There are sooooo many crafty things I would love to try. Needle felting is one technique that I did take a whirl at and I love it. I came across a book of the cutest needle felted items and I fell in love with all the neat things you can create. It is very forgiving and relatively easy to do.
This is your DIY project for the week: a cute needle felted ball banner...
I made a colorful and whimsical banner that hangs between two knobs on a piece of furniture in my living room. The great thing about this DIY is that you can alter it to fit your needs. Like I mentioned above, it is easy to do, but this project requires a little chunk of time depending on how long you need to make your banner. (Mine would have been perfect to make while watching a movie.)
What you need: wool roving (it comes in a variety of colors), a needle felting tool, DMC embroidery floss, a regular needle, beads, a beading needle, invisible thread and tiny (about 1") styrofoam balls. (All available at a craft store.)
I recommend watching this video if you have never needle felted before. Pay close attention the the 'stabbing' technique that is demonstrated (and please be careful because it does hurt if you stab yourself! LOL). The video demonstrates a flat needle felted project using a brush mat and a wider needle felting tool. You will be creating a three dimensional ball so you won't need the brush mat. I also recommend using a single needle tool like I show below.
To get started, select a color of wool roving and grab a styrofoam ball and the needle felting tool....
The idea is to completely cover the styrofoam ball with the wool roving and make a cute little ball shape....
Pull off just enough wool roving from the roll to cover the little ball (try to keep the amount of roving the same on each ball so your balls will have the same finished size)....
Wrap the roving around to encase the ball...
And then start stabbing! (Watch those fingers!) Hold the ball and roving in one hand and stab with the other....
Just keep stabbing and working an area. You will see it start to 'grab' on to the styrofoam ball. Move on the the next area and make your way around the ball until it is all even and neat.
You can do as few or as many as you need. And the color choices are up to you too. Customize! I like an odd number because that looks better to me....
Next you will need to gather the DMC embroidery floss in whatever color you like...
And the invisible thread and the beads if you'd like to add a bit of bling.
Start with the beads if you're going to add them. Add a nice long length (about two feet) of invisible thread to the beading needle and add pretty assorted beads to the needle felted balls...
Once the needle felted balls are all blinged-out you can string them onto the DMC embroidery thread (push the regular needle through the center of each ball)...
Make the embroidery thread long enough for your needs. You can slide the balls on the thread to position them...
Cute!!!!!
:-)
great tutorial, patty!! these are so colorful and cute.....and i love the idea of putting them on the floss for a little banner!! xox, :))
Posted by: lori vliegen | April 12, 2010 at 09:20 AM
Oh.My.Goodness. This is adorable!! I LOVE it! I love seeing needle felted things and have never known how to do it - thanks for the tutorial!! I'm going to have to give this a try! :)
Posted by: Ashley @ The Creative Place | April 12, 2010 at 09:21 AM
This is so cute and the series of photos themselves are just beautiful!
Posted by: Jen Davis | April 12, 2010 at 02:22 PM
aww!!! this is so adorable! I gotta make this. I have the tools and supplies! thanks for the tutorial!!!
Posted by: sunghee | April 12, 2010 at 08:40 PM
love it...but I am sorry to say I can not be around Wool AT ALL....SO I will enjoy it by looking at your photos...I start to scratch just looking at your photos...
angie
Posted by: Angie Aleszczyk | April 13, 2010 at 09:40 AM
Very cute Patty...as you can see, I borrowed your spring wreath idea...it was a total hit as a gift to a friend who just had surgery, thank you for the awesome ideas and directions, LOVE them all!
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1197323927 | April 13, 2010 at 06:02 PM
love this patty!!
your creativity amazes me constantly...and even though it is out of my realm of creativity i love that it seems so doable...and the end result is amazing! you are awesome patty :)
Posted by: Nicole | April 13, 2010 at 07:30 PM
These are adorable. I would love to try this out. They would make a great summer decoration.
Posted by: followingtheroad | April 13, 2010 at 11:33 PM
That is simply adorable Patty. I so want to try it.
Posted by: Ronda Palazzari | April 19, 2010 at 01:42 PM
This is adorable - I've been dying to try to work with the material and now I think I will. Thanks for the how-to Patty!
Posted by: Valerie | April 20, 2010 at 07:34 AM
LOVE it patty!!!
Posted by: gigi | April 20, 2010 at 11:23 PM
Gosh, Patty, I love this!! Thanks for the tutorial--you made it seem easy. I'm going to give it a try! (Fingers crossed!).
Posted by: Vicki | May 01, 2010 at 09:37 PM
what size little balls did you use Patty? I have everything else including hand dyed wool, I am so making these for a friend!
Posted by: Viki | May 09, 2010 at 12:38 PM
I LOVE that. I was wondering...where do you get the wool to make the prjoects? Is it already all "combed out"? Dont know the correct wording I don't think. Do you know of any websites that explain pretty well how to do prjoects like that.?Lexie.
Posted by: Tam | November 03, 2012 at 03:04 AM