When the climate cools and the times shorten, I wish to have just a few artful initiatives going that I can work on—in entrance of the fireside or TV—ideally utilizing cozy supplies like wool roving or yarn. (And, if the initiatives make good presents for somebody on my record, even higher!)
Needle-felting wool is a enjoyable, simple, and extremely satisfying craft—all you actually need is the wool roving, felting needles, and a foam felting mat. Becoming a member of unfastened wool strands into one thing strong virtually seems like magic. Wool fibers have scales and when they’re agitated (like when they’re rolled are stabbed with a felting needle) the instructions of the fibers transfer round and the scales completely lock into one another, creating felt! The extra you stab the needle throughout your form, the smaller, tighter, and smoother the form will grow to be.
Professional-tip: At all times put on a thimble to guard the finger you’re utilizing to carry the roving whilst you’re needling!
There are many fundamental needle-felting tutorial movies on-line in case you wish to see it in motion earlier than making these. When you strive it and see how simple it’s, you’ll wish to create all types of shapes of your personal!
What you’ll want:
- Wool roving (cream to make use of as the bottom, plus different colours)
- Felting needle
- Multi-needle felting software (non-obligatory, for felting bigger areas rapidly)
- Thimble (non-obligatory)
- Foam felting mat
- Pipe cleaner (non-obligatory, for mushroom)
- Skinny twine and a giant eye needle
- Scissors
- Pull off (somewhat than minimize) a bit of wool roving and roll it right into a ball, egg, cylinder, or different shapes, rolling it considerably tightly. Layer on some extra items of roving to make it bigger.
- Fastidiously use the felting needle (single or multi-needle software) to poke the form, engaged on high of a felting mat. (Keep in mind to put on thimbles on the fingers holding the ball.) Maintain stabbing the needle into the middle till it begins to shrink and the fibers connect with kind your firmly felted form. Depart one or each ends unfinished in the event you’re going to connect one other form, like a leaf or mushroom cap.
- Proceed stabbing and turning, including extra roving if wanted to right your form. Periodically roll between your palms to even out your form and clean the needle marks.
- Take small quantities of coloured roving and lay over the part of the ball you wish to add coloration to and stab it over the cream base. Proceed to stab over the form and roll between your palms to clean out the form and needle marks.
- To show your form into an decoration, thread a needle with a high-quality twine. Sew the twine by way of the highest of the form, take the needle out, and knot the 2 ends of the twine.
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Turnip & Radish
- Make a cream-colored ball (turnip) or egg (radish) as described above, leaving the highest and backside unfinished.
- Make the basis finish: Roll a chunk of roving right into a rope and stab it gently at its center. Use your fingers to roll a sharp tip at one finish. Take the unfinished finish and stab it onto one of many unfinished ends of the ball.
- Add coloration: Lay some coloured roving on the highest half of the ball or egg and stab it on, as in step 4 (above).
- For the turnip stem: Roll two roving ropes and stab them till they begin to grow to be agency. Fold every rope in half and needle every on the fold to the highest of the ball.
- For the radish leaves: Lay down some inexperienced roving, roughly the specified dimension of the leaf. Poke a top level view of the leaf (leaving the underside unfinished the place you’ll connect it). When the define is agency, fold the fuzzy edges over itself into the leaf form you outlined and needle it gently and at an angle (so that you don’t connect it to the froth base). When the leaf is full, rub between your palms to clean out.
- Needle the underside of the leaves to one another and to the radish high. If you would like your leaves to face up, you possibly can place a chunk of pipe cleaner in between them and felt them collectively to sandwich the pipe cleaner inside.
Mushroom
- Take a pipe cleaner and fold the highest so it’s the desired peak of your mushroom. Reduce down the additional folded pipe cleaner to a couple of half-inch.
- Wrap cream roving up across the pipe cleaner and beneath the folded finish till it’s fatter than you need your stem to be. Stab it to kind the stem, leaving the highest unfinished.
- Make the cap: Roll coloured roving right into a flat coil and rub it between your palms. Fold one facet of the cap over the small folded piece of pipe cleaner to connect it to the stem. Add some extra roving if wanted to cowl the pipe cleaner. Lay it over the sting of the froth and poke it throughout with the needle (at an angle so that you don’t felt it to the mat) till it’s felted. Add extra roving if wanted to create a bowl form.
- Add dots to the cap: Take a tiny quantity of roving and use moist fingers to roll it right into a ball. Needle it to the cap and repeat for extra dots.
What you’ll want:
- Felt
- Scissors
- Stitching machine (non-obligatory, you possibly can hand-sew these)
- Needle and thread
- Ruler
- Disappearing ink marker (non-obligatory)
- Small buttons
- White glue (non-obligatory)
- Skinny twine
- Reduce a 4” x 6” felt strip for a standard-sized (2 ⅛” x 3 ⅜”) present card or fold a paper round your present card to make a template, including no less than ⅝” to the width and virtually 3 instances the peak to permit it to totally fold over the cardboard twice and virtually a 3rd time, for the flap.
- Fold one finish of the strip to kind a pocket (so the cardboard will slot in) and pin it in place. Use the marker and ruler to attract a line for the seam on one facet and stitch it. Put the present card again in to test the position for the subsequent seam, draw the road and stitch. Trim the sides to even them out, if wanted.
- Make a sharp flap: Mark a midpoint on the underside of the envelope flap and draw a line from both high nook of the flap to the middle level to make a triangle and minimize it out.
- Sew a tiny button on the flap and on the envelope entrance. Non-compulsory: glue a tiny felt scrap to the button and trim round it to cowl the button.
- Knot a chunk of twine to the highest button. Wind it across the backside button. (Tip: If the tip of the twine is unraveling, knot that finish too)