Needle Felting...All Warm and Woolly...

One of my favorite winter crafts is needle felting. 

Have you tried it?

Very relaxing...

I love needle felting by hand...

The rhythmic tapping of the needles through the fabric....

But I must confess...

I also own a needle felting machine which is much faster and easier.

The drawback is that with 12 needles loaded in the machine, when they break it is a pain to replace them.

And expensive.

However, you can achieve really cool results quickly.

Let me show you.

This was a piece of wool felted sweater.

I just machine felted it onto a scrap of burlap a little bigger than the piece of wool.

Then I wrapped it around my jar to see where I would need to stitch it.

I stitched it with some cotton string.

I love those little primitive Xs.

This little purse came from the thrift store.

I needle felted the little wool butterflies on by hand.

Just get a little cookie cutter in a shape you love.

Put your felting mat inside the bag under where you want your shape.

Lay the cookie cutter on top.

Add some wool roving inside the cookie cutter and needle felt it.

Be sure to do the edges extra to give your shape definition.

Then remove your cookie cutter and continue to needle felt it until it looks like you want it to.

You can add details with more wool like the lines down the center of the butterflies.

I used a scrap of wool yarn for the butterfly trails.

Just needle felt it in place too.

I added a wool butterfly to this little wool hat as well...

A sweet fun touch that can take a simple gift from nice to much more personal.

A project I have been wanted to try is a machine felted landscape pin.

This one used scraps from a blue sweater, green sweater and a black sweater as the base.

I cut my shapes and then machine felted them together.

 

I learned that the piece grew quite a bit larger when it was felted. 

 

This is quite a big pin, but it started just the right size.

If you try it, make yours smaller than you want the final product.

After I machine felted the sweater pieces together, I added little wisps of wool roving in green to the hills and white for the clouds.

While I had the felting machine out, I did a little experimenting.

I had this doily from the thrift store and wondered if the felting machine would work on it.

It did.

I did have one little place where the machine sort of ate a little bit of the doily.

But it was on the edge and not super noticeable.

I felted it on a piece of wool and then trimmed the wool afterwards.

A successful experiment.

  WooHoo!

Hope you got some new ideas for felting.

Thanks for stopping by....

Winter Wool Fun

Nothing says "Winter" to me like wool.

I love it and always have.

I just wanted to share a couple recent projects made with my favorite fiber...

These soft wool bangles are a cinch to make.

I used wool yarn and a Nifty Knitter Loom to make them. 

Then I felted them in the washing machine when I did laundry.

A quick tip is to place small items you are felting in a nylon stocking to wash.  

I usually place as many as I can in one stocking and tie a knot between items.

They are so comfortable and would make a great project for Christmas gifts.

I love them as they are but you could fancy them up with some beads and fibers....

Next is one of my favorites..

This sweet little owl bag is a great example of recycling at its finest...

A sweater, some buttons, a belt and wool skirt scraps turned into this...

It is the perfect size for keys, phone and small wallet...

I do sell or give away most of what I make, but every now and then there is something I cannot bear to part with.

This little owl bag is one of those things.

I like this little candle mat too.

The sunflowers were cut from felt and the centers were glued on.

Then I stiffened them with glue, coffee and cinnamon.

Then just a couple quick stitches attached them to the double layer candle mat which actually came from a thrift store skirt.

It is the perfect fall and winter candle mat.

And here is one last woolen treasure.

This primitive owl is also created from thrift store woolens.

I love stitching by hand while watching tv.

It is so relaxing....

Thanks for stopping by...

I will be linking up with as many of these blogs as I can...

Needle Felting Fun

Over the winter, I bought a needle felting kit.

I have needle felted before but never a 3-D figure.  

So I bought this cute little dog kit with my 40% off coupon at Michael's.

On a visit to my in-laws, I took it with me.

I skipped the evening fishing (and mosquito bites) and came in and worked on the dog.

Two hours and thousands of needle pokes later....

Here he is.

I think he is pretty cute.

The kit was awesome for a beginner because the forms make it super simple to get the shape right.

My typical issue with felting is that I should poke a lot longer.

But I am so excited and impatient...

I just have to go to the next step so he can take shape...

I think he should probably be firmer.

Although he will stand on his own.

The cool thing is that next time, I will know.

And if I want to make another dog, all I need is the wool.

Which I have.

If you want to give it a try, I highly recommend it.

This is the kit I got.

A word of warning.

That little needle is sharp!

 The forms make it easy to work and if you are careful, you do not get poked while using the forms...much.

But when you need to felt the two halves together, be very careful. 

 I got poked. 

A LOT!

I get so intense on what I am doing, I sometimes forget the little things...

Like, my hand is holding him and the needle will go the whole way through and hit what is on the other side....
my hand/fingers/etc...

Just saying....

I would NOT recommend it for children.

But if you have ever wanted to try it...

Give it a go.

Everything is included...

Thanks for stopping by...

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