Needle Felted Squirrel: A Wired Tail, a Sitting Pose and an Acorn

What makes a felted figure read as a squirrel is the tail: almost as long as the body, curving up the back and flicking out at the tip, and full enough to look weightless. Wool on its own will not hold that curve, so the tail gets a wire that is planned before the body and covered after it. Beneath it sits a compact, pear-shaped body upright on its haunches. The worked example here is a 4 in (10 cm) squirrel sitting up with an acorn.

How big is a real squirrel, and what size should a felted one be?

An eastern grey squirrel, the common squirrel across the eastern US, measures 9 to 12 in (23 to 30 cm) from nose to rump, with a tail of 7½ to 10 in (19 to 25 cm) on top. The Eurasian red squirrel is smaller, about 7½ to 9 in (19 to 23 cm) with a 6 to 8 in (15 to 20 cm) tail. Either way the tail is roughly four fifths of the head-and-body length, and that ratio matters more than the size. Halve it and the squirrel looks stubby.

For a felted one, measure the tail along its curve and make it about as long as the squirrel is tall sitting up. The table gives wool for three sizes, sitting height measured to the top of the head.

Sitting height	All wool	Of which tail	Tail wire	Eyes
2½ in (6 cm)	5–6 g (about ⅕ oz)	About 2 g	1 mm	3–4 mm
4 in (10 cm)	20–25 g (¾–⅞ oz)	6–8 g	1.5 mm	5–6 mm
6 in (15 cm)	65–85 g (2¼–3 oz)	20–28 g	2 mm	8 mm

The middle size is the one to start with. It is large enough to fit an acorn between the paws and small enough to finish in two or three evenings. Up to about two thirds of the body wool can be core wool, with the coloured coat laid over it.

Grey squirrel or red squirrel: what changes?

The build is the same; colour, ears and the tail edge change. The eastern grey is the familiar US squirrel, while the tufted red squirrel of Britain and Europe is the one in most picture books.

	Eastern grey squirrel	Eurasian red squirrel	American red squirrel
Size	Largest of the three; 9–12 in (23–30 cm) body	7½–9 in (19–23 cm) body	Smallest; 11–14 in (28–35 cm) including the tail
Back and sides	Grey, with a brown wash along the back, face and legs	Red-brown; varies from ginger to almost black	Rusty red-brown
Belly	White	White to cream	White
Ears	Small, rounded, no tufts	Long tufts in the winter coat, short or none in summer	Small tufts in winter
Eye	Pale ring round the eye	Dark, often with a faint pale ring	Bold white ring
Tail	Grey-brown with a silvery white fringe	Same red as the body, sometimes darker	Red-brown, darker towards the edge
Felting note	Blend grey with a little brown; never use flat grey	Tufts are a few combed fibres, needled in only at the base	Make the body slimmer and the tail shorter than a grey's

Two more options: the fox squirrel, bigger than the grey, with a brownish-orange belly, and the all-black form of the grey squirrel that dominates some populations.

Why does a squirrel's tail need wire?

Because it stands up and curves twice. A tail like the one in the photo at the top of this page rises from the base of the spine, presses up along the back to about shoulder height, then its top third bends back away from the body. Felted firm enough to hold that without wire, it turns hard and loses the fluff; felted soft enough to look right, it slumps within days.

Prepare the wire first:

1. Cut and fold. For a 4 in (10 cm) squirrel, cut 11 in (28 cm) of 1.5 mm aluminium armature wire and fold it in half. Twist the halves together for 4 in (10 cm) from the fold. The fold becomes the tail tip, so no cut end can work through the wool there.
2. Make the anchor. Spread the two untwisted ends, about 1½ in (4 cm) each, into a Y that goes up into the body core, one end each side of the spine, so the tail cannot spin. Turn small loops in the cut ends with round-nose pliers.
3. Wrap it. Wind a pipe cleaner or a strand of core wool tightly along the twisted part so wool grips and needles are cushioned; see wire armatures for needle felting.
4. Leave it straight. Bend the S-curve once the body is built round the anchor.

A squirrel curled up asleep with its tail wrapped round it needs no wire, and is the easier first squirrel if wire puts you off.

Which tail should you make: felted core, locks or fluffy wool?

All three start the same way: a slim core of wool felted firmly round the wire, about a third of the finished tail's width. They differ in what goes on top.

