Brandi Liebmann shared a few of her needle felts with us, we like Mr. Rabbit in his very proper coat.
Needle Felted Baby Eeyore
check out more of her work at
Wet Felting Easter Eggs | Free Felting Pattern & Tutorial
March 15, 2013 By 10 Comments
For this project, we used Medium sized plastic eggs, and Living Felt MC-1 Merino Cross Felting Batts,
knee high stockings, embroidery floss, embroidery needle, ribbon,
felting needles, earth harmony felting foam, olive oil soap, hot water and small scissors.
For the inside color, snugly wrap plastic Easter Eggs with a thin layer of fiber around the middle of egg,
then wrap a second layer going perpendicular to the first. The egg should be covered.
For the outside color, repeat by wrapping two complete layers. Lightly needle felt the loose ends if desired.
Place your hand inside the stocking and take hold of the egg, then pull the stocking so the egg is fully covered.
Since we are felting by hand (and not felting
balls in the washing machine) we do not need to tie off the stocking.
Fill a bowl or basin with hot water and use a vegetable grater to peel off some soap flakes.
The water should be slick in your fingers, and hot, but tolerable to your hands.
Dunk the wool covered egg in the soap solution and wet if fully.
Press, handle and roll the egg in your hands like a ball of clay, constantly massaging and rolling.
**Take care not to squeeze your egg too hard or the plastic egg may come apart and make your final product slightly mis-shapen.
The ball should be wet, but not dripping and a bit soapy. Do this for 5-10 min, or until the fibers
just start to peek through the stocking. Then gently peel the stocking off the egg.
The fibers have started to entangle and form felt. Now it is time for further shrinking and entangling of the fibers, also called “fulling”. Roll your egg
on a felting or wash board if you have one, and continue to wet it in your soap solution, and roll and squeeze it in your hand.
Once the wool feels snug around the egg and well felted, finish with hot and cold rinses, and more rolling/squeezing.
Roll the eggs in towels to remove excess water. Use fine scissors to cut most of the way around the egg,
leave approximately 2″ across the back attached for a strong hinge.
Set the eggs to dry overnight.
Finish the edges of your eggs with a blanket stitch.
Add embroidery or needle felted designs.
Sew a decorative ribbon to the rear hinge.
Time to add some prizes inside! Make a little bunny ball with our tutorial here, add some jewelry, candy in a bag, or make a simple chick below.
Follw the basic instructions for needle felting a small egg shape as shown on our free felting tutorial for an Easter Chick, Cheep.
Instead of sewing on a head,
use your 36 gauge felting needle to sculpt the head. Add wings. Ours are felted flat onto the body.
For the beak, make a small rectangle with needle felting, wet felting or use commercial felt.
Fold it in half and cut the open ends into a triangle.
Place the beak right on the face of your felted chick and needle felt right in the fold.
Add small tufts of wool or beads for the eyes.
Tuck your prizes inside and have a Happy Easter!
Share your ideas below and share photos of your projects by sending them
to submissions@livingfelt.com or posting them on our facebook page.
Needle Felted Bunny Rabbit
March 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Kathy Gable shared her sweet little friend, Benny Bunny. Benny was needle felted from Living Felt CW-1 Core Wool and a mixture of brown wools.
If you like Benny, you’re sure to love Puff! Puff is a darling needle felted cat by Kathy who earned a ribbon at the fair.
Needle Felting Easter Eggs – Fun & Easy Free Felting Tutorial
March 9, 2013 By 7 Comments
Have fun making a colorful basket of needle felted Easter eggs with
this quick and easy tutorial. This is 2nd in a series of 3 needle felting Easter tutorials. Previously we made “Dot”, our fun little bunny ball. For this project, we used Living Felt Brand CW-1 Core Wool, and MC-1 Merino-Cross Batts.
First start by needle felting your egg shapes out of core wool.
Below is our standard process for needle felting a ball. You can right+click
to save this picture and share it with a friend!
