I managed to slip in a little felting during the past holiday season. I had the urge to play with felt and create a holiday card or two for a special friend. I started with a desired card size, laid out my merino wool fibers in 3 layers, then wet felted the fibers until I reduced the size by 30 percent. It took quite a bit of rolling to get the size down and I would have been just as happy to have it be less dense and spend less time doing it.
I fused the felt to a thin piece of interfacing for added stability. Next, I needle felted some additional dyed wool nepps in the flower center. The nepps are little felted balls of short fibers created when a second pass of the sheep shears is made. I placed a single layer of plastic bag over the felted piece and drew on the plastic with a dark marker to create a plan for my machine stitched lines. I did not stitch through the plastic.
I also felted a separate piece of red felt, stitched some small petals and needle felted them in place. After the stitching was completed and additional nepps were added, I fused the felt to card stock using an iron and fusible web.
 Merino wool fibers laid out for felting poinsettias
Merino wool fibers arranged for felting poinsettias. |
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For comparison – lightly felted on the left, heavily felted on the right. |
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Thin layer of plastic placed over the felted to visualize where stitching will go. |
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First stitching completed, red thread. |
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Second stitching, green thread, ready for small petals. |
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Final piece, ready to be attached to card stock. |
