Saturdays session of the Stitch featured stabbing at speed at little cute cats bodies, heads and ears… sounds evil! Well, relax we were making needle felted cat bracelets – Madoka had made her own and we were knocked over by it’s fab/cool/cute factor so we decided to have a go our selves! This is Madoka’s cat bracelets (click on the images to see larger versions and descriptions)

how cool is that face!

Here’s a few pics from Saturday’s session…

blue cat in the making

the stabbing does create a flat cat at the beginning but once you start getting the shape then you start turning the piece to create a more rounded shape

Cute pink cat body is starting to look more cat shape – head and ears done too

Begona decided on making a cat that is in the sitting position as she is a rebel!

Sitting cat body bits taking shape

A white cat with a black spot on his body and green eyes

This little guy looks like one of those little red pandas – so cute!

You can keep up with Madoka’s creations via her Madoka Angel facebook page and Madoka Angel Instagram Elaine from Bunting and Pops (also a member of Rock Paper Scissors London) had never heard of dry needle felting and couldn’t figure out how a lump of wool roving turned into this fab little cat but she gave it a go… and then annoyed everyone by making this…. how cute it this little guy! (gargh… mine is still a blue lump and in bits)

scroll down for links to start needle felting for yourself!

Elaine – Bunting and Pops needle felted cat bracelet

Elaine – Bunting and Pops needle felted cat bracelet

Finished Fascinator!

Begona – one of the co-hosts at the Stitch brought in her finished Fascinator. locally sourced elements too – literally, she found the feathers at her local park 😀

You can see the hair clip – very neatly added!

Begona’s (co-host of The Stitch) handmade facinator with locally sourced feathers – she actually went to a local park and found feathers! 🙂

Begona’s (co-host of The Stitch) handmade facinator with locally sourced feathers – she actually went to a local park and found feathers! 🙂

Needle Felting supplies:

You can get kits but you can buy each element separately – all you need to get started is a set of needles, a sponge (from the pound shop!) and some roving tops (it’s like wool before being spun into yarn balls!)

As needle felting has become popular you can now find some of the bits you need in craft shops but online tends to be easier in finding it all in one go.

Needles: the important bit!

I got a mixed pack of needles but find that I’m using a medium most of the time (red tipped)

The Little Grasshopper on Etsy – Chester UK – (click image to visit shop) 10 needles – £3.65 + 68p)

you will need a pack of needles as it’s easy to break them when you first start!

Just a Day Dream – Wales UK – Etsy shop – 10 medium needles in container £6.50 + 1.20 p&p)

some info I found on my search around the web about needle gauges and what to use them for – I think most people that I’ve met use a medium and fine… but that’s why I would buy a mixed set to start with – so you can try them out and ‘gauge’ it yourself! 😉

Course Needles

• The 32 Gauge Triangular has 3 barbs a side – coarse fibres and starting 
• The 36 Gauge Triangular has 3 barbs a side – starting and shaping 
• The 36 Gauge Star has 2 barbs a side – faster starting and working 

Medium Needles

• The 38 Gauge Triangular has 2 barbs a side – shaping and working (red tip)
• The 38 Gauge Star has 2 barbs a side – Faster working and shaping 
• The 38 Gauge Twisted needle has 2 barbs a side – even felting and smoothing 

Fine Needles

• The 40 Gauge Twisted needle has 2 barbs a side – even felting, smoothing 
• The 40 Gauge Triangular has 2 barbs a side – working and detail
  
• The 42 Gauge Triangular has 1 barb a side – fine detail 
• The 40 Gauge Reverse / Inverted has 1 barbs a side – fluffing surfaces 

You don’t need a needle holder – I have tried the wood holders that you can buy but I either just use the needle on it’s own or (more recently) I’ve started using the plastic pen type of holder which is actually quite good – you can use 3 needles at once – useful when you first start stabbing large bits of roving into a base shape – then you can change to a single needle which is far better for smaller/detailed elements. (click image to visit the Amazon page)

Kits

Heidi Feathers – Cheltenham UK – £25 (there’s another kit for £13,99 that looks cool too!)

This looks good if it’s a gift (for you or someone else!) as it comes in a nice box, instructions, finger guards (not totally necessary), mat, selection of Merino tops in lots of colours, needles in various sizes (which is good if you don’t know what you are doing!) – click image to visit her ebay shop – she is on Amazon as well – Heidi Feathers Amazon shop and sells each element separately

Another starter kit by MaxExpress4U on Ebay – Bristol UK – £16.99

TryToGet0 – Newton Aycliffe, Durham UK – £10.00

If you don’t want to buy a kit and you want to just the basics (which the above to cover but some bits are unnecessary)

I did buy a pack of these from Amazon – £3.95 + 1.75 delivery from the Wool Barn – UK and they sell them in different colour tones and a mix selection too – I would recommend getting a mix of colours for your first go.

Video tutorials – free ones.

This is very good on how to even plan your needle felted item… in this case cute animals. (doesn’t show closeup though)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWmNJYPXNl4

Baby Alpaca tutorial – cute!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCH3tSwTWk

Needle Felting 101 – gives info on lots of needle felting equipment and roving… and even tips on wet felting – we tried that on Saturday and it really does speed things up!!! (just a bowl of water and a little soap – I thought it was far more complicated but it really isn’t!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI2ag_lZIo0

• maybe we can get Madoka to add her thoughts on needle felting 🙂

ps: just found this on Etsy – tutorial pdf of a spat cat bookmark – made me laugh 😀