Experimenting with Needle Felting - Tutorial

I love felt, it is beautiful, natural, warm and inviting. I have done a bit of wet felting, particularly with the kids, but have never tried my hand at needle felting. 


As Matilda has grown older and her love of fairies has grown, I have found myself buying a lot of needle felted treasures. This can get a little pricey and so I did some reading to see if it was something I could do myself.

I will always try something once :) It sounded easy enough, so I put in a Christmas request and low and behold there was a beautiful needle felting kit under the Christmas tree.

The book that came with it had some great information but the first project was way over my head. I decided to just play and have a go. I was AMAZED at how easy it was and how quickly it felted.

In no time at all I had some petals to a flower. It really is just jabbing fleece with a special needle and like magic it felts! I don't want to underestimate the skill some people have, but at a beginners level it's really easy! Easy enough that Orlando was able to be my assistant while I took photos.

Here is a few photos from my first experiment.

Tools to get me started.
This and my stash of roving and I was set to go

Pulling off some fleece segments.

Lay them on top of each other.

Fold the bundle in half, pinching the 'tails' and start poking.
I used a size 36 needle.

Keep poking all over your desired shape.
I went around the edge, on the back, front,
anywhere that was sticking out a little I just poked in.

I then repeated this 5 times.

With 5 petals set to go I overlapped all the 'tails'
and felted them together.

For the center of the flower I simply rolled up a ball of fleece
and started poking around in a circle.

Once the center was ready to attach I lay it in position
and started poking! Not glue needed just keep on poking
and it felts together.

Here's the second one I made.
This one I added a leaf. I also lay it over a hair tie,
threaded through a little more fleece and
felted it to the hair tie. Matilda is in heaven!

This really is quick, easy and the possibilities are completely endless. So get a felting needle, have a go and let your imaginations run and the creative juices flow!