What is Needle Felting?

Needle felting involves using a sharp barbed needle to sculpt and shape wool roving into 3D shapes like animals, landscapes, food, or even masks or clothing. 

a gif of a hand closeup needle felting a green monster.

If you gently run your finger along the tip of the felting needle you'll feel some small barbs. These barbs get caught on the scales of the wool when the needle pokes in and out of the wool. In the photo below, you can see the scales of the wool when placed under the microscope. 

The more scales the wool has, the easier it is to felt. This means smoother wool(on the right) doesn't felt as easily as coarse wool does (on the left). Smoother wool, with less scales does, however work well for other purposes, because it feels less scratchy. An example of this is using a wool like Merino (less scales) to create wet felted clothing that lies directly against the skin. 

wool fibres under a microscope: left has more scales to right is less scales

Many people we’ve taught to felt at workshops at schools, libraries and event comment on how easy and stress relieving it is! A little stabbing can really get the stress out; hence why teachers seem to love felting so much!

a moving gif of teachers around a table using a felting needle to shape and felt wool

Our wool is sustainable sourced wool from Ashford in New Zealand, colored with natural non-toxic dyes. You can also purchase white wool and dye the wool yourself using oak leaves, beets, flowers and other natural materials.

Learn more about Ashford Wools from watching this video:

Want to try out needle felting?

Buy our Mini Felting Course + Kit Bundle for only $19.99