Felting Tips
Here's your chance to get some free project advice! Just click on
"Contact Me" and describe your needle felting question or problem. I'll
answer your question in a private email and also share the answers here
on this page, so other felters can pick up a few tips as well. Anything is
fair game, from suggestions on how to engineer a project to what types
of wool to use.
"Contact Me" and describe your needle felting question or problem. I'll
answer your question in a private email and also share the answers here
on this page, so other felters can pick up a few tips as well. Anything is
fair game, from suggestions on how to engineer a project to what types
of wool to use.
Rule #1. There are at least 45 ways to accomplish any one
needle felting goal. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But, if you put
45 needle felters in a room together you might get 8 or 10
different ways to accomplish any felting task. There are not
really any "right" or "wrong" ways to needle felt. Whatever
works is the "right" way for you!
Needle Felting Safety:
1. Felting needles are not merely long, rusty-looking sewing
needles! They are sharper and have barbed tips, and the force at
which they are used can create an injury far greater than that
with the usual use of a sewing needle. GREAT CARE should be
used by people of ALL ages while needle felting. While children
(even the very young) certainly possess the motor skills to use a
felting needle, they lack the consciousness to always keep the
needle away from their free hand to avoid being poked or
stabbed as they work.
2. Keep your fingers out of harm’s way. When felting ALWAYS
place your work on a foam board or other similar work surface
and poke toward the board, never toward the free hand that is
holding the piece steady. DO NOT hold your work in the air and
attempt to felt that way. This will lead to stabbing yourself.
About Needling:
1. Felting needles are brittle and can easily break when bent.
Always poke the needle straight into the wool, and pull straight
out again. Never twist or bend your needle while felting. If you
should ever break a needle be sure to locate the tip that has
broken off. It’s very sharp and could lead to an injury if left
lodged in your piece or lying on the ground.
About Buying Wool:
1. Most wool that is available commercially, either on-line or in
local spinning/yarn shops are meant for folks who like to spin
wool into yarn, with the idea of the final product being something
you can knit and, probably, wear as a garment. Thus, most
available wool is of a VERY soft, silky sheep breed known as
Merino. Merino wool works great for spinning, and even for wet
felting. But for needle felting a coarser, scratchier wool actually
works best. The barbs on the felting needle need a lot of scales
on the individual fiber strands in order to have something to
grab, and entangle. Which is how you can get your wool sculpted,
shaped and hardened.
The wool I sell in my shop (Sage Dream Design.com) is a favorite
sheep breed called Romney. It's coarseness lends itself to quick
felting. Of course, I wouldn't want to wear a sweater made of it
but then again, I have no plans to needle felt sweaters!
2. If you are buying on-line and can't feel the wool for yourself,
you can always ask the seller to describe the wool to you by
comparing it to Merino or Romney, or asking if it's soft enough to
wear as a sweater.
3. I do use a wool commonly referred to as Corriedale for a lot
of my fine detailing work. But it tends to show the needle holes
and so I reserve it for small areas.
About Buying Needles and Tools:
1. You could likely live your whole life using just a 38 triangle
felting needle and be perfectly happy, if you've got a nice,
coarse wool.
2. If you've got some silkier, finer wool, like Corriedale or
Merino, then it would behoove you to have a finer gauge needle,
as in a 40 triangle size. Using the finer tipped needle will cause
your piece to felt more quickly (the needle barbs are spaced
closer to the tip of the needle than on a 38 gauge) and the size of
your needle hole will be much smaller. Meaning, you won't have
unsightly, gaping needle holes in your project!
3. If you love to work on miniature sized pieces, like tiny
teddies, for instance. Then you don't need anything other than a
single felting needle -- maybe one 38 triangle and one 40
triangle.
4. If you want to work on larger scale items, say beyond 4-inch
diameter or height, then tools can make a big difference in the
speed at which you can work. A 2-needle tool works great for
smaller areas, and a 6-needle tool is great for larger areas. I use
a 2-needle tool for shaping my dolls and the bark on my trees. I
use a 6-needle tool for making my playscape bottoms and things
like giant mushrooms, caves and tree trunks.
5. If you're a very part-time hobbyist or a beginner who isn't
sure what you want to make, then the purchase of tools can be an
unnecessary expense. You can do quite a lot with just a single
needle. It just takes more time and patience.
Individual needle sets and 2 tool sizes are available on the
"Supplies" page of Sage Dream Design.com.
About Handling Wool:
1. As a general rule, do not cut wool with scissors – cut wool is
difficult to felt. To separate out pieces of wool to use simply
grasp a strip or section of wool between your two hands and
gently pull apart. If the wool is not separating easily than slide
your hands further apart and pull.
