Needle Felted Shapes and Objects

Read the How to Needle Felt article first and practice with flat felt before trying these more complex needle felting ideas.

Cookie Cutters- Cookie cutters are a great tool for creating felted shapes. Push a bunch of wool roving into a cookie cutter and use the needle felting method. You can create several felt shapes and felt them together for a different look. For example, a collection of felt hearts can be felted together for a felt flower. These make wonderful brooches or adornments for bags.

Paper Pattern- Cut out any shape from construction paper. Bigger shapes are much easier for beginners. To use a paper pattern, first secure your layer(s) of wool, your wool “mat,” to the foam mat by poking a few times with the needle. Pin your paper shape in the middle of your wool mat. Then, poke around the outline of the shape with your felting needle. When you have completely outlined the shape, you should be able to remove the pattern and see an outlined shape in the wool. Poke down the wool in the middle of the shape with the felting needle until it’s completely filled in. Now, you can use sharp scissors to cut off the excess fibers around the outside of your shape, OR you can fold these excess fibers in and poke them into the shape with the felting needle. The first option will create more of a flat edge, while folding the fibers in will create a softer, rounded edge.  Flip your piece over and repeat the process (you might have to flip several times). You can also felt your shape onto a flat piece of felt at this point, a kind of appliqué.  

Foam/tape shapes- You can cut a piece of foam in the shape you want for your felted piece, and needle felt around this, leaving enough space to peel the felt off the foam. This techniques works well for making felted boxes or hats. You can also use tape to create a tight ball to needle felt around.

Solid felt shapes- With practice, you can create solid felt shapes without any mold or pattern. You simply gather wool into a tightly wound ball and begin needle felting it, turning it as you go to make it the right shape. For a heart, for example, you would poke the wool more where you want the V indent. To create shapes such as snowmen, animals, or human shapes, you can felt together many simple shapes.

Have fun!