Felt Flowers for a Soft Case Journal

Hello and welcome!

Unfortunately I have not caught the cleaning bug that so many of my friends seem to have during this Lockdown period, but I have been doing a little random sorting! during which I found (or rather located) a box of felt leftover from many years ago when I used to make felt mice.

There were some larger pieces but also a lot of very small bits but some gorgeous colours too. I decided to pull everything together using Eileen Hull's Journal die. It is the largest of her book dies but I thought it would be good to have a larger area to showcase the flowers that I wanted to make.

I used dies to cut tag shapes and leaves ....

Some of the flowers were made using simple flower shape dies and others made using roll up pieces, some cut from dies and others just rolled using simple circles (more details in the tutorial below).

I found it easier to cut pieces using dies as the edges were nicely smooth and neat ..... not like my stitching !!!

I used Eileen's Twist and Twirl Tool for making the spine ties using some lovely silk wool I bought many years ago.

On the inside covers I have made some simple pockets from left over felt ......

..... and a few little bits and pieces left over.

All the felt would have benefitted from being supported with some interfacing but I didn't have any and of course I could not just pop to the shop to get some. So the covers are strengthened with pieces of crinoline fabric and I have had to live with the way some of the felt went a bit squint when being stitched.

The journal has a lovely feel to it and is surprisingly sturdy and I felt so good about using some left over fabrics from years ago!

Keep safe and well

Jennie x

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TUTORIAL

 (and a few tips from the making)

I cut four journal covers - 2 front and 2 back. 

Sew onto the cover any tags or pockets before sewing the two covers together.

Iron on interfacing to strengthen the felt would have been desirable but all I had of a reasonable thickness was crinoline. I used the journal die to cut the shape but had to trim a little from the edges so it didn't show when stitched.

The felt did cut through when I used the die cut machine so when I stitched the two covers together I added extra stitching to strengthen the fold. The zig zag stitch down the middle looks quite decorative but has a purpose!

The holes for threading were strengthened with eyelets. These little ones only went through one layer but are enough to stop it fraying.

I used Eileen's Twist and Style Tool with some silk thread for the my spine thread. The silk works well as it doesn't stretch. Cotton would be good as well.

And the flowers ..... I have used one of my favourite roll up flower dies which cut the felt perfectly. It is a Spellbinders thin metal die which I have had for years. The felt rolled very well and I used PVA fabric glue across the bottom of the flower to glue it in place.

If you don't have a die you can make these little rolled flowers from a circle of felt which can be rolled after cutting a spiral around the circle. I use these little rolled flowers a lot in paper for filling in around larger flowers.

There is a tutorial HERE on my blog for making paper ones - the technique is the same for felt.

I find that purchased books in the UK for the inside of Eileen's Journal die are a little on the large size so I make my own. I make a few at a time so I always have some ready to put straight into a journal. These packs of squared and plain paper are just perfect.

Cut the papers 7 1/2" x 8 1/4" and then fold to make a booklet measuring 7 1/2" x 4 1/8". I also cut kraft paper the same size to make a cover.

The leftover pieces are perfect for Eileen's smaller book dies!!!

Rounding the corners make the books look very professional and you can either staple the pages together if you have a long arm stapler or sew them as I do with some cotton.

Dies Used:

Sissix Eileen Hull Journal 

Sissix Eileen Hull Bookplate, Hinges and Label Thinlits 

Sissix Eileen Hull Spring Leaves 

Sissix Tim Holtz Tattered Floral

Spellbinders Rolled Flower