Skip to main content

Create from Felt the Provincial Flower of Newfoundland and Labrador : Purple Pitcher Plant

 

Newfoundland and Labrador is the "youngest" of the provinces, being a separate domain of the British Empire until 1949. Newfoundland is the large Atlantic island, and Labrador is part of mainland Canada. First described to Europeans in the Viking Sagas, this province boast rugged stunning cliffs and colourful sea side towns. Never met a Newfie I didn't immediately like (the people and the dogs) -maybe it's the accent.
You may recognize the Purple Pitcher Plant from the animation at the end of the amazing Newfoundland and Labrador travel ads they air on television - beautiful but resilient flowers, pushing back against the wind. Here's how I made the Provincial flower:

Supplies:
  • wire (you will need a pretty thick gauge)
  • burgundy (or dark purple) and light green felt (or muted yellow or a light tan)
  • burgundy or purple embroidery floss
  • glue gun glue
  • fiberfill/ stuffing


Tools
  • needle for embroidery floss
  • scissors
  • wire cutter
  • pilers 
  • glue gun

1) Cut out the pieces - note the small tan circle is because I ran out of the light green felt - but you won't actually see this piece in the end, as explained in the following steps.








2) Cut a piece of wire about 25cm in length, bend the ends back so you won't have to deal with sharp edges. Then take one end and bend down sideways.








3) Wrap the wire in strips of burgundy felt, pinning in place with hot glue as you go. If a strip of felt ends, start to glue on another strip by slightly overlapping where the last one ended off.





4) Bend the wire in to a "S" shape like below. Note that the part you bent sideways in step 2 is where the bloom will be attached. Set aside








5) Take the large light green circle of felt - if you notice it should have cuts around 1cm long all around the edge (like sun rays). Add a small amount of glue to one side of each flap and slightly overlap the side of the neighboring flap into the glue. Continue this process all around the edge.








6) Once step 5 is done, you will have a cup shape. Fill with a little fiber fill and glue on the smaller felt circle, sealing the fiberfill inside (this is the back of the bulb).








7) Take the cross shaped burgundy piece, and glue it to the back of the blub. Set aside








8) Take your 4 burgundy petal pieces, and on each one, fold one side of the base over the other and glue in to place








9) Attach each petal, so the line up between the gaps in the cross piece. Attach the light green crosses (one overtop the other) to the center point where you attached the petals. Arrange it so one green cross is vertical and the other is diagonal.








10) Attach the flower to wrapped wire and set aside. Thread your embroidery floss.








11) Embroider the green felt piece that looks a little like a cloud - just a simple running stich back and forth, in tree like formations (or "Y"s) like below. just be sure to start and stop the embroidery on the same side side at the bottom (this will be covered).








12) Roll the burgundy base of the pitcher in to a cone by starting to roll the "longer" side in first. You should end with a cone shape with the seam of the felt running vertically up the center. Glue the seam in to place with a strip of hot glue








13) Glue the embroidered green felt to the back and sides of the pitcher cone: it should be centered, but low enough to cover any knots from the embroidery.

14) Slip the bottom of the pitcher over the bottom of the covered wire - glue in place (you may need to take the pitcher off, attach glue to the covered wire and slip the pitcher carefully back on). The pitcher plant is complete!

 














Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DIY Fly Swatter

  This is my second fly swatter I have created - they really do work! These are based loosely on the cute fly shaped fly swatters from Ameico Inc . Before I get in to my process, please note that this requires a sharp xacto blade.  Please only attempt if you are an adult, and please be careful! Supplies: leather leather lacing 4 small buttons wooden dowel contact cement or similar glue for leather mod podge upholstery thread (or heavy duty thread) patten for front and back of swatter - one side is the body and wings, the other side is just the body (wings will be only one layer thick) Tools: paint brush needle leather punch with different sized holes scissors xacto blade  clips to hold your pattern in place q-tip for spreading contact cement lighter to singe the ends of the upholstery thread 1) using a pattern, cut out your leather pieces, use the leather punch to punch out sewing holes around the body, as well as holes on the wings. 2) using the xacto knife, shave off ex...
Post a Comment
Read more

DIY Bumble Bee Finger Puppet

  Let me show you how I make a simple, but realistic looking bumble bee finger puppet! Supplies: black embroidery thread/ floss felt in yellow, white and black net or mesh like fabric for wings (something semi transparent) mod podge or similar paint brush for the mod podge wax paper or a surface the mod podge won't stick to glue gun scissors 1) cut out the shapes. 2) cut a piece of the embroidery floss around 25cm in length and make knots every 3 cm 3)  stretch it taut on to the wax paper  apply mod podge to the floss  4) when the mod podge is dry, cut the floss just 3mm past each knot 5) take the main body and apply mod podge to the leg areas and the head area. Place floss legs and antenna as desired. place the little triangle felt pieces over the legs and the oval felt piece over the head area  6) once the felt pieces and floss are sandwiched together, fold over the wax paper and place under a weighted book. Allow to dry 7) if you could not tell, the piece of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

DIY Mushroom Candles

  I love the mushroom candles on the market, but I find them expensive. I had some straight pillar candles from the dollar store which I carved into small, birthday sized candles. I carved 2-3 small mushroom candles from each regular candle. Each candle took around 15 minuets to carve. Before I get into how I carved them, I have 2 notes of caution: this will get messy, have some newspaper handy to work on top of SAFETY FIRST: this is an adult craft, use caution with blades Supplies: straight taper candle wax in desired colours (old birthday candles, natural beeswax) acrylic paint (optional) Tools: a VERY DULL BLADE (I used an old army knife a bought from the dollar store years ago) heat proof container (I used an old votive candle holder) pot of hot water to melt wax in popsicle sticks 1) with your blade, mark out a line (going all the way around the candle) the total approximate size you want your mushroom candle to be 2) snap the candle so it breaks along the line you made, slice...
Post a Comment
Read more