What is Needle Felting?

Needle felting is a process which uses barbed needles to interlock wool fibers to form a more condensed material.  Wool fibers have scales which when rubbed against each other catch and lock into place to create this denser material called felt.  Felting needles are used to entangle the fibers.  As the felting needle is moved up and down, the barbs on the needles catch the scales of the wool and entangle them into place.

There are many sizes of needles available to use for needle felting, but the most popular are the #36, #38 and #40 triangle points and also the #38 Star Point. The triangle pointed needles have three sides on the end, each having notches or barbs along those sides. The larger the needle number the finer the hole that is left after you have punched with it. The #36 triangle point is most commonly used for coarse, fast felting. It does leave large holes so you have to go over the punched surface with a finer needle if you want to hide the holes. The #38 triangle needle is a great all purpose felting needle. I prefer this needle to attach felted items to a surface and also for layering felted objects together. The #40 triangle needle is used for fine details, such as sculpting faces, forming curved flower petals and any other small area where you want the design to be perfectly shaped. The star point needle has 4 sides with notches or barbs along the sides. Because it has one extra side this needle is excellent for fast, coarse felting.

There are many multi needle hand tools available to hold 3-25 needles if you're going to tackle a large project. The handles open so you can change the needle size. These make felting larger pieces much easier.

Felting needles are very sharp and should not be used by children or anyone with a visual handicap. It only takes one jab to cut your finger. It's necessary to keep your eye on the needle at all times when it's moving! No exceptions to this rule.

Visit our web site to see our newly released felting patterns and needle felting kits.