How to Needle Felt – Beginners Tutorial

Meet Lucia. My friend, neighbor, and young craft phenom! Come along as she walks us through how to needle felt – a beginner’s tutorial.

Lucia reminds me of myself (but better) at her age.

I’d like to believe if I had grown up with the plethora of today’s resources, that I’d have dived in with wild abandon as she does!

Lucia takes full advantage of all opportunities to follow her creative heart.

Currently, she enjoys painting, needle felting, and creating handmade cards.

You can find her selling her wares at craft shows with her Grandma, who sells handmade mittens. (Mittens by Mom & Me)

Today, Lucia is going to take us through a quick tutorial for creating tiny heart shapes out of wool.

These needle-felted hearts are a wonderful beginner project because they are easy and quick.

What is Needle Felting?

Needle felting is the process of forcing wool fibers together with a special barbed craft needle simply by poking a shape repeatedly to create a solid form.

You can make all kinds of three-dimensional objects, for example, hearts, flowers, food shapes, birds or animals, etc.

They make the cutest gifts and decorations. Moreover, the process is relaxing and surprisingly therapeutic!

Needle Felting Supplies & Sources

Felting Needle 
Cookie Cutter
Wool Roving 
Scissors
Foam Pad
Protective Finger Pads optional
Beginner Felting Kit optional

(Affiliate links are in blue above)

Are you ready to try it yourself? Let’s get started!

Wool Needle Felting Instructions

Put the cookie cutter on the protective pad with the sharp side down.

Pull off enough wool roving to fill the cutter. Meanwhile, twirl the wool and shape it so you can stuff the cutter with wool.

Using a felting needle, start poking the wool evenly to flatten it until the surface is relatively smooth.

Add more wool if necessary. Feel the felt start to thicken.

The longer you needle the wool, the more compact and solid the heart will be.

To avoid felting the shape into the pad, lift it up and turn it over regularly as you go.

Remember to keep your needle at a 90-degree angle to the pad, so there is no risk of breaking the needle against the metal cookie cutter.

Once you are happy with the thickness of your shape, remove it from the cookie cutter.

After that, it’s time to refine the form and clean up any stray wool fibers.

Work evenly around the edges, needling and shaping where necessary until you have the heart shape you like.

Needle Felting Project Ideas

To add a felt shape to a paperclip, you’ll need a wire cutter and glue.

Lucia clips the tip of the paper clip with a wire cutter, then creates tiny holes to insert the paperclip ends into the felt with a little glue.

You can also leave the felt shapes as is, glue them to a barrette for your hair, thread them on a string, or glue them on a ribbon to create a beautiful garland.

The options are endless!

The needle felting process is transferable to all kinds of shapes, so experiment and enjoy the fun.

Caution

Felting needles are very sharp; for that reason, be very careful that your fingers don’t get in the way of the needle! Beginners might benefit from using protective finger pads until they get the hang of it. 😃