Tail finish	Look	Handling	Best for
Felted surface, then fluffed	Plush and tidy, like velvet with a soft halo	Stands up to handling and dusting	Gifts, ornaments, anything picked up often
Wisps of carded wool, needled on the centre line only	Wide, airy and soft-edged; the closest to a real tail at a glance	Edges flatten if squeezed; brush to restore	Shelf pieces and an autumn display
Wool locks, combed	Long, flowing, separate hairs	Sheds and tangles if handled	Larger squirrels and realistic display work

Felted and fluffed. Build the tail to full width in coloured wool, felt it medium firm, then raise the surface with a reverse felting needle or a small slicker brush, working the edges more than the middle.

Wisps on the centre line. A real squirrel's tail hairs fan out to both sides, so the tail looks broad from behind and narrower from the side. Lay short wisps across the core so they stick out on both sides, needle only along the middle, top and bottom, and leave the edges loose. Work from the tip towards the body, each row covering the roots of the last, then brush outwards.

Locks. Use straighter, finer locks such as mohair, combed out; tight curly locks read as a poodle, not a squirrel. Needle each lock in by its cut end only, tip first, free ends pointing out and back; the method is in needle felting fur.

For a grey squirrel, add the white fringe last: a few wisps of white along the outer edges of the tail only. That pale edge, clear in the photo above, is what makes it a grey squirrel's tail.

How do you shape a squirrel that sits up?

Sitting up, a squirrel rests its weight on its rump and long hind feet, and the tail touches down behind it as a third support. Shape it in this order.

• Body. A pear of core wool, wide and heavy at the bottom, narrow at the shoulders, with the back gently curved and the belly fairly straight. At 4 in (10 cm) tall it is about 2½ in (6.5 cm) from base to shoulders. Push the wire anchor up into it while it is still soft, then felt over it.
• Haunches. Two flattened ovals needled onto the lower sides, like thick thighs folded under.
• Hind feet. Long and flat, pointing forward from under the haunches, each about a third of the body height long. They are bigger than you expect, and they stop the figure tipping backwards.
• Base. Needle the underside flat and firm, and check the squirrel stands on its own before the tail goes on.

Where do the head, ears and eyes go?

The head is a short, rounded wedge set forward of the shoulders, not on top of them, with almost no neck. At the 4 in (10 cm) size it is about 1¼ in (3 cm) from back of skull to nose, with a blunt muzzle and full cheeks.

• Ears. High and well back on the skull, upright and slightly apart. A grey squirrel's are small rounded shells, felted flat on a foam pad and given a slight cup. For a red squirrel, add the tufts last: a few combed fibres needled in only at the ear tip, left loose above it.
• Eyes. Large, round, black and set on the sides of the head, about halfway between the nose and the ear base. If both show full-on from the front, they are too far forward. Sink a socket for each before fitting it; needle felting eyes covers sockets and fixing.
• Eye ring. A thin ring of pale wool round each eye: cream on a grey squirrel, brighter white on an American red. Twist a few fibres into a thread and needle it on with a 40 gauge needle.

How do you make the paws hold an acorn?

Make the acorn first and build the front legs round it. For the 4 in (10 cm) squirrel, felt a firm egg of light brown wool ⅜ to ½ in (10 to 12 mm) long and a darker cap, stippled with the needle tip for texture. Real acorn caps from small oaks, glued on, suit the 6 in (15 cm) size.

1. Hold the acorn against the chest, just under the chin, so the squirrel looks as if it is about to bite it.
2. Felt each front leg as a short, thin sausage, about as long as a hind foot. Needle the top of each to the shoulder, with the elbow tucked into the side of the body.
3. Bring the paws round the acorn so they meet on its front, and needle them into the acorn, not just against it.
4. Add two small stitches of matching thread through the acorn into the chest, or it will work loose in time.

In what order should a squirrel be finished?

Coat, face, then tail, so the fluffiest part is handled least. For a grey coat, blend mid grey with about a fifth as much light brown and a little white so it reads as hair, not paint (see how to blend wool colours), and add a brown wash along the spine, head and outer legs. Feather the white belly into the sides rather than leaving a hard line. Then the eyes, eye rings and ears. Last, bend the tail into its S-curve, check the squirrel still balances, and build the tail surface.

How do you display a felted squirrel in autumn?

Set it on a slice of log or a bed of moss with a few loose felted acorns at its feet, one without its cap, and a small pumpkin or two from felted pumpkins or toadstools from felted mushrooms. Keep the scale consistent: next to a 4 in (10 cm) squirrel, acorns should stay under ½ in (12 mm), or the squirrel shrinks by comparison.

Keep it out of direct sun and dust the tail by brushing outwards with a slicker brush. For simpler first shapes, see needle felted animals for beginners; for another big tail, a needle felted fox.