Fiddling and Felting

Christmas is the perfect occasion to make little bits of inconsequence and sell them off at the School Fair. A crowd of tinselly owls has gathered on my dining room table over the past month, and now they have been joined by elves, robins, snowmen, gingerbread men and santas. I have taken my life in my hands and been at work with the viciously barbed felting needles.

The felting needle close up.

 To needle felt, you stab like fury into a mass of wool fibres, hopefully avoiding your fingers. The barbs on the needles catch the wool and matt it together to make a felt surface. In this way, you can sculpt the shapes you want, without having to cut out complicated patterns and sew seams and darts. You can then add small details, with more gentle stabbing, and keep working at the surface until it is as smooth as you want.

Here comes Santa Claus. The wool fibres before I get needling.

The fibres tamed into a ball. This tool contains 4 needles and is good for
 starting a model.

Needle felting is perfect for making Christmas decorations. It is possible to make tiny shapes like a snowman’s carrot nose and attach it without sewing or glue.  It leaves an attractive fuzzy surface, and you can easily add soft wisps of wool for scarves and Santa’s beard. Pompoms can be needled securely into the felt, relieving the need for the dreaded invisible thread.

Santa and one of his elves, watched over by the baleful eye of a tinsel owl.

I had a surplus of polystyrene balls left over from another Grand Project, so I have used these as a base for heads and bodies. The wool is stabbed directly into the polystyrene. The trickiest part of making a character is always the eyes, so I’ve tried out a variety of methods. It’s possible to needle felt in tiny circles of wool, but hard to get a neat result. I also used  pompom eyes and stick-on boggly eyes, but my favourites are tiny round black beads, either sewn or glued on (very fiddly, either way!)

The Christmas Fair is on Friday, so this rather drunken crew will soon be off to their stall. I’ve enjoyed having them sitting around on the table – but let’s hope they don’t suffer the indignity of coming back unsold!

I just had to make a squirrel! This little chap is one inch high, and he will be staying with me.