Category: Shop kits and accessories

5 TOP NEEDLE FELTING KITS AND HOW TO START NEEDLE FELTING?

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NEEDLE FELTING IS SO EXCITING!

So don’t be nervous. Starting a new craft can be exciting but also a little confusing. Needle felting is no different and the array of wool, tools and accessories can send you into a confusing tailspin.

The truth is, you don’t need a lot to get started with needle felting, and it is also a budget friendly hobby. That is until you become addicted, which you will, and then no amount of felting wool will ever be enough!

That’s why I always recommend a needle felting starter kit to get you going, so you can test the needle felting waters. They are inexpensive and have absolutely everything you need to complete each project from start to finish. It avoids you feeling overwhelmed and helps to build your creative confidence. All you have to do is open the box and add enthusiasm.

MY TOP 5 FELTING KIT RECOMMENDATIONS

Here are my top 5 recommendations for beginners kits. They all come beautifully boxed and are perfect for storing your supplies! No sewing, no tricky patterns and they take just a few hours of your time! They also use our gorgeous British wool, carefully selected for its excellent needle felting properties.

GREY HARE NEEDLE FELTING KIT

Make time: 3-4 hours

If you love ETSY you can find me HERE

Complete stunner and he knows it! This, along with the Herdwick Sheep, is the most popular beginners kit. It is such fun to make and you can follow the instructions to the letter, or add your own touches. As well as detailed instructions you can felt along on YOUTUBE by following the beginners playlist.

HERDWICK SHEEP NEEDLE FELTING KIT

Make time: 2-3 hours

My favourite sheep from the Lake District is an ever popular needle felting kit. Great for building your needle felting confidence, this super kit will soon have you warmed up and ready for your next project. As well as detailed instructions you can felt along on YOUTUBE by following the beginners playlist.

RUSTIC ROBIN – SHOP NEEDLE FELTING KIT

Make time: 2-3hours

A gorgeous little project that has enough wool to make two of our favourite UK garden birds. A perfect project to create with your bestie or, one for you and one to give away. There is also a great video tutorial HERE showing you how easy it is to create a perfect wing shape without the need for a cookie cutter.

JACK RUSSELL – SHOP NEEDLE FELTING KIT

Make Time: 3-4 hours

What’s not to love with this design? Even better, you can change the markings to represent your own four legged friend. As well as detailed instructions you can felt along on YOUTUBE by following the beginners playlist.

SHROOM’ WITH A VIEW – SHOP NEEDLE FELTING KIT

Make time: 3-4 hours

If you are looking for a home for the wee little fairies and forest dwellers, then this is right up your street. Lot’s of different techniques and a great needle felting kit for beginners. Any self respecting gnome or fairy would be thrilled to have the keys to this house! As well as detailed instructions you can felt along to the video tutorial HERE

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT NEEDLE FELTING?

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How To start Needle Felting – Easy Needle Felted Cactus

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I adore this season in my garden, eagerly anticipating the possibility of my 19-year-old Cordyline blooming for the third time. The wait for this magnificent plant to flower, starting as a humble shrub, has been considerable, but the aroma it emits is simply divine—reminiscent of Jasmine with subtle notes of caramel.

MAKE YOUR OWN NEEDLE FELTED PLANTS

With plants and gardening at the forefront of my thoughts, I’ve designed a selection of super cool needle felted cacti you can make yourself, perfect as pin cushions, or for your felting needles. Plus, they promise to never exhibit any unpredictable or inexplicable signs of fading away, ensuring endless crafting enjoyment.

Just like always, I put a ton of effort into the design phase, crafting projects that I’m sure you’ll fall in love with. I enjoy passing on the techniques I’ve picked up since 2013, and I’m meticulous about choosing the perfect wool and fibers for each piece. It took me about six tries to get the cacti design just right! So, rest assured knowing that every time you start a new project, you’ve got top-notch materials lists and instructions to guide you along. Go ahead and dive into your crafting adventures with confidence – puns included!

