Needle felting has become a favourite among crafters and knitters, and it did not take me long to know I was hooked. It is beautiful and it is quick – almost instant gratification, which very few crafts offer.
What it is
The process is pushing fleece, called roving, into felt or felted yarn to create a design. It is often used with felt and speciality yarns to make an appliquéd design – but instead of sewing the appliqué on, it is attached by felting.
There is no water, no soap and no agitation. The whole thing is done dry, with a needle.
How it works
A felting needle is not like a sewing needle. It has tiny barbs along its length, and it has no eye – nothing is threaded through it.
When you stab the needle through loose fibre, the barbs catch individual strands and drag them down into the fabric below. Do that enough times and the fibres tangle permanently with each other and with the base. That tangling is felting.
The fibres lock together because wool scales catch on one another. It is the same mechanism that ruins a wool sweater in a hot wash, used deliberately.
Why it is so quick
A small design takes minutes. There is no drying time, no setting, nothing to wait for. You stab until it holds, and then it is done.
That immediacy is what makes it addictive, and it makes needle felting an unusually good craft for anyone who finds long projects discouraging.
What you need
Felting needles. They come in different gauges – a coarser needle for the initial shaping, a finer one for the surface finish. They snap easily; buy several.
A foam block or brush mat to work on. This protects both the needle and the table, and it is not optional.
Roving, which is wool combed into a loose rope. Merino is soft and felts fast; coarser wools give firmer results.
A base, if you are appliquéing – felt, a knitted piece, or a felted garment.
Technique
Stab straight down and pull straight out. Angling the needle while it is in the fibre is how needles break, and it happens constantly to beginners.
Work gradually. Fibre compacts a great deal as it felts, so add more than you think you need and expect it to shrink.
Keep the design loose at first and firm it up once the shape is right. It is far easier to add fibre than to remove it.
A genuine warning
Those needles are extremely sharp and barbed, and everyone who does this stabs themselves. Finger guards exist and are worth using.
Keep the needles well away from children and pets – a barbed needle is much harder to remove than a plain one.
What to make
Appliqué designs on bags, cushions and jumpers. Small three-dimensional animals. Decorations. Patches over a hole in a knitted garment, which is a genuinely useful repair.
