We have made a few different crepe paper irises over the years. So it’s about time we make a felt version! Designed by Krista, this felt bearded iris is a great intermediate project — perfect for anyone who has made a few of our felt flowers and is ready for something more challenging.
When you’re ready to make your irises, check out all of the supplies we linked below. As always, you can use the same felt colors we did or choose your own and make different variations.
Bearded Beauty
Iris is the Greek goddess of rainbows, which makes sense as bearded irises come in many shapes and colors. But the periwinkle blue ones can be quite striking. Also periwinkle is the color of the year for 2022, so we had to make our felt bearded iris flowers in this soft pretty color!
For a bit of variation, we used three shades within the periwinkle color family. This along with using a periwinkle marker to draw veins onto your petals will also make your felt flower arrangement look more realistic. Along with showing you how to add color to your felt bearded iris flowers, our tutorial will also show you how to ruffle and curve the petals to give your flowers a more sculptural look.
If you have any questions, just comment below! And don’t forget to share photos of your felt bearded iris flowers on our Facebook page for members or with the hashtag #MadeWithLia on Instagram.
Skill level: Intermediate
Crafting tips: Cut your felt petals by hand for a more realistic shape. Also, the colors of felt will ruffle differently due to differences in stiffness and density.
Tools
- Cricut Maker or Silhouette Cameo 4 (recommended)
- Detail Scissors
- Low-Temp Hot Glue Gun
- Needle-Nose Pliers/Wire Cutters
Materials
- Lia Griffith’s Wool Blend Felt — Hydrangea, Periwinkle, Bluebell, Buttercup, and Juniper
- 24-Gauge Green Paper-Covered Wire or White Paper-Covered Wire
- Thick Paper Covered Stem Wire
- Floral Tape — Lia Griffith Fern
- Art Markers — Tombow Peacock Blue (533)
- Aleene’s Stiffen-Quick Fabric Stiffening Spray
How to Make a Felt Bearded Iris
- Gather your craft tools and materials. Then download the pattern below.
- Cut out felt according to pattern using a cutting machine (recommended) or scissors.
- Cut the medium and large felt petals in half.
- Glue a 24-gauge floral wire (white or green) close to the straight cut edge, about 2/3 of the way up.
Full tutorial available for members to download below.
Explore More
While this felt bearded iris is the first of its kind, we have other felt flowers (and plants!) for you to make too. Or, if you want to branch out from felt crafts, take a look at all of our paper flowers.
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Are you having trouble? Feel free to contact us and we will be happy to help you out.
6 Comments
I was excited to make this, but mine look’s nothing like the beautiful sample shown🫤 I couldn’t get the seams right, so I did it differently
Sometimes it takes a little practice. If you are new to paper flower making, making a project accompanied by a video is helpful. Also, our Crepe Paper Flower master class is starting next week. If you have not taken that class yet, it has tips and tricks to jump-start your journey!
Gorgeous 😍. Can’t wait to finish mine.
These are beauties!
I would prefer polyester silk fabric or broad polyester satin ribbon for the blossom. In my opinion felt seems to be a little too thick.
In my garden the blue ones will bloom end of April, the lemon yellows and chocolate browns will bloom later in May and June – I like them very much
That is a great idea! We try to stick with all felt for our flowers on this site. I think Krista did such a good job with its thickness. 🙂