Tear off a small, thin strip of wool and wrap it snugly around the center
of your egg with the final edges overlapping slightly.
Tear off another thin strip and wrap it around the length of your egg. All
white wool underneath should be covered.
Needle felt the wool in place by poking your felting needle in and out, in and out. Work across the entire surface of the egg in several passes (vs spending too much time in one spot), and hold the wool in place as you work. Continue
needle felting until the surface is very smooth and evenly felted. You don’t want it to look bumpy.
For spirals and lines try this: Pull off a long, thin (but even) strip of wool and roll it into a tube by rolling it on your foam or even on your pantleg. Make sure it is an even thickness from end to end.
To wrap a line around your egg, needle felt one end in place and keep tension
on it as you needle felt it in place from one end to the other. Take time
to make the edges nice and neat as you go along, constantly gathering fibers
with your felting needle towards the middle of the line.
For flowers, hearts or similar decoration, pull off tiny tufts of wool and
needle felt each into place one at a time; taking time to needle felt all
loose fibers and tighten up edges before adding the next petal. If too many
fibers are loose when you add more petals, the design is more likely to fuzzy
because the fibers from petal to petal will get entangled.
To add tiny dots and even large polka dots (also a great technique for eyes),
pull off a small tuft of wool, center it over the spot you want it to be and
lightly needle felt it right in the center.
Next, gather the loose fibers by twirling them onto your felting needle.
T then just poke, poke, poke to needle felt them in place. This is an easy
way to make circles and dots!
Use the same line technique above to make spirals.
That’s it! Needle felting so easy once you learn a few basic techniques!
If its not new to you, we hope you will share with and teach someone else!
Needle Felting “Cheep”, a Chickie in a Bunny Bonnet
March 9, 2013 By 5 Comments
Needle Felting “Dot”, our fun little bunny ball was first in a series of 3 needle felting tutorials based on an Easter theme. Next came our needle felting Easter eggs tutorial which shared a few more techniques. Now meet, “Cheep”, Dot’s best pal. This basic tutorial will utilize some of the techniques in the previous two tutorials, and will help demonstrate a few more fundamentals for needle felting little 3D animals and objects. We hope you have fun! For this project we used CW-1 Core Wool, MC-1 Mango and Canteloupe, Black Beads, Black thread, Pipe Cleaners, a skewer, felting needles, doll needle and needle felting foam.
Start by following the instructions below for needle felting core wool for the body into an egg shape and the head into a ball.
As in our Easter egg tutorial, cover the body and head with wool in the color of your choice.
Once the head and body are made, it is time for the wings. Draw a tear drop shape onto a piece of paper in the size of the wing desired. Err on the larger side, because once cut out, you can hold it up to the body and cut it smaller if desired. Pull off two equally sized tufts of wool about 2 1/2 times longer and 1 1/2 times wider than your template. Fold the wool in half lengthwise and begin needle felting in flat primarily right in the center. Let your pokes be shallow and do not attach the wing to the foam.
TIP: Make sure you have enough wool. If it feels thin when you fold it over, it may feel thin when needle felted. It is better to have a little more wool because you can really compact it down with needle felting.
Place the template on top of the wool and begin needle felting (sculpting) the wool by felting all around the sides towards the template. Continue working around and around, but leave the end towards the point loose and unfelted.
Flip the wing over and needle felt the other side as well. As your wing begins to get as small as the template, put your tempate on the foam under the wing and continue needle felting towards the shape of the template.
Now both wings are needle felted for our little chickie. Use straight pins to choose the position and needle felt the loose end onto the body.
Needle felting the ears. This is the same process used for bunny ball. Pull off two equal tufts of wool about 2 1/2 times longer and 1 1/2 times wider than the finished ears will be. Fold in half lengthwise and needle felt just
in the center to compact the fibers. Do not attach it to the foam.
