The Gnomes

The Gnomes
the gnomes

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

How to needle felt a toadstool





Red Mushroom Tutorial

Please be advised that felting needles are very sharp and will hurt if you stick yourself! Always use a foam base to needle on. When needling wool it is important to jab the felting needle straight in and out at any angle. If you try to twist or bend the needle it will break. This tutorial is for a beginner and is just to introduce you to the wonderful world of needle felting! Once you get the hang of it, you will be able to make anything your heart desires with enough practice!

What you need for this project:

A tuft of white core wool

A tuft of red wool

A skewer

A felting needle and a foam base.


 

 

 

 Grab your red wool and draw (gently pull it) it out enough so that you will be able to tie a knot in it. This is how we will start the cap of the mushroom!


 

Start to wrap the loose ends of the wool around the knot and needle it firmly so the top is rounded and the bottom is somewhat flat.

 
 
 
 
 


 

 

Now set that aside and grab your skewer and white wool. Holding the white wool like a flat ribbon start tightly wrapping the wool around the skewer, wrapping more at the top then the bottom so that you will have a stem like shape that is larger at the bottom. Leave the top fluffy, this is where you are going to attach it to the cap.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

 

 

Slide of the stem off the skewer and start needling the stem on the bottom and the sides until it is firm. Make sure you leave the top part fluffy!


 




 

 

Now to join the cap and the stem! Take the fluffy part of the stem and needle it to the flat part of the mushroom cap. Needle it firmly.






And there you have it! If you would like you add more red wool around the cap to make it bigger or add white dots to make a gnome toadstool!