Creating Autumn: choosing a colour palette for any season

Read on for my tips on choosing your own colour palette for your felt flowers.

This is my first blog post in a LONG time, so thank you for stopping by to catch up with me! September has long been my favourite month and despite everything being a little different and strange this year, I’m trying to take time to enjoy all the things I love about this month: the fresh mornings, autumn sunshine and - of course - the gorgeous seasonal colours.

September is also my mum’s birth month and over the last couple of weeks I’ve been embracing the change in seasons by creating her an autumn-themed bouquet in all her favourite colours. I rarely get the chance to recreate one of my designs in a different colour-way, so making my Peaches and Cream Dragonfly Bouquet again in these gorgeous autumn shades was a lot of fun.

I’ve always loved the process of choosing a colour palette for a project and seeing the colours come to life as my flowers take shape. But choosing the ‘right’ colours isn’t always easy and it can be tricky to strike the right balance, which is why all my PDF tutorials detail suggested colours and the felt shades in my craft kits have been carefully handpicked for you. But there’s no reason you can’t also create one of my projects in your own chosen shades! Today I’m sharing my tips on selecting a colour palette for your felt flower projects

CHOOSING A COLOUR PALETTE FOR YOUR FELT FLOWERS:

• Think big! Start with the biggest flowers, which are the focal point of your display. What colours do you want to shine through your bouquet or display and be the star of the show?
• Look for inspiration all around. Of course we have real flowers to give us ideas, but don’t stop there – whether it’s some wallpaper you love, a row of pastel beach huts, a landscape painting or even a jar of buttons, colour combinations are ALL around us! If you can, take a photo of anything that catches your eye so you can refer back to it later.
• Where are the flowers for? If you’re making your felt flowers for a particular room or season, think about the final display in that setting - what colours do you want to complement the surroundings?
• Think in shades, not just colours. Don’t limit yourself to ‘just red’ or ‘just yellow’. Using different shades of the same colour can help to add subtle contrast to your felt flowers and show off different textures and shapes. For this version of my Peaches and Cream Dragonfly Bouquet I focused on an orange, yellow and red palette but used multiple shades within these colours.
• How many colours? For a full bouquet of different flowers, I always aim for at least six colours or shades to give variety to the display.
• Make it pop! Choose accent colours to draw the eye to different shapes and textures and make your display ‘pop’. Although the larger flowers in my bouquet are in deep reds and oranges, adding some brighter golds and yellows throughout really helps to bring the display to life.
• Give it time. Cut strips of the colours you’ve chosen and lay them together, then stand back, take a photo, and maybe even leave for a day or two if you’re not in a rush. Sometimes a bit of time and space will give you different ideas and inspiration… and don’t be afraid to change your mind!
• Add harmony by repeating colours. Using the same shades across different flowers will help to add balance and bring your flowers together as one display rather than individual elements. For example, the yellow you use for the petals on one flower could also form the small yellow centre of another. If you’re using felt balls, matching these to different colours in your bouquet will help the flowers to connect too.
• Don’t forget green! Choose one or two shades of green for your leaves and foliage to round off and show off the rest of your palette. You may want bright and fresh greens for a spring-themed bouquet, or warmer deeper shades for autumn and winter.
• Let your creativity run free. You don’t always have to stick to traditional colours for particular flowers if you don’t want to. If you really love a particular colour, then go for it and don’t worry whether such a flower/colour combination really exists! That’s the joy of making felt flowers and the most important thing is that you love the flowers you’ve created.

I hope these tips give you some ideas and inspiration for your next felt flower project. If you have any of your own tips on choosing colours, why not leave me a comment over on Instagram and Facebook (just search for @thehandmadeflorist). And as always, remember to share any of your creations from my tutorials and kits with the hashtag #thehandmadefloristmakes, I really love seeing them!

As for the bouquet I’ve shared today, here are the colours I chose in case you want to have a go at recreating it too. Where the manufacturer given names are different to my own, I’ve shown these in brackets when they are first mentioned.

• Poppies: Red (Purple Heart) with deep orange (Pumpkin Spice) inner and a deep red felt ball
• Osteospermum: Gold and Sunshine Yellow (Eternal Sunshine) petals with deep orange inner
• Pinks (not pink at all in this case!): Orange (Butternut Squash) and deep orange - I LOVE how these subtly different shades of orange work together here
• Pom Pom Daisies: Garnet (Grandma’s Garnet) with deep orange centre; Gold with Sunshine Yellow centre
• Dragonflies: Gold, Sunshine Yellow and Garnet
• Leaves and leaf stems: Grass Green (Grassy Meadow)

Thanks again for stopping by and good luck with your next felt flower project!