My "Circle Me In Dresses" Victorian Wool Felt Penny Rug Dresses Picture Free E-Pattern

As mentioned in a previous post back in 2010 I decided I wanted to try needle felting and penny rug felting with wool felt as it seemed like everyone was having so much fun with it that year. I don't mean wet needle felting where you are actually creating a needle felted object from the wet felt. I'm just not that adventuresome!

Penny rug felting involves using pieces of wool felt hand-sewn in a decorative pattern using a blanket stitch or other embroidered stitch to create a miniature rug that is hung as a decoration or used as a table-mat.

Needle felting is similar to penny rug felting only it also includes using roving that is punched into the wool felt to create part of the decoration. Decorative pieces created of this nature are usually primitive in design and created for a primitive decor.

For needle felting you take a piece of wool felt and place it over a needle felt mat. Then you take a bunch of the roving and using the needle felt tool you keep punching the roving into the wool felt piece until you get the desired effect that you want.

Wool penny rugs started out as coin shaped decorations stitched together from scraps of fabric.

According to Wikipedia.com: In the 1800's, starting around the time of the Civil War, thrifty homemakers would use scraps of wool or felted wool from old clothing, blankets and hats to create designs for mats or rugs. Using coins as templates, they created circles and each piece was then stitched in blanket stitch fashion. (Thus, the name "penny" rug). Sometimes, the mats or rugs were backed with old burlap bags or feed sacks. Sometimes a penny was stitched inside the mat to make it lie flat.

Penny rugs and needle felted wool decorations are very popular with the "primitive" home decorating community.  They are no longer rugs for the floors but have developed into all sorts of decorations for ones home.


Back in 2010 I started with three wool felt kits where one was a penny rug type decoration that needed to have some sheep and tree decorations needle felted. The other two kits were more like wool felt embroidery kits to create primitive wool decorations which could be hung on a wall or placed on a table top.

I really enjoyed the wool felt and needle felting projects. So, of course, I bought a couple more. Some I've completed already.  Some are still part of my craft kits stash.

Back then I often thought of different ways I could incorporate a new love of penny rugs with my love of Victorian dresses.  So I decided to make some Victorian wool felt dress ornaments with embroidery and embellishments and to create free e-patterns so you could try them as well.

After creating all my Victorian dress ornaments free e-patterns I decided that a penny rug type Victorian dress picture might be nice as well.  Instead of using it on a table as a table-mat or candle mat I wanted to create a penny rug picture that I could frame.  

So, I created two "Circle Me In Dresses" in the pictures shown above.  I was happy with the way they both  turned out and thought I should create a free e-pattern for one of them as it might inspire you to make some of your own.

Circle Me In Dresses is an e-pattern to create a 10" by 10" Victorian wool felt dress picture in a 12" by 12" purchased picture frame with 4 Victorian dresses in a penny rug style design. 

Each felt dress piece is embroidered to the felt background and each felt dress over-skirt piece is embroidered to it’s respective felt dress piece. Lace trims, seed beads, and other embellishments are sewn to the dresses and over-skirt pieces. 

The base and back lining are blanket stitch embroidered along the edges and the white overlay piece is embroidered to the base piece. The chain stitching and lazy daisy flowers are embroidered with white bead centers.

The pattern can be made as just a penny rug wool felt blanket stitched picture or enclosed within a wall picture frame or tabletop picture frame.

The pattern includes text instructions, step-by-step color diagrams for finishing the penny rug dress pictures from start to finish, full page picture layout sheet, full page dresses layout sheet and full page single sided pattern piece sheets. The pattern also includes step-by-step illustrations and instructions for  Blanket Stitching and Basic Chain Stitch & Lazy Daisy Flower Instructions. The pattern does not include instructions for making the wooden picture stand.

Circle Me In Dresses Free E-Pattern - Penny Rug Victorian Dress Picture Decoration - Victorian Dresses Series - Pattern Category - Skill Level - Beginner 

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