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April 18, 2005
needle felted flower tutorial
I made another needle felted flower, and took some pictures along the way. (Here's my first one.) I tried to keep the scale the same in each of them so you can see the shrinkage. The grid in the background is 1 inch squares. The pictures were taken every commercial break for ~45 minutes, just to give you an inpression of the time scale involved.
Wad of roving. I got this at a neat toystore that had a bunch of Waldorf/Montessori-type toys.
Pull the roving apart into little wisps and wad it up into a flattened oval. Put it on a pillow or a piece of foam and have at it with the needle. Push the barbed part of the tip all the way through the fiber and into the pillow. It's the barbs that do the work. It'll start to felt onto the pillow if you jab too much, so flip it over every few jabs. If the edges seem irregular, just push them into shape and jab a few times to secure.
The oval should start to reduce in size and start to hold together. Keep jabbing all over, flipping, and jabbing more, paying attention to the edges, until it starts to feel like felt. I find this step the hardest because it doesn't seem like it's working at first.
Now you can start forming the petals. Jab into the edge of the disk in a line where you want the petal divisions to be. It should only take ~10 jabs to get an indentation. If it takes much more than that, go back to jabbing all over and make the felt a little denser. For now, just make a little indentation for each one.
Finish the petals by jabbing all around the petals and further felting the indentations. I also jabbed in a line along the top to further define them. The felt should really be firming up now. You should feel some resistance when you put the needle through.
Once you're happy with the flower, you can embellish it however you want. I used some felt beads I got in my Sampler from Lili la Malice. She was kind enough to post a tutorial, too, if you'd like to make some yourself. Just place the beads on the flower and jab until they're secure.
It all makes a lot more sense when you have the needle and roving in hand, I promise.
Posted under Felting at April 18, 2005 11:33 PM
Comments
thank you!
Posted by: laura r. at April 19, 2005 10:08 AM
Thanks! Great tutorial! Yet another craft I want to get into...
Posted by: kelly at April 19, 2005 10:54 AM
Thanks for sharing, I am dying to try it.
Posted by: myra at April 19, 2005 02:28 PM
where can one buy roving for felt flower fun?
Posted by: Sussu at April 19, 2005 11:03 PM
Hi Sussu, I got mine at a toy store, but you can also get it on the web, and occasionally at the fancy yarn stores. If you search for "roving" in Google, it will bring up a bewildering number of hits. The merino is generally regarded as a good pick, though it's a bit more expensive than the courser stuff. I just bought some undyed roving off eBay for pretty cheap, and I'm going to try Koolaid on it.
Posted by: Maitreya at April 20, 2005 01:07 AM
Thank you so much for the tutorial. I've bought some wool but havn't got the courage (and time) to try yet. Now, with your help I think I'll dare.
Posted by: Camilla Engman at April 20, 2005 01:23 PM
wow... great tutorial. thanks for sharing. I am going to try it this weekend. I bought some roving this summer at a flock and fiber festival (in the country outside portland) and I have been meaning to soapy-felt it into beads, but now.... i think i may be needle felting it! ah, inspiration is sweet. thanks, again.
Posted by: erin at April 22, 2005 04:01 PM
that's a great tutorial! thank you for putting it together -- I have another craft to add to my list now! :)
Posted by: karen fletcher at April 26, 2005 11:04 AM
I bought some tie-dyed roving on eBay and tried to shrink it into felt in the dryer - didn't work! I'd found this idea in a craft/sewing book. So I still have a boxful of the stuff. I'll have to try the needle method! I would've never guessed that would turn it into felt.
Posted by: Hollywood Girl at August 26, 2005 07:54 AM
When you do the needle felted flowers, do you spray the roving with water, soap water, ...???
Could you let me know; I'm interested in trying this. I need specific directions, my mittens turned out large enough to fit a large bear! Linda
Posted by: Linda Washburne at November 28, 2005 03:25 PM
Hi Linda, there's no soap and water with needle felting. You just use this special barbed needle to entangle the fibers. For shrinking mittens, you should probably use wet-felting, though. Good luck!
Posted by: Maitreya at November 28, 2005 07:19 PM
Look nice!
A good hobby to spend cool winter evenings :)
Probably, I will try
Posted by: Sally Flower at December 19, 2005 04:42 PM
At last a needlefelting tutorial that I understand. Must have a go!
