Needle felting how long

To achieve this lay lengths of each colour on top of each other and then using your thumb and first finger of each hand at each end of the wool lengths, pull your hands apart pulling the wool away from each other. Lay each layer again on top of each other fibres all in same direction and keep going until all the wool is blended as much as you want it to be.

The length will vary as we felt as some areas will have longer fur than others…. Felt using your barbed needle along the centre parting of the wool piece in various directions, the depth should go down to the first few barbs but the aim is to felt shallow but in many directions for the wool to stay put.

You can also felted slightly below the centre line onto the bottom half of the piece to ensure it is in place. Felting along the centre and then on the top edge in this way helps the wool to stay in place. NB a really good tug will likely pull fur out hence why these cute little animals are not meant to be toys to be pulled around…they should take cuddles and some handling though so ensure you felt well.

Again ensure you felt in many directions and then continue on to the next piece…layering the wool to create a fur look.. Optional; For the back end of the badger I wanted this to be extra fluffy with the fur standing up slightly on end so to achieve this, run fingers through the strands of wool to fluff up and stab the wool all over between the strands, not to felt down but to fluff up….

You may find it easier to turn his body as you go — work with whatever position you find comfortable and whatever means less squishing of his cute little nose into the felting mat.. As you reach the main length of his body you may now decide to cut the lengths of wool a bit longer. For a more realistic look vary the colours so that you sometimes get more black or cream in the strand you felt…mix it up a bit..

Specifically for the badger- when reaching the neck line, overlay some strands of black wool at the base of the ears …. You can use a normal sewing needle now if you wish to carefully fluff up the fur where it may have flattened slightly..

Did you find this tutorial helpful? What would you like to learn about next? Please leave comments. Why not post a photo of your own creations?

Ik ben begonnen met vilten en ben bezig met een Schotse koe en die heeft lang haar. Heel hartelijke dank voor de prachtige uitleg. Trouwens alles is heel goed uit gelegd en zet aan om meer te doen.

Like Like. Hi, I have a question. I am felting a maine coon cat. How should I do the long fur coming at the side of te face? I can not fold it because it would show… what should I do? Hi Carla, the main thing is to get the wool to stay and felt into the base. If you take much thinner sections of wool you can still fold them.

I often move the needle in circular movement to tease the fibres into the base at different directions before stabbing You can also take the tiniest fluff of extra wool laid over the end you wish to fix for extra reinforcement. Tug the strands gently every so often to test when it is secure enough. I hope this all makes sense? Not so easy to explain without showing you. My video tutorial may also help if you are looking for ideas on technique.

Would love to see your Maine coon cat. They are adorable. Let me know how it goes. I will, and thank you for the advice.

It is great to see the pretty things you make. Love to see more. Thank you for the info and insight! I am so frustrated! I recently started needle felting! I wish I could get a tutorial on a Pom! I guess I shall keep practicing! Any thoughts? Thank you!

This tutorial was very helpful. Thank you so much for sharing. I recently saw a post on the internet where the artist made a hedgehog with what looked like a prickly fur backing. Would you have any advice on how that was done or have you done it yourself? Thank you. Thanks Donna. I will also be selling a video in the near future on long fur.

No doubt I will at some point. I believe people use mohair fabric that you buy and cut to size. There is some on Etsy. Maybe search for hedgehog mohair fabric though elsewhere as it looks fairly expensive on Etsy. I would prefer to try a way to do this myself though if possible. With the pre bought one I assume you would see or stick the fabric to the rest of the hedgehog you have felted. Love these little animals and would like to learn how to make them…where can I find directions on how to make them and materials needed?

So pleased it helped Linda. I am making a video at the moment to show a donkey with long fur. So watch this space. I started with felting a guinea pig and ended up with a shi t,u!! Maravilloso, que artista eres Gracias por tu tutorial desde Uruguay Susana nunca he hecho animales , voy a intentar. Wow…never felted before, never knew it exsisted. Although I love all the feltting I want to do the little animals.

So thank you for making my desicion to delve into it very easy. Aw thank you. Needle felting is typically done with a kind of wool called roving, but you can also use wool in other forms, like batting. A felting needle has sharp, barbed blades designed to agitate the wool fibers. 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. For now, these basics will get you started.

Start by placing the ball on top of your felting surface. 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! Continue poking the ball until the fibers start to bond together and you see the felt forming. Or try this: grab a pair of mittens and needle felt butterflies, flowers or other decorations right onto the 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.

Does your favorite sweater have a hole in it? Use needle felting to patch it up! What are you waiting for? Make an indentation in the larger piece in the spot where the smaller piece will go using your needle, or cut a small incision in the larger piece using scissors and stuff the tip of your smaller piece inside.

Then use your needle to secure the two pieces together. To attach black plastic eyes, mark out the spot where you want to place the eyes using your needle. Then create holes using scissors or an awl. Put a little bit of glue on the end of the eyes and stick them in the holes. If your needle breaks and disappears inside your needle felted piece, gently squeeze your piece to expose the broken needle.

However when squeezing, be careful not to place your fingers in the spot where the pointy end of the needle disappeared. Use tweezers to gently but firmly pull out the broken needle.

Alternatively, you can try using scissors to cut your needle felted object in the spot where the needle disappeared, and try to find it. Once the needle has been removed, use loose pieces of wool to felt your object back together.

See how to remove a broken needle here at and here at Use your needle to gently poke the fibers of the wool into the main object just so it stays in position. If you end up with unwanted dents or gaps in your final project, take a little bit of the same colored wool, roll it into a little ball, and gently felt it into the gap with your needle. Felt until it blends into the final piece, eliminating the gap. Then add some extra felting wool to fill in any gaps in the main body of your object, and redo the details.

Your email address will not be published. Not Felting on a Cushion I provide felting cushions for my classes, but I often see my students hold the project in their hand as they felt. The cushion provides the most safety. Lay the project on the felting cushion to avoid getting stabbed by the felting needle. Stabbing the Felting needle deep into the Wool Notice that the barbs on the felting needle are located mostly towards the tip. Short quick stabs with the felting needle will help you to felt faster.

It is not necessary to stab the needle deep into the wool, this uses more time and energy than is required. The barbs are also in different patterns on needles such as star, swirl, triangle etc. Tools holding more than one needle are also available. Different breeds of wool require different sizes of needles so it can be quite frustrating when just starting out.

I have tried several sizes and types of needles over the years and the one I use the most is Star I recommend starting with a single star 36 and experiment with others on the side until you find the perfect needles for the type of wool you are using.

I use mostly Romney wool and star 36 works great. Finer wools such as Merino require smaller sizes such as 38 or smaller. I use a single needle when felting. Learn to Needle Felt the Easy Way! My mission? To help others learn to needle felt the easy way. Let me show you how you can easily create beautiful sculptures by using the correct supplies and techniques I have helped over 10, learn how to needle felt through my needle felting kits and even more who have received personal instruction from me through my Online Needle Felting Academy.

I would love to help you get started today! Successful Needle Felting Projects for Beginners. Pumpkin Needle Felting Kit Beginner. My Favorite Needle Felting Tool. Needle Felted Art. Bear Creek Snowmen. The Bear Creek felting Story. Hunter H. Bryant on July 30, at pm. Karen on April 25, at pm. Teresa Perleberg on April 25, at pm. Jan Butler on March 21, at am.

Teresa Perleberg on March 21, at am. Teresa, Thank you for sharing.