Needle Felted Easter Eggs: Wrapped, Sculpted and Decorated

Felting Easter eggs is the ideal seasonal project: a shape with no anatomy to get wrong, a surface that invites decoration, and a size that means a whole bowlful is an afternoon's work rather than a fortnight's.

Method one: wrapping a core

Fastest, and the shape comes out perfect because it was already perfect.

• Wooden eggs give weight and a lovely solidity. Needles will not go in, so all the felting happens in the wool layer.
• Polystyrene eggs are light and cheap and the needle can penetrate — which is a mixed blessing.
• Plastic eggs that open are the trick for a hidden compartment.

1. Wrap. Pull a long thin veil of wool and wind it around the egg, changing direction each pass so the fibres cross. Two thin layers, not one thick one.
2. Tack it down. Needle at a shallow angle, almost parallel to the surface, working all over. The wool grips itself, not the core.
3. Close the ends. The tips are where wrapping goes wrong. Add small extra wisps over each end and needle them in radially.
4. Even it out. Keep turning; any patch you look at for too long ends up denser than the rest.

On polystyrene, keep the needle shallow. Straight-in strokes hit the foam, break needles and grind the core into beads that then work their way out through the wool.

Method two: a solid felted egg

Nothing inside, entirely wool, and squeezable.

1. Roll core wool into a tight ball and needle it firm — the same start as a felted ball.
2. Work one end narrower by needling more heavily there, rotating constantly. An egg is a ball with one end taken in, not a cone.
3. Roll it between your palms every minute or so and look at the silhouette against a plain background. Eggs go wrong subtly, and the outline shows it before your hands do.
4. Firm it fully, then cover in two or three thin veils of the surface colour.

Decoration that reads well

The difference between a felted egg and a coloured lump is the surface pattern, and small eggs need bolder patterns than you expect.

• Stripes. Pull a very thin strand of wool, lay it around the egg, and tack it down with a 40 gauge needle every few millimetres. Thin strands, firm tacking.
• Spots. Small pinches rolled between wet fingertips into pellets, then needled on. Wetting the fingers is what stops them fluffing out.
• Flowers and leaves. Five tiny petal shapes around a centre. Or make them separately as flat pieces and attach — see needle felted flowers.
• Marbling. Lay two or three colours on together and needle them in without blending, so they streak.
• Embroidery. Felt takes a needle and thread beautifully. French knots and simple running stitch add detail no amount of felting will. See sewing beads on felt.

Turning them into something

• Hanging ornaments. Needle a folded loop of embroidery thread into the narrow end before the last surface veil, then cover its base with wool. On a wooden core, glue the loop into a drilled hole instead.
• An egg garland. Six to ten eggs in graded colours, threaded on twine.
• A bowl of eggs. The easiest and best display. Make them in one colour family in three sizes.
• Nest and eggs. Three small eggs in a nest of wool locks and loose fibre, lightly needled into a ring.
• With a rabbit. A basket, a felted bunny and three eggs makes the whole Easter set.

The wet felted version

For children, or for a softer finish: wrap the wool around a core exactly as above, then dip in hot soapy water and roll gently between your palms, increasing pressure as it firms. It takes about ten minutes per egg and produces a smoother, denser surface than needling. The mechanics are the same as making felt balls, and the general method is in wet felting for beginners.

Storing them

Wool eggs are a moth's idea of a good year. Put them away clean, in a sealed box rather than a cardboard one, ideally with cedar. See protecting wool from moths — seasonal decorations spend eleven months in storage, which is exactly when the damage happens.