Easy Needle Felting Wool Projects for Beginners
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Lately, I’ve been captivated by the whimsical art of needle felting! I’m fairly new to the whole needle felting adventure, but there are so many projects I can’t wait to try. The great thing about this art form, is that you don’t need a ton of experience to create something really magical. You just need a few simple supplies. Most of these items are available separately or you can grab an inclusive needle felting kit.
Materials:
◦ Wool Roving
◦ Pipe cleaners
◦ Coarse Needles
◦ Fine needles
◦ Felting mat or felting pad
◦ Needle felting kit (optional but this is most everything you need bundled together!)
◦ Wool carders (brushes)
You can needle felt so many fun and even useful things! Here are 5 easy needle felting projects to try on your needle felting journey!
1). Wool Dryer Balls
One of the simplest, yet very useful needle felting projects you can try are wool dryer balls. Wool dryer balls are a great natural substitute for dryer sheets and the best part is they are reusable! This easy project is honestly the perfect way to practice your felting skills without needing too much finesse. You don’t even need a needle felting pattern.
Simply roll your wool roving into a ball and rotate as you punch it with your coarse felting needle or multi needle tool. A ball shape will begin to form as you roll and rotate. You can refine your felt balls by wetting the wool fibers or even throwing them in the washing machine on a gentle cycle.
2).Needle Felted Food
Who doesn’t love precious miniature food?! I thought it would be so much fun to needle felt some play food for my little one. It is only a little more difficult than the felt dryer ball project so it is a natural next step on the needle felting journey! You will need different colors of wool roving in whatever colors you need for your fruits. There are needle felting food patterns available, but I honestly don’t feel like they are necessary.
We all know what food looks like in our mind’s eye, so go with what you know by breaking down fruits into basic shapes. Needle felt a felt ball for an apple, and separately felt a little green leaf on your felting mat. Attach the two pieces by needling up snd down with a coarse felting needle. Add any refined details or intentions with your fine felting needle. It really is that simple! Wet the wool fibres if it is looking too scraggly.
3).Needle Felted Animals
Although it is definitely taking things up a notch from the last two projects, even a beginner can try their hand at making needle felted animals. My first felted project ever was a needle felted animal and it turned out pretty good considering it was my first time! You can read all about that project in detail HERE. The main difference with this felting process is that you will need to make an armature or skeleton of sorts to help give your animal shape and support. Using pipe cleaners is a great way to make a quick armature. Then, you will take your wool felt and wrap it around your pipe cleaner skeleton in a rough shape of what the animal should be. Then you will refine the forms by needling the felt balls until they resemble the shapes of your animal’s body parts. Then, take colors of the animals fur and place them on your felting mat. Needle them with your multi needle tool until it forms a sheet of fur. You will then felt that skin or fur onto the animal skeleton. This will be the final finish on your animal. Felt any ears, eyes, or other embellishments separately and attach with a fine felting needle.
4). Wall Art
Another fun idea that has endless possibilities is using needle felt to create felt paintings of sorts. Wet felting is a great method to use in this project. Start with either a sheet of felt fabric or a sheet of pre-felted wool. Then take your wool roving and lay it out like you would a collage to create an image. For example, if you are felting an ocean landscape, you would take sand colored wool and needle it in place where you would like the beach to be. Then take various colors of blue roving and needle them in place for water. You could needle felt a sun in the sky or add anything that you’d like. You are using wool as your paint and a felt sheet as your canvas. Spray the water to smooth any areas or blend wool together. Felt paintings can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like. Add three dimensional pieces or keep it flat. The choice is yours! When you finish, you can hang your unique felted art on the wall or have it framed.
5).Ornaments
A project that encompasses all other felting projects that we’ve discussed is felted ornaments! You could needle felt spherical little balls of felt to adorn your tree. Make cute little holiday figurines or animals to add a touch of whimsy or make two dimensional scenes using the felt painting process. Handmade ornaments really add a certain homey feeling around the holidays and this is a great way to create reusable keepsake pieces that will make your family smile.
Needle felting is such a cozy craft and I can’t wait to create these projects for my little one and for my home. Let loose and have fun with these crafts! Like I said before, I am just a beginner as well. We all start somewhere and the journey is a lot of fun too!
