Needle Felting Pictures

Introduce children to needle felting with these little needle felting pictures.

Click to read also: Needle Felt Art

I have wanted to try needle felting for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to finding supplies and figuring out what exactly I needed to do. So, when Artterro asked if I wanted to review their needle felting kit as part of their brand relaunch I said “Yes, please!” I have written about Artterro products before here and here, and I am always impressed  by their product quality. The kits are simple, with limited instructions. I find the combination ideal for trying out a new crafting technique!

Artterro’s relaunch includes beautiful (100% recycled) box packaging that we plan to turn into a doll house. With this sort of recrafting in mind, Artterro has simply taped the label onto the box, so that you can remove it and have a beautiful clean brown box to work with. Perfect for someone like me who loves cardboard enough to devote both a Pinterest board and a Google+ group to the subject!

Needle Felting Pictures

It turns out that needle felting really do consist of sticking a needle in and out of wool roving and felt (sitting on top of a sponge) – it is very simple! The kit is targeted at children aged eight and up, which is appropriate given the sharpness of the needle. Eight-year-old Emma made this cat mostly on her own – I helped her with the eyes, nose, and ears, but she did everything else, including the white markings and the ball. I adore this little cat!

Four-year-old Lily has always felt that she could do anything eight-year-old Emma can do – and, being quite a sophisticated four-year-old, she keeps up pretty well. She was able to make these two little butterflies under close supervision, mainly making sure that she remembered to stay seated at all times while holding the sharp needle. For Lily, I placed the pieces where she wanted them by sticking the needle through three or four times, and then she finished the felting process. She could have placed the pieces on her own, except she had a very specific vision that she was struggling to create with somewhat unruly wool roving.

We discovered a couple tricks. The more you stick your needle into the felt, the more “set” the picture becomes. In the butterfly photo above, the larger butterfly has been needle felted more extensively than the smaller one, which is why the smaller one looks more fuzzy and less defined. For details or highly defined areas, it helps to roll the roving first, before placing it. You can also define edges by setting the wool roving on the piece of felt so that it lies slightly outside of the area you want to fill, and then tucking it in.

Have you ever tried needle felting? I want to try the 3D version next! Do you have a favorite Artterro kit?

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MaryAnne Kochenderfer

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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.