Topic
Felted creatures, from simple rounded shapes to detailed sculptures.
How to needle felt a bird: the teardrop body every small bird shares, the markings that turn it into a cardinal, chickadee, bluebird or robin, wire legs, and felt bird ornaments that hang level.
7 min read Intermediate
Tortoise or sea turtle is the first decision, because they differ in every part. How to felt a firm shell as its own piece, mark the plates, build either animal, and sew a patchwork felt turtle from sheet felt.
7 min read Beginner
Felted pigs go wrong in two predictable ways: a dip above the snout that makes a bear, and pink wool that makes a sweet. How to avoid both, which ears belong to which breed, and how much wool a piglet really takes.
6 min read Beginner
A felted penguin is two colours and one line between them. How to keep that line sharp instead of grey, what changes between an emperor, a gentoo and a little blue, and a felt penguin ornament for the tree.
7 min read Beginner
A needle felted horse is decided on paper before any wool: legs as long as the body is deep. How to set that in wire, build the head and mane, and make a flat felt rocking horse or Dala horse ornament.
7 min read Intermediate
Nothing about a fish body says fish. The fins and tail do all the work, and they only work if the body underneath is a flattened teardrop rather than a sausage.
6 min read Beginner
A spotted fawn, a doe, a stag or a reindeer are one build with different legs, spots and antlers. What each one needs, the order that keeps the spots crisp, and a flat felt deer you can sew in an evening.
7 min read Intermediate
A cow face ends in a broad flat pad, wider than the bridge of the nose above it. Taper the face towards the nose instead and you have made a deer in Holstein markings.
7 min read Intermediate
A chick is two balls of wool and half an hour. A hen is the same two balls with a neck, a tail and a comb. Build them in that order, then make a nest of Easter chicks.
7 min read Beginner
The highest point of a brown bear is its shoulder, not its head. Build the muscle hump over the shoulder blades, dish the face and pull the snout out long, and it stops being a teddy.
7 min read Intermediate
Wensleydale, teeswater and other longwool curls are sold as intact locks rather than tops. How to attach them, wash them and use them without losing the curl.
4 min read Intermediate