Thankyou.
Posted by: Lin at March 14, 2006 06:30 AM
Just got interested in woollen crafts after a visit to The Threshing Barn in Shropshire, England.
Off to a Woolfest in the English Lake District tomorrow to see all the traditional sheep and wool crafts.
Started looking for info on the internet and found your tutorial, so will have a go when I have bought the materials tomorrow.
Do you know if your 'roving' is the same as our 'wool tops'?
Posted by: Linda at June 30, 2006 08:29 AM
I have been wanting to try my hand at needle felting for a long time. I am scanning the web for creative ideas and came across your wonderful tutorial. Can't wait to get the supplies and get at it! I want to make a bear first, since I collect bears. Thanks for the tutorial!
Posted by: Jo at July 4, 2006 11:29 AM
Hi i am new to this and like to do this as i love crafts and find this very good to do.
any chance someone can give me some tips for a beginner.
Thanks
Sue.
Posted by: sue lea at August 10, 2006 01:29 PM
I'm a felter and I do love to dabble in dry felting too. Although I find I can't possibly watch tv at the same time ... well I can, but then I end up with rather a lot of finger piercings that I hadn't intended getting! If I made a flower it would probably turn out red too ... but more as a consequence of occupational hazards!
Posted by: Rebecca at September 12, 2006 01:32 PM
Thanks bigtime, luv the pics & great idea for a tut! I have just ebayed a needle felt kit, so thank you, Lea.PS just cant wait to start now!
Posted by: Lea at December 31, 2006 07:37 PM
I have just started to do some needle felting. I have felted roving to 20%wool felt. I have done the entire piece of a yard of fabric and am experimenting with another yard. I am wondering how long the needles are effective for and how do I know when they are worn out. Can anyone help me.
Should I be able to "feel" the barbs? I can't on the needles I am using.
Thanks
Ann
Posted by: Ann at January 25, 2007 05:16 PM
I have found roving at Hobby Lobby. Our store carries 4 different packages of it. Each package containg 6 colors that work together.
Ann
Posted by: Ann at January 25, 2007 05:24 PM
I have found lots of roving, from Goodwins Yarn Shop in Columbus, N.C. 28722. She has lots of dyed colors and supplies. 828-894-3677
Posted by: Brenda at February 9, 2007 07:56 PM
Thanks so much for this! I've been wet felting for a while and I've been putting off the needle felting for too long! I ordered my roving and needles from theyarntree.com (they had the best prices and variety I could find) and I can't wait to get started. I'm not nearly as afraid as I was before thanks to your tutorial!
Posted by: Pattie at February 11, 2007 08:22 AM
I just bought the kit for needle felting, want to try it on a denim vest as embellishment.
Will let you know how it turned out.
Nancy's Notions has some ideas for using yarn and just doing outline patterns.
Your directions are great.
Posted by: Marion at February 13, 2007 12:33 PM
This is a place in Wyoming that I picked some Roving up at. Her cost is reasonable, and She is great at helping. Take a look, and see if this interests any of you. Jill http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/
Posted by: Jill at February 28, 2007 05:06 PM
I buy my roving from a wonderful fiber arts site called www.joggles.com. She has five different kinds of roving in tons of colors. Her site even tells you which ones are good for needle felting and which are good for wet felting.
Posted by: Sharyn at March 12, 2007 05:16 PM
Hullo from South Africa
I always felted with one needle now my daughter brought me the 5 needle outfit, Wow, yes, it's a wow. You can also get the attachment for certain sewing machines. Thanks so much for sharing your flower with the world!
Posted by: Loretta at March 21, 2007 04:35 AM
I want to needle felt, but can't a place to buy patterns and materials. I live in Washington State. But mostly I need some instruction. Would like to do wall hangings and place mats, etc. Thank you.
Posted by: Marilyn at April 27, 2007 12:14 PM
Beautiful flower & tutorial :O)
Posted by: Needle Felting - Living Felt at July 23, 2007 04:00 PM
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Posted by: nanisnack at October 1, 2007 07:20 PM
Thanks for the tutorial.
Posted by: bluegooseglen needle felting at November 8, 2007 09:31 AM
I can't wait to try this-- I got a huge needlefelting kit in the mail yesterday from etsy, and am soooo excited. Also, I'm glad it came with a bandage...
Posted by: Cat at November 29, 2007 04:52 PM