IRAN ART EXHIBITION: STEPS OF MAKING A CUTE NEEDLE FELTING CRAFT
Needle felting is a craft that sounds way more complex than it actually is — and gets super cute results. What’s not to love? With just a few basic tools and a simple tutorial on needle felting for beginners, you’ll be on your way to making adorably fuzzy animals, or any other felted creations you can dream up. Here are the all the tools and tips you need to try needle felting.
By the way, you don’t need to be a knitter to take up needle felting. The crafts use totally different tools and even different types of wool. But if you do already knit, think of needle felting as another fun thing you can do with wool.
What is Needle Felting?
In a nutshell, needle felting is the process of transforming wool into 3D objects using a barbed needle.
When you felt wool, you’re agitating the fibers so they bond together, creating a solid fabric. If you’ve ever felted any of your knitting projects, you’re already familiar with the process — except that you probably used a washing machine with really hot water to get the fibers to bond. Needle felting mimics that process, but instead of agitating the wool with hot water, you’re doing it with an extra-sharp needle.
What You Need
Wool
Needle felting is typically done with a kind of wool called roving, but you can also use wool in other forms, like batting. In this how-to, we’re using roving torn from a larger piece.
Felting Needle
The needle you’ll use for felting isn’t a tapestry needle, nor is it a sewing needle. A felting needle has sharp, barbed blades designed to agitate the wool fibers.
A Felting Surface
You’ll need a special felting surface to avoid poking your fingers, legs or other body parts. Sponges and foam pads work well for needle felting. Just make sure your surface is several inches thick, like the foam block in the image above.
How to Needle Felt
Needle felting techniques vary depending on what you’re making. After you start experimenting and get the hang of it, you’ll figure out how to poke your felting needle into the wool to get different effects. For now, these basics will get you started. In this tutorial, we’re needle felting a small ball.
1. Prep Your Wool
If you’re using roving, you can just tear a piece of it off. You don’t have to cut it; the roving will pull apart on its own pretty easily.
2. Roll Your Roving Into a Ball
Make sure you tuck the ends in if you can.
3. Poke the Ball
Start by placing the ball on top of your felting surface. Then use the needle to poke the ball, going in about ¼-inch deep every time. Poke straight up and down so that your needle goes in and out of the felt easily. Keep your fingers out of the path of the needle. Felting needles are extremely sharp!
4. Keep Going Until the Wool Felts
IRAN ART EXHIBITION: Continue poking the ball until the fibers start to bond together and you see the felt forming. You’ll probably notice that the ball has shrunk up a little.
What To Make with Needle Felting
Animals are a popular choice with needle felters, and it’s no wonder why: the special felting needles create a fuzzy effect that looks like fur. But you don’t have to limit yourself to stand-alone animals or other items; you can also use a flat object like a scarf as a base for your felted objects.
Or try this: grab a pair of mittens and needle felt butterflies, flowers or other decorations right onto the surface. (If you’re planning to needle felt onto a hand-knit item, make sure the gauge is tight so you can have the best possible felting surface.) Or try needle felting onto a fabric cuff to add color, or needle felt a heart or another shape you like onto a plain sweater.
Good to Know: Needle felting isn’t just decorative; you can also use it for mending. Does your favorite sweater have a hole in it? Use needle felting to patch it up!
The needled felt is a felt which is produced without the action of moisture. Instead of moisture and the standard felting process, thousands of needles are used in the production of the needled felt, which intertwine the felt fibers together, thereby compacting the felt and ensuring a homogeneous surface. Such entanglement with needles is called needling, and therefore the felt produced by this process is also called needled felt.
The advantage of needled felt is:
its homogeneous surface, uniform thickness and density,
high temperature resistance,
resistance to UV radiation, abrasion and damage,
long service life,
rot resistance,
excellent cleaning properties.
How do I recognize the needled felt?
It’s simple – on the surface of the needled felt, you usually notice with the naked eye traces of needling, which create a certain regular structure of felt. According to this, you know for sure that it is a needled felt.
What is the needle felt made of?
IRAN ART EXHIBITION: The needled felt is made of standard synthetic fibers, such as e.g. Polyester or Polypropylene, but also from special heat-resistant fibers such as e.g. Nomex, Aramid or Kevlar.
In what form is the needled felt available?
The standard needle felts are supplied in the form of rolls in thicknesses from 0.5 mm to 35 mm. The basis weight range is from 50 g/m² to 10,000 g/m².
In addition to needled felt in rolls, we supply innovative technical products with exceptional properties in circular and endless forms such as rollers, rings and endless belts.
The properties of the needled felt can be influenced by other additional processes, such as e.g. lamination, increased degree of non-flammability, hydrophobic treatment, oil-resistant treatment, reinforcement, application of latex and PTFE on the felt surface and many other impregnations. These adjustments are limited to the minimum amount for the adjustment.
What is the needle felt used for?
The use of needled felt is very wide, as there are a huge number of needled felts according to the way they are used. Here are the main groups of needled felts:
colored needled felt
technical needled felt
needled felt products
