I am very excited to present to you my greatest needle felting challenge yet. He is modelled on a beautiful young Shetland sheepdog (Sheltie) called Schubert (Schubie)! The real dog is very much loved by his human mum and dad and his dad wanted a surprise gift for his wife (Schubert’s mum) for Christmas!
I rarely do commissions as I try to avoid the stress of it but having spent quite a bit of time admiring the real Schubert I had been wondering how it would be to needle felt a mini one and quite fancied a stab at it! 🙂
Schubert has so many tones to his luxurious fur so I spent quite a bit of time blending wool colours. He also has very long fur so I really put into practice my ‘adding long animal fur’ techniques.
I started off wrapping corriedale core wool over a wire armature. Then I added paw pads and then some detail on his face before starting on his belly fur and working from his tail end towards his neck with merino wool. I did his wispy feet hair and tail last. Please see the work in progress videos for more info.
In an attempt to keep him as authentically ‘Shetland’ as possible I managed to include some brown Shetland sheep wool in his coat and his whiskers are made of black Shetland pony tail hair all the way from Scotland.
As with all my creations it took many hours of needle felting and love. I am very pleased with the way he turned out and I hope you like him too 🐶🐕😆
Here are some photos and a short video. I hope to get some photos of him and the real Schubie together soon too!
Here is my latest needle felted animal known as “Freckle”!
She is an adorable baby Tiger Quoll (a wonderful and unusual looking marsupial from Australia). She is sound asleep all curled up, be careful not to wake her!! Why Freckle? I posted her on facebook and asked for name suggestions. There were so many great ideas but I decided that the name ‘Freckle’ really suited her. I had freckles across my nose as a kid. My nanny (my mum’s mum) used to say to me that freckles were sun kisses. How sweet! This creature is sweet and certainly has quite a few freckles!
She has been lovingly hand-made and is ‘fit to be loved’. As you can see from the photos she just about fits onto your hand like a real baby quoll.
Her core is made of natural undyed corriedale sheep wool from New Zealand. Her beautiful spotted fur is a mix of brown corriedale and soft merino sheep wool (non-mulesed) from South Africa. She has a wire through her tail.
As with all my wool sculptures it took many hours of hard work and love to give her her character. I used the adding long fur technique as well as trying out my new reverse needles to ensure her fur looks as realistic as can be.
Her nose and eyes are made of wool too, so no glass or plastic. Her realistic looking whiskers are made from horse hair.
I hope you like her 🙂
*************** Freckle is now for sale in my Etsy shop! -update on 7th Dec 2018 – Now sold. So very excited to announce that Freckle will be going to a lady in Australia! *********************
My latest needle felted project has been a challenge (nothing is ever simple with me!) but it has been so worthwhile to see the finished butterfly in its frame.
I have always loved butterflies and if you spend more than a minute with me you will notice that I have many items that are butterfly themed; stationery, cards, blouses, my wedding was adorned with feather butterflies and as you can see my Fit to be loved logo has a tiny orange butterfly.
I came across the Mazarine blue butterfly (scientific name Cyaniris semiargus which is pronounced sy-an-EYE-riss se-mee-AH-guss) over a year ago as it stood out to me not only for its beautiful markings and vibrant blue colours but also I was saddened to read that it was last recorded in the UK in 1904.
I envisioned what this beautiful creature may look like if I were to make it out of wool and to have it framed. It would be amazing to bring back an extinct butterfly with the art of needle felting!
I set myself this project and though I started a year ago with a few wing shapes and lots of imagination, life took a bit of a different turn.
Some of you who follow my Facebook posts may know that 2 years ago this week our worlds changed forever as our twin girls, Chloe and Grace, were born still at 24 weeks. Since then life has had its ups and downs as I have journeyed the hills and valleys of grief. Throwing myself into my long term full time job as a Manager of a charity helpline in South London as a way to distract from my thoughts has been a coping mechanism but this kind of life can only reach burn out. Also some of my passions including needle felting took back stage.
In April this year I realised I needed to make a change, to face my fears, start afresh, take a break. I also wanted to dare to follow my dreams of helping others on a new career path and so my husband and I decided to move out of London and I made a huge step of leaving my job. So here I am in Lincolnshire (back to my birth town of Grantham) after moving home 3 weeks ago. I have space to think, to breathe, to heal, to be, to create!
You will be pleased to know that my new career choice has enabled me to gain some free time to invest more in my needle felting.
I hope you like the Mazarine blue butterfly which I have finally been able to complete. It has been lovingly handmade with soft merino wool over wire and mounted in a deep box frame to keep it dust free. If you would like to buy it I have just put it in my Etsy shop.
Butterflies are often a symbol of hope and life. This one is certainly the start of something new in my life. A path of hope.
