How To Needle Felt for Beginners By Emily Puterbaugh
How to Needle Felt For Beginners
What is Needle Felting? Needle felting is the process of creating felt by tangling wool fibers with specialized barbed needles. The barbs of the needles tangle the fibers of the wool David and Eleanor Stanwood are the artisans credited for needle felting, the technique came about in 1980. They worked in a textile factory and invented the process when they brought supplies home from the factory
Supplies You will Need:
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Wool Roving* red, black, white Scissors (the smaller the better) Needle Felting Needles Felt Custion (optional)**
*natural or synthetic fibers work for this project. Synthetic fibers are a great option for those who have a wool allergy or do not use animal products ** the cushion, although not necessary will protect the needle from snapping and protect the surface that you are felting on All supplies for this project are available in craft stores such as Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and Joann, or can be found online. Support small businesses as much as possible! Etsy is a great place to find high quality hand, dyed wool roving for about the same price as in stores. This project is beginner friendly, no previous experience with needle felting is required.
Supplies (Cont.) 1
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Tips and Tricks Make sure to only use straight up and down motions otherwise the needles may get bent or may snap, which is inconvenient and frustrating if your needle breaks in the middle of your project!
Start small with your shapes because it is easy to add wool but taking excess wool off is a time-consuming process.
Do not tightly hold the areas you are felting, it increases the risk of pricking your fingers! I tend to rest my fingers around my pieces to keep them from coming up off the pad while im felting whle keeping my fingers out of the way.
Note that ONLY needle felting needles work for this project; sewing, embroidering or upholstery needles will not work to felt with. Please note that although wool is dyed with non-toxic dye it is still advised to keep this project away from small children and pets as it may present a choking hazard.
Where can You find Inspiration? Inspiration for needle felting projects can be found everywhere. Nature is a great place to look for things to create, but more tips, tricks and techniques may be found on YouTube, Pinterest or in the craft and hobby section of most bookstores
Felting the Body 1. Make a small ball with the wool roving by wrapping it tightly around itself. While continuing to hold it in place with your fingers, slowly felt the roving.
The finished shape should be dome like on the top and flat on the bottom. If the bottom is concave, fix it by adding more wool to the bottom of the dome and contiuing until you are happy with the result. If your dome has a concave bottom, add a small amount of wool roving, enough to cover the bottom and felt it flat.
Body (Cont.) 2. After the body of the ladybut had been felted, pull off a tinyl pinch of black roving and twist it into a fine, threadlike width. Once twisted, felt it down the middle of the ladybug body.
Your finished shape should look like this
Head 3. Next take a piece of roving approximately 1/3 of the size used for the body and roll it into a tight ball. Felt it into a circular shape
This is the amount of roving I used for the head based on the size of the body in step one
Head and Body 4. After the head is finished, attach it to the body by felting in a circle.
Felting the Spots
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Step 6 Here it is! the last step of your first needle felting project! This is the easest part! Take the smallest amount of white fiber and roll it into a tiny balll, felt two small white balls to the face of the ladybug for eyes! TADA! Now that the body and head are together, its time to add the spots. Take pinches of black roving and roll them between your fingers until they create a flat, circular shape. Once the shape is to your liking, add it to your ladybug.
Felting the Spots (Cont.)
6. Add the spots by carefully pushing the black fibers into the red fibers with your needle. Make sure that you continue using straight up and down motions with the needle.
Your Finished Piece 7. Once you have as many spots as you would like on your ladybg (I usually add 2-3 per side) this is what your felted ladybug should look like!
Trimming 1 Now that your project is finished, its time to trim off the stray fibers! By holding the scissors nearly flat against the ladybug you will be able to trim off the fibers that were not felted in during the rest of the process. This will clean up your project and make it complete!
Congratulations! Now your project is officially done!
Meet the Creator Hi, I’m Emily! I’m a 20 year old artist from Yakima, WA. I am self taught, I began learning to felt five years ago and I still learn something new from every project. At the time of this publication (MAY 2021) I am a student at Pacific Lutheran University studying Studio Arts. When I’m not doing homework or needle felting you can find me drawing, making music or simply hanging out with my cat Beans. For me, being creative is a great way to relieve stress and feel productive while having fun. Find me on Etsy at Putershopcrafts!
Thank you for taking the time to follow this tutorial, I hope you learned something and had fun!