Felt Flower Pouf

I am so excited about today's little project.  This is another project from my Pinterest - DIY to Try board that I've been wanting to try.  I pinned this flower pouf on Pinterest a while ago.  The Etsy shop is Live Life In Lime and she has the most adorable items in her shop. I would have to say my favorite is this felted flower pouf.  I absolutely love it.  This is not for the weak hearted, or the weak handed for that matter.  Unless you have one of those handy dandy electric scissors, be warned. I have some major respect for her, after making my own.  This pouf my friends, takes a lot, I mean a lot of cutting circles. 

I had this pouf in my family room that I bought on clearance at Target a few years ago.  There was nothing wrong with it, it (or I) just needed something new. 

I bought a grey fabric and cut out two circles for the top and a long strip for the sides.

Here's where my mom came in.  She's been teaching me to sew.  Right now, I'm on straight lines.  I have that down.  This, however, required some fancy work.  Along the side panels we sewed a stitch and then you pull one of the threads and scrunch it to create the roundness for a circle.  Sounds more complicated than it actually is.  Here's my mom showing me how to do it.

Then you pin it to the round piece of fabric and sew it on.

I bought a yard of grey felt and a yard of cream colored felt. I cut long strips and then cut them into squares.  My mom lent me an electric scissor about half way into me cutting and it was a life saver...no sorry, hand saver (if that makes any sense).

I cut the circles about 2 inches.

I also cut a larger circle of about 8 inches as my base.

Then I just started gluing.  My first layer is on the outer edge. Place the circles as far out as possible as it makes the flower bigger. The bigger the better (less you have to make).  I used Fabric-Tac from Joann Fabrics.  I imagine sewing them on would have been a great idea, but this glue seems to be pretty strong. 

Just keep going around and around until you get to the center.

Then I cut out what seemed to be three attached circles (I forgot to take a picture) and I hand sewed a stitch to the center to give them this shape.  I then glued it to the center of the flower.

I added a bunch of the glue to the back.

I then glued them to the pouf.

We had left the seems open to insert the cushion, so I just hand sewed it closed.

Keep gluing and gluing until you get this.

Here it is in my family room.

I would have to say this is one of my favorite projects. It looks beautiful in my family room and adds just the right amount of whimsy (this is so not a word I use, hmm) to my modern space. I can imagine this in shades of pink in a little girls room.  If you plan on tackling this, it's not as scary as it looks, it just takes time.  I have a total of 17 flowers with about 45 petals on each.  What do you think? 

I am participating in the Young House Love, Bower Power, Joey and Lana, and Emily Henderson's 

I'll be linking up to these parties

and Beyond the Picket Fence, Between Naps on the Porch, DIY Showoff