What passions could you bring back? What hobbies can you start or revive? Where is your life taking you? What are you hoping for?
Just finished needle felting a beautiful black and white dog called Poppy. I wanted to capture the smiley faced playful character of the real dog Poppy who loves to fetch a ball, go for a swim and have lots of fun on her walks, sometimes with legs splashed with mud!
I am not sure what breed she is but she looks like a spaniel/collie cross.
She was a delight to make. She is made from core wool over wire and then merino wool layered over the top. Her eyes, nose and even her tiny collar with a paw print disc is made from wool. Her layers of long fur were added with my usual technique (click here for tutorial).
Once needle felted I was able to pose her with head slightly tilted, front leg bent and tail ready to wag……
So back in November some of you voted for the animal you wanted to see me needle felt next and the red panda came top!
I agree red pandas (Latin name; Ailurus fulgens) are tremendously cute creatures and they have such vibrant colouring.
She was not at all easy to make with her long fur, markings and ringed tail (apparently in the wild they use their big tails as a wrap around blanket in the cold mountains of Nepal, Burma and China) – but then you know how much I love a challenge!
She took a while to make and a lot of patience and I have to say I did leave her half done for a few weeks at a time with lack of motivation at one point… however she was worth it in the end.
I decided she was a ‘she’ early on as her eyes stared back at me with a kind of sparkling prettiness about them..
A lady in Yorkshire fell in love with her after spotting her on a facebook forum while she was just a mere face and so she is now being loved and cuddled by this lady at her new home 🙂
So here is a photo montage of my red panda to show you the stages of how I created her as well as an indoor and outdoor (garden) photoshoot of her once finished.
It is set to a beautiful piece of music called ‘rain’ that will hopefully inspire you. For me I feel like I am being transported to a distant land where maybe you would find a real red panda! 🙂
Hope you like her 🙂
So, what on to next?? a lion, a wallaby??
If you would like to know in more detail how I add long fur to animals my needle felting tutorials can be found over on my tutorials page
Don’t ever miss out on my latest tutorials! Insert your email address and click the ‘Follow’ button on the right hand panel to receive notifications of when the next post is up..:-)
Visit my Etsy shop today to see my latest creations. Or like my facebook page to see what I am making next.
Would you like to watch techniques for creating a detailed and realistic long fur look on your needle felted animal?
You have likely seen my photo tutorial with basic techniques for adding long wool fibres onto a badger. Well here is a video for those who learn best by watching how it’s done. This is far more in depth with more techniques and tips along the way!
‘In this full length (1.5 hour) diary-style tutorial, I demonstrate how to add layers of wool to a miniature donkey. These techniques can be adapted for any long furred animal. Join me on my journey from preparation to finish; starting with carefully ‘needle brushed’ leg fibres, then fluffy tummy and long textured back fur. You will also see how I create a middle parting on the donkey’s muzzle, add a long fluffy fringe and a beautiful flowing mane.’
Watch the preview below
The full length video tutorial is available to
buy for just £3.75!
(Watch live multiple times or download it- it’s up to you!)
Difficulty ranking: Intermediate level or beginners looking for a challenge.
The result: Amazing detail; the look of a real animal with layers of fur.
Skills you will master:
Simple hand blending of wool roving for natural, textured colour tones
Preparing wool lengths and a test/sample piece
Knowing how firm to felt your core base
Two easy methods to firmly attach various lengths of wool fibre
The art of layering and trimming fibres
Specific skills for adding fur to various body parts including legs, tummy, back, ears, tail, face and mane
How to prevent over felting or flattening of long fibres
Finishing techniques for defining strands or fluffing them up
Chapter start timesfor easier video navigation.
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Overview; what techniques will I learn?
2:07 Where to start?
3:35 Preparing and blending wools
12:03 What tools do I need?
13:25 Shorter fur – layering on the legs (the basics of the two techniques)
28:28 Soft tummy fur (technique 1)
34:05 Continuing the tummy (and a few ways of blending colour)
38:10 How firm should the core wool be?
40:05 Lots of thick fur layers (across the torso) (technique 1)
45:00 Tips for preventing fluffing up and positioning animal whilst felting
46:14 Adding fur on rump (techniques 1 and 2)
49:45 Long fluffy back fur (technique 2)
57:40 Ears and tail (brief overview for ideas)
59:12 Fluffy textured muzzle and fringe (very long fur pieces) (technique 2 plus other tips)
Don’t ever miss out on my latest tutorials! Insert your email address and click the ‘Follow’ button on the right hand panel to receive notifications of when the next post is up..:-)
Don’t have time to make one but would love a one of a kind needle felted animal by Fit to be loved for yourself or for that special someone? Visit my Etsy shop today to see my latest creations. Or like my facebook page to see what I am making next.