2. Most purchased wool (and all wool bought from Sage Dream
Design.com) has been combed (“carded”) by a machine that makes
a lot of the fibers run in one direction, creating a grain. To
separate the wool, pull it apart widthwise, not lengthwise, along
the grain.
3. Do not fold or twist the wool as you lay it out on your work
surface or as you wrap a wire armature. Folding and twisting
make it difficult to create a smooth, even felted surface and
twisting, in particular, makes the wool much more difficult to
felt. Wool will always felt more easily and quickly if you think in
terms of “opening” up the fibers to expose as much surface area
as possible.
4. Wool grows AND shrinks while being needle felted. You are
starting work with fluffy, airy wool. As you poke it with the
needles you start to compress all these fibers, thereby making
your fluff into something more dense and compact. But at the
same time compressing these fibers tends to cause a “pancake
batter” effect – your piece will start to lengthen and flow
outward. Flattening and lengthening seem to go hand in hand.
Thus, if you are working on a mat or with a pattern you want to
leave a little bit of room for your piece to expand/lengthen while
also remembering that your piece will flatten and not be as thick
once you start the felting.
5. Overfelting. Don’t let this happen to you! Any time you need
to attach two felted pieces of wool together they need to have
some fluff of fiber available to felt. Wool fiber has tiny scales
all over its surface. The entanglement of these scales by the
barbed felting needle is what causes your wool to felt together.
If you felt the pieces too thoroughly they will be unable to join
together since all of the scales of the wool fiber will already be
entangled with each other, leaving insufficient scales available
for the joining process. If you ever have difficulty attaching
overly felted pieces together, try sticking a bit of fluffy,
unfelted wool in between the two pieces to give them something to
grab on to, sort of like a wool “glue.”
6. Doneness. How do you know when you've needle something
long enough? Well, that depends on the purpose/function of the
finished piece. If it is going to be a child's toy, especially a
young child, then you want your finished piece to be very firmly
felted. Rubbing your hand across the surface of the piece you
should not be able to move or disturb any of the fibers. And,
ideally, you shouldn't be able to leave an indentation if you press
on the piece with your thumb. Of course, this is in a perfect
world of a LOT of time spent poking (which is how I do my toys).
You can still get your finished piece to stand up to child's play if
you work it less than perfect, but the closer to really firm you
get the better it will be for durability.
If your finished piece is meant to be a striking wall hanging for
your living room than you don't need to poke it as thoroughly as
you would something that is going to be handled regularly. Poke
the piece enough that your fibers don't easily move around and
enough that you like the look of the surface area (i.e. really
fuzzy and fluffy or really smooth and tight) and you'll probably
be happy forever with your piece.
needle felting goal. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But, if you put
45 needle felters in a room together you might get 8 or 10
different ways to accomplish any felting task. There are not
really any "right" or "wrong" ways to needle felt. Whatever
works is the "right" way for you!
Needle Felting Safety:
1. Felting needles are not merely long, rusty-looking sewing
needles! They are sharper and have barbed tips, and the force at
which they are used can create an injury far greater than that
with the usual use of a sewing needle. GREAT CARE should be
used by people of ALL ages while needle felting. While children
(even the very young) certainly possess the motor skills to use a
felting needle, they lack the consciousness to always keep the
needle away from their free hand to avoid being poked or
stabbed as they work.
2. Keep your fingers out of harm’s way. When felting ALWAYS
place your work on a foam board or other similar work surface
and poke toward the board, never toward the free hand that is
holding the piece steady. DO NOT hold your work in the air and
attempt to felt that way. This will lead to stabbing yourself.
About Needling:
1. Felting needles are brittle and can easily break when bent.
Always poke the needle straight into the wool, and pull straight
out again. Never twist or bend your needle while felting. If you
should ever break a needle be sure to locate the tip that has
broken off. It’s very sharp and could lead to an injury if left
lodged in your piece or lying on the ground.
About Buying Wool:
1. Most wool that is available commercially, either on-line or in
local spinning/yarn shops are meant for folks who like to spin
wool into yarn, with the idea of the final product being something
you can knit and, probably, wear as a garment. Thus, most
available wool is of a VERY soft, silky sheep breed known as
Merino. Merino wool works great for spinning, and even for wet
felting. But for needle felting a coarser, scratchier wool actually
works best. The barbs on the felting needle need a lot of scales
on the individual fiber strands in order to have something to
grab, and entangle. Which is how you can get your wool sculpted,
shaped and hardened.
The wool I sell in my shop (Sage Dream Design.com) is a favorite
sheep breed called Romney. It's coarseness lends itself to quick
felting. Of course, I wouldn't want to wear a sweater made of it
but then again, I have no plans to needle felt sweaters!
