How To Make Six Different Felt Succulents For A Garden

Inside: Craft your own vibrant felt succulents using simple materials. Our tutorial shows you how to make these gorgeous projects without a Cricut machine, ideal for sprucing up your coffee table or as great gifts.

Creating your own felt succulents is an easy and fun DIY project that doesn’t require a Cricut machine or any special equipment—just some basic craft supplies.

Whether you choose to use sweater felt for a unique texture or craft store felt, the result will be stunning. These faux succulents are perfect for adding a touch of greenery to your home decor, and they make great gifts for plant lovers who might not have a green thumb.

Introduction to DIY Felt Succulents

Embarking on this DIY journey to craft felt succulents is not just easy peasy but also a lot of fun. It’s a project that blends creativity with simplicity, allowing you to make gorgeous projects that spruce up your space or serve as thoughtful gifts. The beauty of these succulents is their versatility—you can make them in different colours and sizes, tailoring them to fit your vision for a succulent planter or a minimalist coffee table centrepiece.

Using Sweater Felt

You can make these faux plants using craft or repurposed sweater felt. Regardless of the material used, the patterns for the mini succulents are the same.

These weren’t my first faux succulents. I made some cute tiny ones from plastic bottles for my upcycled terrariums. But with these succulents, I delved deep into my bag of sweater felt scraps, leftover from all my other upcycled sweater projects.

I’ve always wanted a faux succulent garden. I’ve seen some fantastic crochet succulents and cacti on Pinterest, but my crocheting skills aren’t up to recreating one. However, when I spotted this tremendous succulent garden made of quilled paper, I got the idea to make my garden out of my felted sweater off-cuts.

I love upcycling fabrics for the home. Previously, I made a gorgeous sweater felt rug using a quilling technique. I have also made some magnificent fabric mushroom displays out of old bedsheets.

Materials Need

• Sweater felt scraps in assorted colours are left over from my felted wool sweater projects. (You can see how to felt sweaters wool here). You can, of course, use craft felt for this. I prefer the sweater felt scraps as they are often thicker than craft felt and have more exciting textures.
• Floristry wire
• Ikea Corcho trivet cork mat
• Old biscuit tin – I used one of the IKEA tins left over from their delicious Christmas cookies.
• Stone spray paint
• Fabric Mod Podge
• Hot glue gun
• Pins
• Rotary cutter and cutting mat

Making the Succulents

The Spiky Green Succulent

Step 1: I made several different felt succulents. The first lot I made used a quilling technique using green felt. I cut the felt into long 5mm strips with a rotary cutter.

Step 2: To make this succulent. Paste one side of the felt strip with fabric glue and wind it around the floristry wire. Overlap the felt as you move down the wire. I made each spiky leaf about 6-7cm long; I made about 9.

The Red Round Leaf Succulent

For these easy succulents, I rolled my felt strips into tight, flat spirals. I used a dab of fabric glue on the ends to keep them from unravelling.

You will probably have to use a pin to hold the spiral in shape as the glue dries. I made 12 of these red spirals, five large and five small. Then, I glued them into the succulent shape below using a glue gun.

The Other Quilled Felt succulents

I used a stiff felt strip and quilled the felt into a dome shape. I cut some tiny flowers out of pink felt with the tall green ones and stuck them to the top. Floristry wire was hot glued on the bottom of each succulent.

The Large, Floppy, Long Leafed Felt Succulent

For this succulent cut, a strip of green felt about 20cm long, the width at 7cm on one end, increasing to about 11cm on the other.

Then, cut the strip into a zig-zag leaf shape and curl it up. Secure it with a dab of hot glue and add a wire stick to the base.

Purple Flower Faux Felt Succulent

For this unusual succulent, I used the cuff of a felted sweater. However, you can get the same effect with a folded-over piece of felt.

Fold a strip of felt about 20-25cm long and 8-10cm wide in half-width ways. Cut slits into the felt about 5-7mm apart, don’t cut right to the end. Hot glue the wire stem on the edge, roll and secure it with hot glue.

Flat Petal Faux Sweater Succulent

Cut out six large and six small felt petals with a succulent pattern. Glue the smaller petals overlapping slightly into a round. Repeat with the large petals. Stick the small petal round into the centre of the large petal round. Don’t forget to glue a wire stem to the base.

How to Assemble The Succulent Garden

Use the cork trivet to assemble the felt succulent garden. Pierce the cork with wire stems and thread the wire through. Arrange the felt succulents to fit all onto the corkboard. This simple method makes it easy to move and change the succulents.

Tips for Success

1. Add Details: For added realism, you can use different colours of green felt or even incorporate other colours for a vibrant mix. The key is to arrange the felt pieces to resemble the succulent centre and outer leaves.
2. Final Touches: Once you’ve assembled your felt succulent, add a wire stem for easy placement in a succulent planter or arrange them on a flat surface as part of a home décor display.
3. Experiment with different succulent shapes and sizes for a diverse collection.
4. Incorporate stiff felt for parts of the succulent that require more structure.
5. Utilize a variety of green shades and other colours for a dynamic, lifelike appearance.
6. These little beauties are perfect as standalone pieces or grouped together in a DIY succulent garden.

Making The Succulent Garden

If you already have a pot suitable for the succulent garden, you can use that. I found an old casserole dish that was the perfect size for these succulent gardens.

If not, you can repurpose an old cookie tin by spray painting it with the stone effect spray paint or upcycling the tin with denim, like with my recycled jean planter.

This is one succulent garden I won’t be able to kill through neglect. I’ll have to give it occasional dust. Also, it’s hardly made a dent in my felt scraps, so I have plenty more to create many succulent gardens.

Conclusion and Other Related Posts

Crafting felt succulents is a great way to dive into DIY home décor projects or to create unique, handmade gifts. With no need for a green thumb or complex tools, these easy projects are accessible to everyone and promise an enjoyable crafting experience. Whether you’re a seasoned plant lover or looking for creative inspiration, making these trendy succulents is fun and results in gorgeous, lasting greenery for your home.

If you have a pair of jeans, you should check out this tutorial for making faux fabric snake plants.

I know Christmas is a long way off, but I fancy making a few of these as gifts. They’re also a great idea for a housewarming gift. This leather craft round-up includes a tutorial for leather succulents.

You can also use some smaller sweater felt scraps to make a pretty heart-shaped flower brooch for Valentine’s Day or to make faux poppy seed heads.

This felt garden has a Mexican feel and would go with my other Frida Kahlo crafts.

This succulent garden looks fabulous alongside my upcycled denim moths taxidermy.

Don’t forget to check out my super cute scrap felt Christmas tree and other ways to repurpose old wool sweaters.