Needle Felting Teddy Bears for Beginners

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To make an evenly shaped ball, keep your eye on one profile edge, felt it into an even curve, turn the shape and then make that edge match. Keep turning and looking at one profile edge. A neat ball will soon form. Needle-felting is an easy and fun technique, requiring little in the way of expensive materials or equipment. Its accessibility means it's becoming more and more popular, and award-winning authors Judy Balchin and Roz Dace show how to make 20 wonderful little teddy bears using this tactile technique.

Make another long strand and anchor it a little way down from the top of the first line by poking it very firmly in place. Felt it at a 45º angle for around 1cm. Then firmly anchor it again. Take a small amount of coloured wool fibre and rub it in your fingers until you have a little round pad. Place this onto the ball and very gently felt it, using the tip of your needle, until it is firmly attached. Keep needling the head to firm it up and whilst doing so, try to form the ears from the ball by going round with the needle to form the shape. If you can’t form ears this wayadd more felt and needle them on. Form a ball of felt from the remaining wool at the top of the body for the head by rolling it up and felting together with your needle.

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Take a tiny piece of wool from a contrasting colour and roll into a ball between your thumb and forefinger. Using your needle on the foam pad, felt this until it's round and flat. Katie and Rachel will be teaching a series of needle felting and macrame classes at the beautiful Ashridge House this month. Have a go at making the baubles featured here or try crafting baby penguins, macrame snowflakes or Christmas puddings! Step Four: Create legs using roughly one third more roving than you used for the arms. With the legs, you will want to have a bit of an upturned foot, so do not double the roving but work in a single straight log. One loose end you will shape for the foot, and the other you will leave loose to facilitate attachment.

Start felting by pushing the needle into it until it comes together and firm up. Take small sharp scissors and cut this flat log into two forming legs that are approx. 0.5inlong. Felt each leg until it's shaped.Pull/cut away the arm at about 0.5in long. Needle the cut/frayed end firmly into the body. The fur/thread will stay in position without anything more than the action of the needle. Repeat. To shape an indent in needle felting, you poke that location multiple times with your felting needle. The more you poke the harder the felt becomes in that spot and the smaller/tighter that spot becomes. In a round shape, this repeated poking can be used to create a 3D muzzle, and cute little eyes on any bear. Twist the wool strand as you felt gently along it and ‘draw’ a neat line. You might like to curve the line as you go so that it looks like the stem of a leaf. Poke the ends of the strand into the ball. Needle and Thread to secure head and limbs if you intend to give the bear as a gift, or if it will be around children. How To Needle Felt a 3D Teddy Bear:

Step Two: Take roughly twice the amount of wool as you used in the head, and use this to form the bear’s body. A good bear body is roughly pear shaped. The body should be felted slightly firmer than the head, you will be attaching the limbs via felting (and sewing) later on, but the body does not need to be soft for this. If you want to leave the tip of the narrow part of the “pear” slightly softer it will facilitate the attachment of the head. Poke the needle in where you have anchored it and, leaving the needle there, pivot the strand down towards the stem, making a triangular leaf shape. Remove the needle and felt along this line. Designs are easily made using thin lines and small dots. To create this leaf design, start by rubbing a few long fibres to make a strand. Felt one end into the bauble until it is secure. Needle-felting is the art of turning wool fibres into 3D shapes using a specialist needle. It is very easy to master and there are only a few things that you need to know to get started.

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I would like to add that, at least with needle felting, smaller does not mean easier. In fact, a roughly hand-sized bear is the easiest size to needle felt, anything smaller is much more difficult since it is easier to poke yourself. Anything larger than hand-sized takes longer due to the larger amount of wool that you need to felt down. Needle Felting Basics: Carefully slide the wool off and hold it at the top and bottom so that it doesn’t unravel. It should look like a big marshmallow. Place it on a sponge and begin to poke it all over with the needle. Keep turning the wool. If you’re not sure where to start, why not try one of Bergin & Bath’s needle-felting kits? There are lots to choose from and they’re all suitable for beginners as they include full step-by-step photographic instructions. Most projects start with a simple ball like this. Turn it into a hedgehog, a mouse or a polar bear.