
Home
-------------------------
FELTING & NEEDLE
FELTING FUN
Felting & Needle
Felting
KITS and Instruction
Felting & Needle Felting
WORKSHOPS
Felting
& Needle Felting
FORUM
FREE Felting
& Needle Felting
PATTERNS
FAQ
-------------------------
MORE INFO
Client Photo Gallery
About Us
History of Felt & Needle
Felting
Get Email Notices
Contact Us
-------------------------
Living Felt
info @ livingfelt. com
|
FREE FELTING PATTERNS
Felt to the Rescue -Felting & Needle Felting Surface Design
We rescued this knitting bag from a guild auction for $2; to our good fortune,
someone thought it wasn’t worth keeping.
In about an hour, we took a tiny amount of wool, and a free pattern from the
Internet to turn a throw away into a bright and beautiful, one-of-a-kind
creation.
In this project, we will use both needlefelting and wet felting techniques.
| 
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
• A few drops of dish soap |

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. |
|