How to Make a Tall Felt Cactus
We understand that sometimes, you just don't have a green thumb. If you find it a challenge to keep even easy-to-maintain cacti alive indoors, this project is for you. Get the look of decorative indoor plants without the hassle.
What You Need
Wool felt: seafoam green
Water- or air-soluble marking pen
Sewing needle
Sewing thread: white
White chalk pencil
Ruler
1 cup of rice or crushed walnut shells (available at pet supply stores)
Plastic bag
2" clay flowerpot
Scrap of cork sheet
Hot-glue gun and glue sticks
White gravel (available at pet supply stores)
1" pom-pom: peach or orange
Step-by-Step Instructions
If you've never crafted with felt before, this is a great project to learn on! Just follow our easy crafting instructions.
Step 1: Print, Trace, Cut
First, download the free cactus template for this project and print it out. Trace the Tall Felt Cactus Pattern onto white paper and cut out. Then trace the pattern six times onto seafoam green wool felt and cut out the pieces.
Step 2: Sew Your Cacti
Stack two wool felt pieces. Thread a needle and blanket-stitch the pieces together along the curved edges with a doubled length of sewing thread. Leave the bottom of the cacti (the straight edge) open for now. Repeat with remaining wool felt pieces. You will have a total of three felt cacti.
Step 3: Make Cacti Leaves
Using a white chalk pencil and a ruler, draw a vertical line through the center of two of the wool felt sets.
Stack all of the sets with the chalked sides facing out. Starting at the top, straight-stitch the pieces together along the chalked line using a doubled length of sewing thread. Tie off thread and trim tails.
Step 4: Fill Cacti
Place crushed walnuts or rice inside a plastic bag. With bottom of cactus facing up, gently press a seam toward the center to open a section. Spoon crushed shells into the opening.
Tip: If you hold the cactus over the bag while filling, any missed shells or rice will fall back into the bag. Repeat until each section is filled to just below the edge.
Step 5: Finish and Display
Whipstitch the bottom edge of each cactus section closed, then tie off and trim thread tails.
Trace the bottom of the clay pot you'll put your cacti in onto a cork sheet. About 1/4" inside the lines cut a circle,so it will fit in the clay pot. Hot-glue the cork circle to the bottom of the cactus, then apply hot-glue to the bottom of the cork circle and stick it to the inside of the clay pot.
Fill in the gaps around the cactus with white gravel to hide the base. Sew a purchased pom-pom to the top of the cactus, or make one out of yarn, then display proudly.