Good Morning All
Learn the basics of needle felting by making your very own miniature Teddy.
Recently I was asked how I made these little sweethearts, so I thought I’d do a blog post to explain.
This is not the be all or end all of needle felting and there are loads of other methods, this is just how I chose to make teddies.
Firstly I take wool roving, a block of foam covered with hessian and some needle felting needle, I use 2 sizes a large to start and a smaller one as the felt starts to form.
I pull of two pieces 1 small and the other around twice the size, for the head and body, and pull them around a bit. Then I start to poke, turning the piece very regularly so it doesn’t just go flat,
Once its a small round ball, I concentrate pokes in the center to start a muzzle area. Sorry about the colour felt, now I look back at these it’s a bit close to the colour of the hessian.
Then I do the same with the larger piece but make this into a tear drop shape.
Then come ears I take a real small amount of wool, you will be surprised at how small it needs to be, and felt it kinda flat, and round, with wispy bits hanging out the bottom (for attaching to head), just practice really.
Hold them in place on the head, one at a time, and needle felt into place, really poking well into the head so that the loose fibers from the ears go right into the head and hold firm.
Next arms and legs
Pull 4 bit apart, 2 slightly smaller and try to get the arms and legs about the same. Make the arms like sausages.
Holding a leg piece a bit like a sausage shape, work on one side, trying to make it really look like a sausage by turning very regularly. Then when it starts to take shape turn it 90 degrees and work on the other end, the foot. This give you a nice sharp ankle area.
Don’t worry that if the leg seems ridiculous big just keep felting and it will get smaller.
Keep an eye on proportions and try to make things even, again practice helps
Next take some embroidery floss and sew on a muzzle and mouth. You can hide the knots under the muzzle area and loose threads through the head.
Eyebrows can be cute too.
I like to use watercolour pencils, the ones I use for dolls faces to add a little colour to paws and ears and sometimes their belly.
Then using strong thread I attach 2 black glass beads for eyes. Thread the cotton through the bead and then pass both ends through head coming out the base of the neck. Then continue down through the body to attach the head to the body too.
Lastly sew him together
Arms and legs are attached by threading using the same method; thread through an arm, the body, the other arm, a bead and back again so the bear is sandwiched between 2 beads, pull hard and tie firmly, hiding threads inside the felt again.
So there you go; amazingly no fingers where harmed in the making of this blog. But remember if you fancy giving this a go, the needles are sharp and barbed and hurt on the way in and way out. I have stabbed myself many times and eventually got better at missing me and hitting the felt. Be warned you will hurt yourself. On brighter note though you will end up with a cute little critter that is just yours and unique. And visit YouTube, there’s load of really good tutorials out there.
Well that’s all from me for now. So till next time.
Hugs and Kisses
Ally
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time of creating an article to a couple of seconds.
Thank you, I will have to take a look Ally
I can see that your page probably doesn’t have much traffic.
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thank you for commenting, ally
Good presentation. Thanks! From start to finish, how long does it take you the have a Teddy in hand?
Hi Sondra, firstly thank you for all your lovely comments and support. The teddies take me about 3 hours now, it was longer to start with, but I've got quicker. I also like to take a break before I finish and come back with a fresh eye just to check I like the proportions. love ally x