This week the girls and I made a bunch of needle felted leaves for our fall craft. I’m not entirely sure what we are going to do with the completed wool leaves (I have several ideas), but I know another project will be coming shortly. We always enjoy working with natural fibers, and these wool roving leaves are very pleasing.
Needle Felted Leaves Fall Craft Materials:
- Wool roving in autumn colors
- Leaf shaped cookie cutter
- Foam mat
- Needle Felting needles and optional handle tool
I really like the tin Maple Leaf and Oak Leaf Cookie cutters we bought that are made in the USA by Ann Clark. They are sturdy and the perfect size for this project.
Needle Felted Leaves Fall Craft Directions:
Choose several similar colors of wool roving.
Blend the fibers together by pulling them apart several times and re-aligning the fibers.
Set your cookie cutter on your foam mat. Lay the wool roving over the leaf cookie cutter. (Note in the picture I didn’t cover the whole leaf cookie cutter so you could see it in the photo. You should be sure to cover the whole cookie cutter.)
Start with a single needle, work the corners and edges into place. As you do this, work in the wool roving that is hanging over the edge of the leaf cookie cutter.
Once the edges have been defined, you can switch to a multi-needle tool to felt down the center of the leaf.
After the first layer is loosely needle felted, add a second layer of wool roving. Follow the same directions as before.
When the needle felted leaf has begun to take shape, you can remove the cookie cutter. Flip the needle felted leaf over and felt the back as well.
Clean up the edges by using a single needle to felt in the corners.
When the needle felted leaf is complete, rub it in between your hands. This will help felt down any additional fuzziness.
Your needle felted leaf is now complete.
We are making a bunch of needle felted leaves. We have plans of making a larger project with all the colorful wool roving leaves.
Thank-you so much for this quick and easy to understand tutorial. I’ve bought my mum some wool roving and tools to experiment with and this is the best tutorial I’ve found to show her what to do
You are welcome. It is a fun first project. I hope she enjoys her new craft. 🙂
So beautiful! How long does it take approximately? I have tried needle felting before(have the mat and lots of needles) however when I do it, it seems to take a lot of time to get the wool to “stick” and I end up giving up with nothing completed. Am I just not working long enough at it? I would say I go at least 5 minutes and it looks like I haven’t done anything…
Each leaf seems to take about 10-15 minutes total. Make sure you aren’t using too much roving at once. It is better to add on lighter layers. If you use too much at one time it will be harder to felt and will probably turn out lumpy. For our leaves, we found that two layers worked well. Also be careful not to over felt in one spot on the foam mat. My youngest felt one leaf so much that it became one with the foam and it actually tore the mat when we removed it.
Also… if you haven’t tried the cookie cutter method yet… definitely give it a try. It is a great way to get started. You don’t have to worry about making the form.
Thanks for the great tips! I’ll give them a try!