YOU WILL NEED

  • CORE WOOL
  • WHITE AND GREEN CARDED WOOL
  • WOOLTOPS FOR FLOWERS – VARIOUS COLOURS
  • WHITE WOOL TOP FOR SPIKES
  • 2 X TERACOTTA POTS
  • 1 X WOODEN SKEWER

Download the full pattern

WATCH THE VIDEO TUTORIAL

Ready To Start Needle Felting? You will love these as well!

Want to Start needle felting today?

Instantly download a needle felting pattern and get started straight away! On the hunt for inspiring needle felting patterns? There are patterns for all abilities on the website, from nervous beginners to confident needle felters, there is a pattern and video tutorial for you.


Needle Felting Kits And Punch Needle Embroidery

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See the full range of needle felting kits, punch needle kits, accessories and handmade items over at the WEBSITE 

Meet the family. Well, some of them…

Over 40 carefully and lovingly designed needle felting kits to choose from. Each kit is a complete starter kit and so, contains everything you need including detailed instructions, lots of colour photographs, an actual size template as your size guide, quality wool (mostly British) and everything you need to complete each project. Kits are suitable for absolute beginners and advanced beginners.

No sewing. No wires. No glue. No stuffing. Open the box and get started…
All you need to add is a little patience and enthusiasm!

SHOP NEEDLE FELTING KITS

NEW ADDITIONS! HEATHER THE HIGHLAND COW AND PARSLEY HARE

BUMBLE BEE BROOCH WOOL PACK AND VIDEO TUTORIAL

BUMBLE BEE VIDEO TUTORIAL

SHOP PUNCH NEEDLE EMBROIDERY KITS

PUNCH NEEDLE VIDEO TUTORIALS FOR BEGINNERS

What Needle Felting Mat Do I Need, And How Do I Use It?

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There is an array of felting mat options out there so I have put together a video tutorial (below) showing you my favourite mats and best practice for using them. If you are using different felting techniques then you, like me, will probably use a combination of two or three; there is no one size fits every project.

I have also just invested in some Eco needle felting mats which can be used on their own, on top of your foam pad or hessian mat. They are fabulously thick 100% wool felt made here in the UK and the feedback has been great! I love mine and use it all the time now.

  • Use on its own…
  • or on top of your foam block

If you use it on top of your foam mat you will rarely, if ever need to replace your foam block. They are completely biodegradable but honestly, it will be a long time before they need replacing.

SHOP ECO MATS

Getting The Best Out Of Your Felting Mats

Hessian rice mats are particularly useful for needle felting pictures or any other flat felting, like big hare ears, flowers, gnome hats, wings etc. It also works brilliantly with the 7 needle multi tool which will have you powering through your flat needle felting projects.

needle felted sheep picture
Punch needle multi tool

MAKE YOUR OWN HESSIAN RICE MAT

You can easily make your own mat from a piece hessian filled with dried rice or similar. I used an old hessian shopping bag for my first one. Just make sure the weave is quite tight otherwise it won’t last long at all and always use a piece of felt on the top to protect the surface. This will easily 10 x the life of your rice mat.

1 Cut out twice the size of the area you want to work on

3 Sew up all four sides, leaving a two inch gap to fill with rice.

3 Fill with dried rice or similar

4 Sew up the gap securley

5 Slap a bit of felt on top and you are good to go!

Hessian filled with dried rice

Hope this helps and remember, there is no right or wrong choice. Much of it is personal preference and the type of needle felting project you are working on.

NEEDLE FELTING ACCESSORIES

Why Reverse Felting Needles Are So Cool!

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If you like to see it done just scroll to bottom for video tutorial!

I was a couple of years into needle felting before I tried a reverse felting needle and now I wouldn’t be without it. The special effects you can create are endless and super cool, taking your needle felting to a different level. A reverse needle does exactly what it says and instead of felting and compressing the wool it pulls the already felted wool back out, creating dramatic, or subtle effects. It adds instant character to a project and is simple and easy to use.

I love the subtle effect it created on top of the head of the head of this moon gazing hare, giving it a dreamy fuzziness.

