DIY Felt Craspedia Flowers (Billy Balls)

Welcome back crafty friends to the fifth and final day of the beginner felt flower series.

This is Lorrie Everitt from Make and Merry Co. I hope that you’ve enjoyed making the first four felt floral projects that I created for this series and you are ready to make something that looks like a cheerful Craspedia Flower – also known as Billy Balls. These are a fun and easy filler flower for a floral bouquet.

There is no template for these flowers and all that you need are some 2.5cm yellow Wool Felt Balls and 16-gauge brown paper wrapped floral wire.

Gather your supplies

• Wool Felt Balls
• 1” (2.5cm)
• Yellow
• Premium Wool Blend Craft Felt
• Purple (x1) 
• Hunter green (x1)
• Floral wire
• 16-gauge brown paper wrapped
• Pan pastels or eye shadow
• Dark yellow
• Basic flower making tools
  Find my felt flower crafting recommendations in the Wildflower One tutorial

Let’s make a Billy Ball flower

Step 1. There are no templates or cutting required for this flower.

Step 2. Use an awl to start a hole in the Wool Felt Ball.

Step 3. Check to see if a 16-gauge paper wrapped floral wire will fit in the hole. If not, use small shears or scissors to enlarge the hole.

Step 4. Insert the floral wire in the felt ball.

Step 5. Glue the felt ball to the floral wire.

Step 6. You can stop here if you would like but I like to add yellow pan pastel or eye shadow to give the flower a little more depth. Start by creating polka dots using a fine paint brush.

Step 7. Use a larger soft paint brush or a sponge applicator to add more color. Blend the color into the felt to soften the polka dots.

Step 8. And now our Billy Ball is complete.

And now that you know how to make all of the felt flowers and stems let’s create a floral bouquet!

First you will need some kind of vase or container to hold your felt flowers. I used a glass soda bottle as a vase for mine and added some crushed gravel inside to give it some weight and to help keep the stems in place.

In this first arrangement, I used one of each of the Wildflowers, two Lavender Stems, one Leafy Stem, two Floral Buds and two Billy Balls. The arrangement is simple and easy to make in an afternoon.

If you would like your floral bouquet to be a lot fuller, you have more than enough felt in the Cactus Bloom Premium Wool Blend Craft Felt Sheet Value Pack to make multiple floral stems from this series. Keep in mind that this arrangement will take twice as long to make because we doubled the number of flowers.

This bouquet contains two of each of the Wildflowers, five Lavender Stems, two Leafy Stems, five Floral Buds and four Billy Balls.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this five-part series and are hooked on making felt flowers.

Please keep in mind that these patterns and tutorials are just the beginning to felt flower making. When you experiment with the felt by adding shape, texture and color, you will make each and every flower uniquely different and uniquely your own. So, get crafty, find your style and most importantly, have fun.

Did you miss any of the other DIY felt flowers from this series?

Just in case you can find them all here:

1. Wildflower One
2. Wildflower Two
3. Lavender Stems
4. Floral Buds and Leafy Stems