Fold the sides in towards the middle and needle felt into place. Sculpt the ear to a point or rounded end as desired. Make sure to felt both sides of the ears, and leave the base unfelted for attaching to the head.
Add a little pink inside the ear if desired. Our black headed pins serve as place holders for the eyes. Position the ears and hold them in place with T-tacks or pins. Needle felt them onto the head. Add some more white wool
around the base of the ears, but do not finish the bonnet just yet, we have more to do. It is best to attach the head to the body before finalizing the bonnet so we can hide our joining threads. That comes soon.
To make the beak, pull off a small strip of wool and twist it around the tip of a wooden skewer or very small paint brush handle. Continue to twist the skewer and let your hands somewhat dry felt the wool. Slide the wool off the skewer and needle felt right into the widest part of the cone. This will compact the fibers by felting them towards the point of the beak. Because this piece is so small, we used our fine 40 gauge needle.
Now needle felt along the beak away from the tip at a very shallow angle. Do this all around the beak to make it nice and firm. Next, place the beak onto the face of your chickie. Needle felt it directly into the head. You
can compact the fibers into the head very well. Use your 38 needle for this job.
To make the feet, start by needle felting two very small balls. Next, twist a small amount of wool around a pipe cleaner, longer and slightly thicker than you want the leg to be. It helps to have the piper cleaner a few inches longer than needed so you have something to hold onto!
Using a very shallow angle, needle felt up and down and all around the length of the wool on the pipe cleaner. Make it very compact, even and firm. Stand the covered pipe cleaner up on your ball and needlfelt the two together as shown. If you have having challenges with the connection, wrap a small around the join like an Ace bandage and needle felt through it connect the leg and
the ball.
Repeat for the second leg to make both the same size then cut the leg to the desired length. Use your ball head pins to choose the position, and needle felt the legs right into the body. Our chickie is meant to sit, not stand.
Attach the eye beads to the head with strong thread. See our bunny tutorial for these steps if needed. Attach the head to the body with a string joint. Use a darning or doll needle and some strong button or uphostery thread, or waxed floss. We offer a little detail kit here with eyes, thread and floss. Start with a very long piece of
thread, and your needle single threaded. Enter the body from the bottom up and slightly off center, run the thread up through the base of the head and out the top of the head just behind the ears. Leave at least 4″ of thread coming out of the bottom of the body. Re-enter the head approx 1/8″ – /4″ from where the thread came out, and run it back through the head and out of the body. Pull tension and tie a very strong knot. Just as you did with the eyes, cut the threads and cover the indentation from the thread with wool and needle felt it in place.
To make the strings of the bonnet, pull off a long thin strip of wool and roll it into a tube. Get it soapy and wet and roll it on your bamboo blind or rigid mat to very firmly wet felt it. Once it is dry, tie the ends into a bow. We did this by leaving it in one long piece, and then wrapping it around small plastic bottle to give a surrface to pull bow tight. It was too small to tie on its own, so the bottle helped a lot! Once the bow is in place, cut the wool off the bottle and needle felt it around the neck of the chickie and into the bonnet area. Now finish the bonnet by adding wool and needle felting it neatly around the face.
Here is Dot and Cheep, two pals so happy to be together now. Send us pictures of your Easter creations!
Some bunny loves you!
March 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment
“I started felting in November 2012 and began making Christmas presents for family and friends.
In February 2013, out of the blue my husband says “Where’s my felted animal? I never got one.” I didn’t realize he felt left out so I made this little bunny and added a heart and said “Here, some bunny loves you!” He was thrilled!
I used Living Felt core wool, red from my Living Felt Starter Kit, Ivory and Nutmeg roving rolls and black glass beads for the eyes.”
- Michele Aquilante, Bellmawr, New Jersey
March 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment
This darling needle felted bunny was sent in by Angela McGinn. She wanted to make a “delicate and a calorie free alternative to an Easter Egg” … well done!
