1. Materials: Foam pad, felting needles, material to felt onto, design of choice, transfer pen, iron, dish soap, warm water, sponge, towel, plastic wrap.

We used New Zealand Corriedale sliver, in marigold, raspberry and periwinkle and our 40 Triangle needle for this project. The fabric was a durable, woven linen. We washed, dried and pressed the bag before beginning the project.

2. We printed our design free from www.needlecrafter.com A great source for free embroidery and needlepoint designs…which also make great needlefelting designs! Trace around the outside of the design directly on your paper print. Then lay the design face down onto your fabric and iron following the directions for the transfer pen. We used a Sulky brand iron-on transfer pen, purchased for $3.50 at the craft store.

Put your foam inside the bag, directly under the design.

3.Pull off a few thin patches of your wool and lay it down on the widest part of your design in thin layers going in crisscross directions.

Begin poking the wool with your needle along the perimeter of the design. You do not need to use a lot of force, just poke in an up and down and slightly diagonal motion. Then, using your needle, grab and fold the whispy edges of the wool back towards the center and needle felt over the surface area of the wool. This is shown in more detail in step 5. Add some more wool to get the density or puffiness you desire.

4. Continue working on the design just as we began. Place thin patches of wool across the part of the design you are working on.

5. After needlefelting along the perimeter, gently fold the whispy edges back into the area to be needle felted and poke them into place with your felting needle.

6. Again, we are needlefelting all along the perimeter of the area first, and then going back to pick up the whispy edges, which will add more volume to the area being filled.

7. To work on the rays of our small sun, we just start with a tiny patch of marigold as shown.

8. Lay it over the area as best you can.

9. Needle felt along the outsides of the design, and then grab the whispy edges with your needle and felt them into the center.

10. Continue working over the design until it is to your satisfaction. There should be no bare areas of fabric showing through the design.

Next, we will wet felt the design to make it more smooth and durable.

Prepare a soap solution of:

• 1 quart of very warm water

11. Remove the foam pad and place a towel or plastic under your bag. Soak your sponge in the warm, soapy water and press it over your design.

The area should be wet all the way through. In the wetting stage of felting, we are pushing OUT air, and adding soap make the fibers more slippery; allowing us to better entangle or felt them.

The wool fibers have tiny barbs on them like your felting needles. The soap changes the PH and causes the fibers to open up, as does the heat from the water, this will help the fibers grab onto each other as we massage them.

12. Wrap your fingers in plastic wrap and gently rub all over your design by making small circles. This will further entangle the fibers and create a nice, smooth felt.

Rub the design on the inside a bit as well, and then rinse in cool water. We tossed our bag into a lingerie/sweater bag and put it in a dryer full of laundry for 5 minutes with no heat.

Set to air dry over night. Steam press lightly with an iron the next day for a smooth, finished look.