Look at the subtle effect atop the head of this moon gazing hare

I use two sizes of needle; 32 and 40 gauge. As with standard felting needles, the higher the number the finer the needle and the more subtle the effect.

I have used the size 32 most recently (although a size 40 would have done the job just as well), on my bee brooches to create the fuzzy body and eyebrows. I also used a contrasting white core for more effect and visibility.

When I made this brooch the eyes looked a little lost so I used the reverse needle just above the eyebrow to pull out some of the core white wool.

You can watch the full bee broch tutorial HERE

Shop bumble bee brooch WOOL PACK

Reverse needle used above the eyes

I repeated on the other eye then trimmed it back. As you can see, the effect is great and those eyes really pop!

Trim to your preferred length

I wanted to create a similar effect all over the body to create that lovely fuzzy effect. Repeatedly use the reverse needle until you have pulled all the lovely wool through then trim quite short to create a neat finish that allows the white and dark to compliment each other.

When I decided to needle felt my first pig I really wanted to create the coarse top layer you see on a lot of pigs that sits on the peachy skin. I used a Romanov wool core but any coarse dark will do; grey Jacob is perfect and one of my favourites. It created exactly the look I was aiming for using a 32 reverse needle.

There’s no limit to what you can use it on and I think the hedgehogs were crying out for a reverse felting needle makeover. I know you can get the realistic spikes but this was much more fun. I created a grey Jacob core with a brown Shetland carded top and went at it quite fiercely with a 32 reverse needle. You can watch the full hedgehog tutorial HERE

See how I have picked up the grey I pulled through plus a little of the brown. Give it a twizzle for instant spikiness and a gorgeous ‘Prickle’ of hedgehogs; yes that is the actual collective noun for a group of hedgehogs. My heart… 🦔

So, there you have it. Just a few of the cool things you can do with a reverse felting needle. Experiment on your own projects and just have some fun with it. Happy felting!

VIDEO TUTORIAL – 10 minutes

SHOP REVERSE NEEDLES

HOW TO PUNCH NEEDLE FOR BEGINNERS

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Punch needle embroidery is an amazing craft that has been given a thoroughly modern makeover. The designs are endless, a whole heap of fun and easy to make.

Create endless punch needle designs

LEARN THE BASIC PUNCH NEEDLE STITCHES

Actually, they are a series of loops and are so easy to learn! Punch needle embroidery is much faster than traditional embroidery and, unlike embroidery, there are no fiddly complicated stitches or tiny needles. Instead you will use a punch needle to create a series of loops and stitches, in a specific colour and pattern. It is almost impossible to get it wrong as mistakes can be quickly and easily fixed by just pulling the yarn out and starting again. You can use yarn, wool floss, cotton, even ribbon to create beautiful tapestry art in a never-ending range of designs.

GETTING STARTED PUNCH NEEDLING

To get you started with this inspiring craft I have put together a few short videos (scroll down to view) explaining the basics. I actually discovered punch needle a few years ago and fell in love with its easy designs, and beautiful results.

PUNCH NEEDLE KITS

I have designed a range of punch needle kits designed to inspire you to try it. They are 100% vegetarian and sustainable using wool only from slaughter free sheep on Ellie’s farm in North Yorkshire. She has been breeding the rare breed British Border Leicester for more than two decades now and every sheep lives out its life on the farm. She has even set up an area for the OAP’s. Visitors are welcome via prior arrangement.

100% vegetarian and sustainable Punch Needle Kits.

VIDEO TUTORIALS

How To Thread A Punch Needle

This is for an adjustable needle but the process is the same or similar for most punch needles.

Preparing Your Fabric And Hoop

You can use a variety of fabrics for punch needle projects. I love 12 count Monks cloth at the moment but have lots of other fabrics I am keen to try my designs on.

Get Started With Simple Stitches

You only need to learn a few very simple stitches to create a mass of designs. Here are a few to get you started.

Please visit Lincolnshire Fenn Crafts to see the full range of inspiring craft kits and accessories.