Needle Felting!

As usual, browsing Pinterest, I saw some cute little felted hearts and I thought they would look brilliantly in my Christmas tree this year! So I did some research and found they were pretty easy to make! Yay! I LOVE EASY!

But I needed the materials for felting. Again another google search brought me to a felt shop online here in the Netherlands: MeerVilt! They have absolutely everything for felting and they do workshops as well.

Normally I just buy whatever I think I need. I did that with my soapmaking adventure. Well adventure, we never left off so to speak. Because it's all still there waiting for me to make soap! I will make soap... one day...

So to be sensible (yes I can be that!) I bought a starterpack. With needles, a foamboard and wool.

Update: I created a PDF file of this post, you can download it here!

It arrived really quickly and I got started straight away:

I had some Drops Eskimo in my enormous stash:

This is what I use:

Drops Eskimo
Felting needle
a comb

The needle is not your average needle, it's triangular and has little grooves in it. You can't see it really well on the photo, but that's my camera (sorry about that!)

And you need foam boards.
The big one I got in my starters pack. It's nice and thick. You can have it on your lap on the sofa and you won't prick yourself!

The small one is packaging material, I got in a box. It's a nice size to put in hats or take with you. It's not thick so you have to be careful not to prick yourself or to prick through it and hit the tabletop. Your needle will break!

I love to decorate cakes, I have loads of cutters for flowers and other things.

Some Christmas decorations I made:

So let's get started

You have to comb your Eskimo yarn to get to the fluffy stuff!

Once you have enough fluffy stuff, you can start felting. Btw I needed a bit of black for felting and I didn't have Eskimo in black. I used Drops Nepal in black and used the comb to get it fluffy. It took a bit longer than the Eskimo, but I just needed a bit.

Position your shape on the foamboard

Fill the shape with fibres

And start poking it with your needle!

Until it's flat(tish)

This is what it looks like without shape

It's stuck now to your board, but don't worry! Just peel it off carefully.

And turn it around

Stuff it upside down in your shape and start poking it again with your needle

Oh oh... poked it a bit too hard :(

Once the other side is flat as well, remove the shape and start poking the sides. Make sure to poke evenly.

And voila! Your heart is finished!

Needle felting on Crochet:

Put your foamboard in your hat:

Place shape on hat

Fill it with fibres and start poking it

Once it's flat, remove the shape and poke the edges

Voila again!

So this is how I needle felt!

Easy peasy!

xoxoxo