I paid another visit to Paper Village to a needle-felting workshop a week or so ago. It was held on a Friday luncthtime. It was such a pleasant way to spend lunch. I’m so lucky that it is so nearby.
I made the felt heart in the workshop and decided to decorate it and turn it into a fridge magnet. Thought I’d share what I did.
You will need:
Merino felting wool
Cookie-cutter in a heart shape (or whatever shape you prefer)
Felting needle (Felting Needles are straight needles with barbs cut along the shaft)
Block of upholstery foam
Sequins
Seed beads
Glue
Small magnet
Making the needle-felt heart
1. Take your cookie cutter and place it on the upholstery foam.
2. Place a small amount of wool in the inside the cookie cutter and start to make your felt, by jabbing the wool in a straight up and down motion. This is where using a cookie-cutter is handy as you can be quite vigorous without accidentally stabbing your fingers!
3. Turn the felt over occasionally to make sure that the felt doesn’t get attached to the foam.
4. Add extra wool every now and then and continue felting until the shape holds together and becomes firm.
5. Once you are happy with your felt shape, take it out of the cookie-cutter and decorate it. I used sequins and beads to decorate my heart.
Decorating the heart with Sequins and Beads
1. Thread your needle and knot the thread at the end.
2. Bring your needle up through the felt shape and through the centre of one sequin.
3. Thread a bead onto your needle.
4. Bring your needle back into the hole on the front of the sequin
5. Knot the thread on the back of the felt. At this point either cut the thread and sew the next sequin on with new thread. This is the most secure way of doing things. Alternatively, just knot and continue with the next sequin. But make sure that you do knot, otherwise, if the thread gets pulled and breaks you’ll lose all your sequins and not just one!
6. It is also possible to attach a sequin without a seed bead. I’ve attached my sequins with and without beads, so that you can see both methods. Bring your needle up through the fabric and the centre of one sequin. Bring the needle through the felt at the edge of the sequin and bring the thread through to the back of the felt.
7. Bring the needle back through the centre of the bead again and this time bring the thread 1/3 of the way around the circle, creating a V shape. For extra security you could do three passes, so your sequin is held on in three places. Knot at the back of the felt.
8. Continue adding sequins and beads till you have the felt heart covered.
Adding the magnet
1. Cut a piece of fabric or felt and glue it on the back to hide all the messy stitches and knots on the back of the felt shape.
2. Glue a small magnet to the back.
3. Put on your fridge
Steely Seamstress 