Needle felting is an ideal way to add embellishments to a variety of sewing projects. The process of needle felting bonds fabrics and textiles together. This means that a variety of unique textures and surface decoration can be achieved which is ideal for creative embroidery or other needlecraft projects.
How to Needle Felt by Hand
Little in the way of equipment is required to needle felt by hand.
- Needles: The first thing to note about a felting needle is that it is long, barbed and extremely sharp. Therefore care needs to be taken when working to avoid injury. The process of holding and using a felting needle is very different to using a sewing needle. The felting needle punches through the fabric from top to bottom. Punching away with happy abandon is likely to end in a finger puncture or two, so this is a technique that requires concentration while learning the basics. Whether working with a single needle or a needle felt tool, the principle is the same and that is to push or punch the needle through layers of fiber or fabric. This means that it is important to do this on a surface which the needle can sink into. When picking a surface to work on it is important to make sure the whole barbed part of the needle can pass through the work. This ensures that the maximum quantity of fibers is dragged through the layers. The way the fibers are pulled through the layers can be seen in the photographs below (click on photograph to enlarge image).
- Felting Pad: Special needle felting pads can be purchased; however, many needle felters use polystyrene blocks, upholstery foam or compressed foam. Experienced needle felters have their own special surface for working on. Some needle felters, for instance, use the heads of firm floor brushes as this gives the support to the work while allowing the needle to sink through the work.
Tip: Remember that unless carefully chosen, some "ad hoc" felting pads can end up also getting felted into the work. Therefore, avoid wads of fabric, old cushions or anything fibrous. When working on unfamiliar surfaces, keep pulling the work up to check that the work is not getting felted to the work base by mistake.
Instructions
The process of adding embellishments using the needle felting technique is quite simple.
- Lay Out The Fabric: Needle felting will mesh different surfaces together, so before starting the project these need to be laid out. It is best to start with small projects such as adding a felt embellishment to some fabric. Most small items can just be laid on top of the base fabric, for more intricate or precise projects the surface decoration can be temporarily attached using water soluble materials or with a simple tacking stitch.
- Start Punching: Holding the felting needle or tool in the hand, punch the needle through the layers of fabric and fibers. Work on a small area at a time, until the layers start to mesh and then move onto the next area. Repeatedly work over the whole area until the layers are completely entangled and meshed together.
Tips for Successful Needle Felting
Although the technique of needle felting is very simple, there are a few tips that will help produce perfect results every time.
- Very fibrous fabrics will work best. Mohair, for instance has plenty of loose fibers that will easily felt into other layers of fabric.
- Further felt layers together by putting the finished piece into a washing machine on a hot wash. This will shrink and further felt the work. Wet felting will only work with wool or animal fibers as silks, cottons and other fibers will not shrink. Unusual textures can be achieve by mixing wools and other fibers as the wool will shrink and the non wool fibers will distort giving an unusual surface texture.
- Use the right size needle for the project. Very coarse needles can split or tear fine fabrics.
- The layers of fabrics and fibers become permanently bonded, so be certain of your design before starting.
- Fibers from the top layers get pushed through the bottom layer, adding an interesting texture. The reverse of the fabric could be used as a design feature. This can be seen in the images below where the dark blue fibers are clearly seen on the rear of the work.
- The felting process gives a firm finish. This slightly stiff finish has a different feel than if the layers had simply been stitched together.
- Needle felting slightly distorts and pulls the fabrics out of shape. This is illustrated in the third image below.
Simple Needle Felting Projects
There are many free sewing patterns and projects on the Internet, including some great needle felting projects which are ideal for a beginner and are suitable for working by hand. These include:
- Needle Felt Phone Case - simple project that is ideal for a beginner .
- Needle Felt Apple - project to make a 3-D apple that would be a great embellishment for some sewing projects.
- Felt Heart Bouquet - lovely project with plenty of scope for variations.
Needle felting is an interesting technique for sewers to know and has many applications.
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