long.
Re-wrap the bottom pair of leaves so that it covers up the end of the new wire. Add a dot of hot glue to secure.
Now twist the brown length of wire around the new wire and add a dot of glue to the bottom to secure.
At this stage, this is what the leaf stem should look like:
Now to add some shimmer!
I played around with a few options from my makeup cabinet, including both powdered and liquid highlighter. In the end, I got the best result from an eyeshadow palette, using a peachy neutral glimmery shadow. Feel free to experiment with what you have!
Step 6: Tap your finger into the eyeshadow and use a circular motion to rub it onto the leaves. Use as much or as little as you like! Just remember, that if you handle the leaves after this point, you will likely get a little shimmer residue on your hands
Ah! I wish I had been able to capture the glimmer in the photos. I tried. My photography skills are not that advanced I guess.
Anyway I think they’re charming! I have every intention of creating a whole bouquet that includes them as filler. But I don’t know when I’ll get to it. 😛
For now though, I’ve got a few freebie flower patterns you can find here, and then some not-free-but-very-inexpensive felt flower patterns here! (Every sale supports my craft supply buying habit, help a girl out!?) 😀
Here they are with my Dahlia pattern, aren’t they cuties together?!
Ok that’s all for now. See, I told you it would be a quick tutorial!
Love ya!
