5 Things You Need To Start Needle Felting

Hi and welcome to my ultimate guide to needle felting.

I’m Sandy, creator, owner, designer, chief cook and bottle washer at Lincolnshire Fenn Crafts.

Since 2014 I have taught thousands of people to needle felt through my tutorials, videos, workshops and extensive range of inspiring needle felting kits. Whether you are a nervous beginner or a confident crafter, you will discover a wealth of needle felting guides and resources at your creative fingertips. Let’s craft a happy space together!

SO, WHAT DO YOU NEED TO START NEEDLE FELTING?

Not much at all as it happens and you don’t have to spend a lot of money either! It’s a budget friendly hobby that requires very little space and zero experience and all you need is:

1 FELTING WOOL

2 FELTING NEEDLE

3 FELTING MAT

4 GOOD TUTORIALS

5 ENTHUSIASM

FELTING WOOL

Wool tops or carded wool are both great to needle felt with. Avoid Merino wool tops and go for a coarser wool like Jacob, Shetland or Romney.

CLICK HERE FOR MY ULTIMATE WOOL GUIDE AND QUICK LOOK, HANDY CHART

FELTING NEEDLES

Just one or two standard felting needles will get you started. I like to use a 38 star as a good all-rounder.

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEEDLE FELTING GUIDE

FELTING MAT

You will need a foam, hessian, or wool mat. A piece of firm foam is what many people use but there are other mats you can try. I tend to use a mixture depending on the project.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY FAVOURITE FELTING MATS HERE

TUTORIALS

Ignore all the fancy needle felting creations you see online and start with a simple needle felting project or tutorial. It is so important to allow yourself to be a beginner and build up to those fancy creations you have been drooling over.

WATCH MY VIDEO TUTORIALS HERE or on YOUTUBE

ENTHUSIASM (and a cuppa)

When it comes to needle felting enthusiasm goes a long, long way! It’s all you need to get started; you don’t need to be artistic, just enthusiastic. Allow yourself to be a beginner and you will pick up the needle felting basics in no time. You may prefer to start with a needle felting kit , especially if you don’t have any equipment. It is a budget friendly way to get started and allows you to see if you enjoy this fabulous craft without ending up with lots of equipment.

SEE MY FULL RANGE OF INSPIRING NEEDLE FELTING KITS AND ACCESSORIES HERE

JOIN THE VIP FELT CLUB HERE

Why Reverse Felting Needles Are So Cool!

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

Needle felted sheep and hares – Step by step video tutorials

Each video tutorial breaks down every step of needle felting your animals into simple body shapes and can easily be can be adapted for whatever animal you are making. They are perfect for beginners, improvers or anyone wanting some creative respite and I have created each video to guide you step by step – workshop style – on your creative journey, sharing my top tips to make it even quicker and easier.

Everything you need to know is covered, from needle felting your basic body shape at the start to putting it all together, in simple bite size chunks that will give you the confidence to continue with this fabulously addictive craft.

If you are working from one of my NEEDLE FELTING KITS just follow the written instructions alongside the video tutorials.

1 BASIC BODY SHAPE – 12 minutes

2 BASIC HEAD SHAPE – 12 minutes

3 BASIC LEG SHAPES – 21 minutes

4 HARE AND FOX EARS – 15 minutes

5 SHEEP EARS – 15 minutes

6 FACE DETAILS – 11 minutes

7 SEWING ON BEADS FOR EYES – 8 minutes

8 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER – 35 minutes

Now you can create any size and shape you want