Needle Felted Bee: A Bumble Bee in Under an Hour

Bees are the small project that sells. They take under an hour, use less than ten grams of wool, look good in a group, and everyone likes them. They are also unusually unforgiving in one specific way: the whole thing rests on the stripes, and messy stripes cannot be rescued.

What you need

• Core wool or black wool — 5 g
• Black and yellow corriedale, plus a little white or cream
• 38 and 40 gauge needles, foam pad
• Organza, tulle or thin white felt for wings
• Optional: wire for legs, black thread for a hanging loop

The body

1. Roll a core. Wind core wool tightly into a sausage about 4 cm long and needle it firm. Bumble bees are fat — the body should be nearly as deep as it is long, not a thin cylinder.
2. Shape both ends. One end slightly narrower for the head, the other tapering to a blunt point for the tail. Needle more heavily at the ends and rotate constantly.
3. Mark the waist. Needle a shallow groove about a third of the way along, between thorax and abdomen. It is subtle but it stops the bee looking like a rugby ball.
4. Cover in black. Two thin veils over the whole body, needled at a shallow angle so the surface stays slightly fuzzy.

The stripes

This is the part worth slowing down for.

1. Pull, do not tear. Hold the yellow tops loosely and draw out a very thin, even strand — thin enough to see through. Torn chunks give ragged edges.
2. Lay the band right around the body, overlapping the ends on the underside where the join will not show.
3. Tack, then press. Fix the band with a few 40 gauge stabs every 5 mm all the way round, checking that it is still straight, and only then needle it down properly.
4. Work outwards from the middle. Lay the central band first and put the others either side of it. Starting at one end lets errors accumulate.
5. Keep the needle shallow. Straight-in strokes drag black core up through the yellow and turn the stripe muddy.

Two or three yellow bands is right. A white or cream tail band on the last segment is what makes it a buff-tailed bumble bee rather than a wasp.

Wings

Bumble bee wings are small — shorter than the body — translucent, and held back along the sides rather than spread flat.

• Organza. Cut two teardrops, singe the edges very briefly with a lighter to stop fraying, gather the narrow end and needle it into the thorax. The most convincing option.
• Thin white felt. Cut two shapes and needle them in at the base. Opaque, but tidy and child-safe.
• Wire and tulle. Bend wire into two loops, stretch tulle across and glue, then push the wire ends into the body.
• Felted wings. Two thin flat pieces of white wool needled on the mat until almost translucent.

Attach them on top of the thorax, angled back and slightly apart. Wings sticking straight out sideways look like a toy aeroplane.

Fuzz, legs and face

• Fuzz. Bumble bees are furry. Brush the finished body lightly with a small wire brush, or use a reverse-barb needle to pull fibres back out of the surface — see needle felting fur.
• Legs. Six short lengths of black wire or thread, pushed in with a dab of glue. Often omitted, and the bee is fine without them.
• Eyes. Two tiny black dots at the sides of the head, or a scrap of black wool needled in. Keep them small — the appeal of a felted bee is not its face.

What to do with them

• Hanging decorations. A thread loop needled into the thorax before the last veil.
• Brooches. Stitch a bar pin to the underside through a small disc of felt.
• Plant pot pokes. Push a length of wire into the body and stand it in a houseplant.
• Mobiles and garlands. Bees work best in threes and fives.
• With flowers. A bee on a felted flower is the combination that sells at fairs.
• Beehive scenes. A wrapped coil of cream wool for the skep, with several bees around it.

Making a batch

Bees are worth making in production runs. Roll six cores, then black all six, then stripe all six. Working in stages rather than finishing one at a time cuts the time per bee by roughly half, and the stripes come out more consistent because your hands are still calibrated. The same logic applies to Christmas ornaments and any other craft fair stock.