2. If you are buying on-line and can't feel the wool for yourself,
you can always ask the seller to describe the wool to you by
comparing it to Merino or Romney, or asking if it's soft enough to
wear as a sweater.
3. I do use a wool commonly referred to as Corriedale for a lot
of my fine detailing work. But it tends to show the needle holes
and so I reserve it for small areas.
About Buying Needles and Tools:
1. You could likely live your whole life using just a 38 triangle
felting needle and be perfectly happy, if you've got a nice,
coarse wool.
2. If you've got some silkier, finer wool, like Corriedale or
Merino, then it would behoove you to have a finer gauge needle,
as in a 40 triangle size. Using the finer tipped needle will cause
your piece to felt more quickly (the needle barbs are spaced
closer to the tip of the needle than on a 38 gauge) and the size of
your needle hole will be much smaller. Meaning, you won't have
unsightly, gaping needle holes in your project!
3. If you love to work on miniature sized pieces, like tiny
teddies, for instance. Then you don't need anything other than a
single felting needle -- maybe one 38 triangle and one 40
triangle.
4. If you want to work on larger scale items, say beyond 4-inch
diameter or height, then tools can make a big difference in the
speed at which you can work. A 2-needle tool works great for
smaller areas, and a 6-needle tool is great for larger areas. I use
a 2-needle tool for shaping my dolls and the bark on my trees. I
use a 6-needle tool for making my playscape bottoms and things
like giant mushrooms, caves and tree trunks.
5. If you're a very part-time hobbyist or a beginner who isn't
sure what you want to make, then the purchase of tools can be an
unnecessary expense. You can do quite a lot with just a single
needle. It just takes more time and patience.
Individual needle sets and 2 tool sizes are available on the
"Supplies" page of Sage Dream Design.com.
About Handling Wool:
1. As a general rule, do not cut wool with scissors – cut wool is
difficult to felt. To separate out pieces of wool to use simply
grasp a strip or section of wool between your two hands and
gently pull apart. If the wool is not separating easily than slide
your hands further apart and pull.
2. Most purchased wool (and all wool bought from Sage Dream
Design.com) has been combed (“carded”) by a machine that makes
a lot of the fibers run in one direction, creating a grain. To
separate the wool, pull it apart widthwise, not lengthwise, along
the grain.
3. Do not fold or twist the wool as you lay it out on your work
surface or as you wrap a wire armature. Folding and twisting
make it difficult to create a smooth, even felted surface and
twisting, in particular, makes the wool much more difficult to
felt. Wool will always felt more easily and quickly if you think in
terms of “opening” up the fibers to expose as much surface area
as possible.
4. Wool grows AND shrinks while being needle felted. You are
starting work with fluffy, airy wool. As you poke it with the
needles you start to compress all these fibers, thereby making
your fluff into something more dense and compact. But at the
same time compressing these fibers tends to cause a “pancake
batter” effect – your piece will start to lengthen and flow
outward. Flattening and lengthening seem to go hand in hand.
Thus, if you are working on a mat or with a pattern you want to
leave a little bit of room for your piece to expand/lengthen while
also remembering that your piece will flatten and not be as thick
once you start the felting.
5. Overfelting. Don’t let this happen to you! Any time you need
to attach two felted pieces of wool together they need to have
some fluff of fiber available to felt. Wool fiber has tiny scales
all over its surface. The entanglement of these scales by the
barbed felting needle is what causes your wool to felt together.
If you felt the pieces too thoroughly they will be unable to join
together since all of the scales of the wool fiber will already be
entangled with each other, leaving insufficient scales available
for the joining process. If you ever have difficulty attaching
overly felted pieces together, try sticking a bit of fluffy,
unfelted wool in between the two pieces to give them something to
grab on to, sort of like a wool “glue.”
6. Doneness. How do you know when you've needle something
long enough? Well, that depends on the purpose/function of the
finished piece. If it is going to be a child's toy, especially a
young child, then you want your finished piece to be very firmly
felted. Rubbing your hand across the surface of the piece you
should not be able to move or disturb any of the fibers. And,
ideally, you shouldn't be able to leave an indentation if you press
on the piece with your thumb. Of course, this is in a perfect
world of a LOT of time spent poking (which is how I do my toys).
You can still get your finished piece to stand up to child's play if
you work it less than perfect, but the closer to really firm you
get the better it will be for durability.
If your finished piece is meant to be a striking wall hanging for
your living room than you don't need to poke it as thoroughly as
you would something that is going to be handled regularly. Poke
the piece enough that your fibers don't easily move around and
enough that you like the look of the surface area (i.e. really
fuzzy and fluffy or really smooth and tight) and you'll probably
be happy forever with your piece.
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Sage Dream Design