He is a total of 4″ tall from feet to tip of ears, with black onyx for yes and his sweet jacket is crocheted. He is needle felted with a wire armature, core wool and white merino wool on top. See more from Angela at
www.facebook.com/brubears
Free Felting Tutorial: Needle Felted Bunny Ball, “Dot”!
March 2, 2013 By 3 Comments
Needle felt this fun litttle bunny ball, we call him “Dot”! More tutorials follow on needle felting Easter Eggs and needle felting his best pal “Cheep”! This project requires very little wool. We used Living Felt MC-1 Merino Cross Batts in Cotton, and Sorbet, some black glass beads for eyes and some button thread.
Follow the standard directions for needle
felting a ball, you will use this technique again and again!
This is the ball for our bunny head, which also happens to be his body! Our needle felted bunny is very small, yours can be as large as you like! Needle felt this very firmly. Decide which surface will the face and which the bottom. Use your felting needles or multi-needle
felting tool to flatten out the bottom. For this projectm, we primarily used a 38 gauge star felting needle and a 40 triangle felting needle.
Pull off two small, equally sized tufts of wool to make the ears. Making both
at the same time helps to get the sizing to match. You will find this true
for most “pairs” whether they be ears, feet, arms or slippers! While
your final bunny ears may be small, pull off more wool than you think you
will need. The fibers will compact as you felt them. It is much easier to
shape the wool when you have enough to work with. Starting with too little
may leave thin spots or tips that cannot be properly felted.
Fold them in half length wise and lightly needle felt right in the middle.
Do not try to attach it to the foam, just tack down the fibers.
Fold the sides in towards the middle and needle felt them in place.
Needle felt all around the shape by felting at a very shallow depth and continuously
shaping the ears as desired. Try to avoid felting them to the foam, make sure
to needle felt both sides and the edges.
If desired, felt some pink on the insides. Remember to make very shallow pokes
with your needle so the color does not come out the other side.
To help decide where the eyes go, we colored two white tipped straight pins
with a black marker and used these as temporary place holders.
You can use T-tacks or straight pins to select the placement of the ears and
other body parts as needed.
Once the position is selected, firmly needle felt the ears onto your bunny.
Spread the fibers out and take time to blend them in well. A fine gauge needle
such as a 40 Triangle works well for final blending.
Needle felt or embroider a bunny on your nose.
Sew on the bunny eyes by running your darning or doll needle from the back of the head and out where the eye socket will be. Leave enough thread dangling out the back to tie a knot. If desired, you can needle felt an impression for the eyes first, this is best done with your 36 gauge felting needle. String on the bead and run your needle into the eyesocket and out the back about 1/8th of an inch from the entrance thread. Pull tightly and tie a firm knot. This will slightly inset the eye. Repeat for the second eye.
Cut the threads very close to the head, patch with wool to fill any indentation
and needle felt into place.
Here is our finished bunny, “Dot” and his best pal, “Cheep.”
Watch for a tutorial on Cheep very soon!
Needle Felted Easter Bunny…All Dressed Up
February 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Darling little needle felted bunny by Teresa Vecere in New York
Teresa Vecere is a Long Island born artist whose life-long passion for horses has become the primary focus of her art , but this sweet little bunny shows she has talent in many areas!
Felted Table Mat for Easter!
February 23, 2013 By 1 Comment
This colorful and festive Easter Bunny Mat is a wet felted background with machine felted with hand finished embellishments.
“This was my first try at wet felting and machine needle felting. I used Living Felt Merino Cross Felting Batts in Bamboo, Sorbet, Onyx, and Aspen Grey. The background was wet felting and the bunny was machine needle felted using a piece of wool that I had. I cut a piece of wool from the template and positioned on the background material before felting on needle felting machine. I accented with DMC embroidery thread and Coptic markers. I plan to add a backing to this and use as a decorative piece for a hall table this spring. The idea for the bunny came from Willow Nook Machine Felting Book.
I really enjoyed trying this craft and look forward to doing more.”
Rae Brougher
Browns Valley, CA
