Simple Folded Felt Bowls
The coziness of soft fabric + a geometric edge makes this felt bowl a unique vessel to hold your keys, coins, sewing bits, or even potpourri. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make a template and the bowl itself – it’s fun! Stiffened felt gives a bowl a sturdy shape, and the template lets you make as many as you want.
Materials:
- 1 piece of felt, A4 or US letter size
(NB: Use thicker felt, preferably 3mm, or stiffened felt to get a better shape to the bowl.) - Two pieces of cardstock, both cut to 8″ x 8″
- Straight-edge ruler, pencil and fine-tip permanent marker
- Sharp scissors
- Fabric glue
Making an octagon
For the bowl template, you will need to create an octagon shape. With two pieces of square paper, you can make an exact octagon without having to use a protractor.
- Draw a cross on one piece of square paper, by marking the midpoints on each side and connecting them. Draw an X on the other piece by connecting the corners. Poke a hole through the intersections on both pieces.
- Stack the two pieces of paper, making sure the ‘cross’ one is on top. Line up the two center holes and hold them in place with a pencil. Spin the top piece so that its pencil lines match the piece underneath.
- Trace the edges of the top piece, where they overlap the bottom piece. Cut away the corners and you have an octagon!
Finishing off the template
- Flip the octagon over, and draw lines connecting each corner to the one directly opposite.
- On each line, make a mark 1.5″ in from the edge. Poke a hole through each mark.
That’s it – the bowl template is ready to go!
Cutting the felt
Trace the template onto the felt, including each of the dot holes. Once you’ve cut out the felt piece, cut inwards from each corner to the marked dots.
(By using these dots in the template, rather than cutting and tracing the inward cuts, this ensures that you won’t get marker edges on the bowl.)
Assembling the bowl.
Finally, the bowl comes together! Apply a bead to one side of one of the cuts, and then bring that flap around the back until the top edges line up (this should create just over an inch of overlap). Pinch the glued edge for a few seconds, until the fabric glue takes hold.
Glue the insides of these overlapped edges, for even more stability, and your bowl is ready to use!
My felt bowl went onto my bookcase mantel, which I use for displaying collectibles. It’s a cute piece for storing aromatic herbs that came fresh from the garden. Sage, rosemary, mint, eucalyptus – it changes depending on the season. Right now I have a fresh crop of lavender, although dried lavender would also work nicely.
These bowls would look cute in sets; you could try making several colors, or make 3-5 templates and create a set of nesting bowls in different sizes. If you’re looking for a quick craft that could be used for a gift, this felt bowl might be the go!