Needle Felted Wool

Lovely little needle felted bluebird and cardinal

This past fall I took a class on needle felting at Home Ec in Iowa City. The class was great. I've been interested in needle felting for awhile, and I was soo surprised at how simple it is! I made the bluebird with the beret for myself and the cardinal for my parents. I crocheted little scarfs for them to make them look more festive  :)

Needle felted bluebird bundled up for winter!

Bluebird body before adding the wings and face

To make this sweet little bluebird, I started by compressing some wool roving into an oblong sphere. Then I took my barbed needle and stabbed the roving repeatedly. The barbs on the needle make the wool stick to itself and hold its shape. The more you stab the wool, the denser it gets. You can easily shape your piece by stabbing in some areas more than others, and by adding extra wool to areas that need to be thicker.

Attaching the beak.

Each section of the bluebird needs to be made separately and then attached to the main body. In the photo above, I am attaching the beak to the head. You have to keep some loose roving at the end of the beak (or whatever part you are attaching) and stab the loose roving into the main body. Amazingly the wool holds itself together just by stabbing it with the barbed needle.

Bird before adding wings

To add the special little details to your felted wool project, you just use the same method. Take bits of wool roving and stab it into the main body. It takes a little practice - but really its sooo easy. I finished my bluebird by making some wire legs and painting them orange.

I made my bluebird a sweet little polka-dotted beret!

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