DIY: All Things Needle Felted!

Hey, y'all! I'm currently on this magical thing called Spring Break. It's divine. Everyone should try a week off to unwind and unplug. One of the perks of being a teacher, y'all! I've decided to take this evening off from Facebook LIVE (I do hope you'll forgive me) to drown myself in clay project prep. I'm going full blown Clay Week next week with the kiddos and I need to wrap my mind around just what it is we will be creating. I'll be certain to share. Until then, I thought we could talk about All Things Needle Felted!

In case you've not heard I'm offering a FREE felting class right here! During my Facebook LIVE chats, I'll be walking you through several weeks of felting. Check the project listing below. With my friend Sue Bunch over at Back to Back Fiber, I've created a felting kit that contains all of the supplies you will need for four weeks of felting. Sue is offering the kit at $24.95 with free shipping for friends in the continental U.S. You can pick you kit up here.

Here's a little listing of what we'll be creating as well as the supplies included. 

And here's a little peak of what you'll receive. 

Just a reminder: You don't have to purchase the kit to participate! If you have the supplies at home then feel free to join the fun and use what you have. Also, you can purchase the supplies at any time, there is no deadline.

All videos will be archived! If you can't make the felting sessions LIVE, no worries. They will be archived on my Facebook page as well as my YouTube channel. 

I do hope you'll join the fun. Until then, I thought I'd take y'all on a walk down my Needle Felting Memory Lane (it's a long walk...I didn't realize I'd created so much).

My very first needle felted attempt was this sweater. I was so excited by the results that I quickly started stabbing just about all of my sweaters! 

Next up was this Put a Bird(s) on It sweater. Again, this was just a thrift shop sweater that I decided to bird-dazzle. 

I do recall this one taking FOREVER. All those little bits of flowers and things, whew! This was my first time to use yarn and I was really pleased with the results. You don't have to use 100% wool yarn for needle felting as I had originally thought. This sweater was inspired by an Anthropologie one that was way outta my budget. 

My sweet cat Asha was the inspo behind this sweater. Again, I just used an old sweater from my closet for this one. 

I had a dude awkwardly ask if he could join the "Naughty Kitty Club". Um, no. Needle felting on this lace material proved to be no more difficult than stabbing away on this jacket...

I'd had this jacket in my closet for some time...I thought it needed an artsy update. 

One of my favorite sweaters is this one...and it was so easy to make! In other news, when is Crayola gonna ask me to be an endorser? Between this sweater and that bag, I'm a walking advertisement! 

 Not all of my needle felting projects take hours. These quickies were made in a matter of hours over a weekend. I wore them during test taking week. 

I forgot about this sweater! This is how you know you've needle felted one too many items in your closet. 

I always feel foxy when wearing this faux fox sweater. See what I did there? I know, you don't have to tell me how punny I am. 

This sweater was another one inspired by Anthro. For the first time, I included wet felting (the buttons) and felted applique with the flowers. I also used yarn to create words for the first time. Check this post to see what is written on the back of this sweater. 

This sweater also included felted pieces from a sweater!

Now y'all know that I do get a lot of inspiration from artwork. Check out these fascinators inspired by famous works of art. 

One of the first dresses I needle felted was this van Gogh inspired one. Sadly, the lights have gone out on Starry Night as the lights no longer work but it was fun while it lasted! 

Oh, yes, the dress that MADE me wanna scream. This one took forever and turned me off to all things needle felting for a couple of months. It was worth it tho, I love this dress! 

The Kandinsky-inspired dresses were created when our local art museum, The Frist had a big showing of his work. I was so inspired that I made two dresses after his paintings.

My dream is to wear this dress to Giverny one day, how fun would that be? 

Jim Dine was a fun artist to explore when creating this simple dress after his heart-themed artwork. 

When el hubbo got me a needle felting MACHINE, that changed everything. Suddenly I could work on bigger projects with even thicker fabrics like this splatter paint coat. 

And this number. I love this coat but it was rather boring to create. I was glad to have the machine to help me tack everything in place. 

Whew! Believe it or not, I actually left a handful of other needle felted pieces off this here post just to save your fingers from scrolling. They're gonna need all the energy they can get for your own needle felting adventure. I'll be starting that free needle felting series here in April...and you can pick up your kit full of supplies right here. Thank you for letting me share (just about) all of my needle felted faves with you!

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Exciting News: Free Felting Workshop!

I have EXCITING NEWS!

I have been working with Sue Bunch of Back to Back Fiber Products for the last couple of weeks dreaming, plotting and planning a free online felting workshop. 

Like, what?!

That's right! It all started during one of my Wednesday night Facebook LIVE chats. I host one each Wednesday evening at 8pm CST. We cover all sorts of art teacherin' topics which are archived on my page. One evening we were chatting about Teacher Burnout and I mentioned that one way I combat burnout is by hosting craft nights at my home. I don't do it as often as I would like because, honestly, when the weekend hits I usually spend the following 48 hours in pajamas binge watching RuPaul's Drag Race and making big messes. This lead to following the idea: what if we spent the month of April, during my Facebook LIVE chats enjoying a craft night? We wouldn't have to leave our house, we could spend time with folks who get us (art teachers!) and we could learn a new craft while creating something beautiful and fun. What could be a more perfect evening than that?

So, how can you join the fun?

1. Start by "liking" my Facebook page. This is how you can stay posted and join the chats. If you've never joined a FB chat, it's quite simple. If you've liked my page then at the time when I'm LIVE, I will pop up in your feed. Don't see me? Then hop on over to my page. If you happen to miss the chat, NO WORRIES! All my chats are archived on my page. I'll also be archiving them on my YouTube channel. So you can join the craft night live or think of my page as an after pass. 

2. Purchase the supplies for the workshop. Sue and I have been working very closely to put together a kit which will proved all the supplies needed for our month-long felted workshop series. She's been super kind to keep the price economical and offer free shipping to those in the continental USA. If you are outside of the US, please contact Sue for shipping information. 

You don't have to purchase the kit to join the fun! If you already have the supplies, you don't have to purchase the kit. I'm teaching this class for free because I LOVE needle felting and craft nights. This is not a money making venture for Sue or me. We are doing this because we love felting so much and want more folks to explore this craft. So don't feel obligated to purchase. Just be sure to join the fun!

Here's a peak of what is inside each kit:

What does each kit include? All of the supplies you would need for the month of April's free felting workshops. Each Wednesday evening, for the month of April, I will be introducing you to a new felting technique. Here's a peak at our fibers schedule:

Wednesday, April 5th: Learn to Needle Felt

To kick off our craft nights, I'll share with you how to needle felt! Included in the kit, Sue has provided a little list of supplies you'll need for each session. I'll provide a more detailed description of what we'll be making right here in blog post form as we get closer to the date. Essentially,  I want to share with you the basics of this craft so that you'll feel comfortable creating whatever you like! All projects will be very open ended so that you can explore what interests you. 

Wednesday, April 12th: Intro to Wet Felting

While needle felting is one of my favorite crafts, sharing needles (ahem) with your students in the classroom might give you the shakes. Wet felting however is PERFECT for kiddos of all ages and it's super fun to explore. I'll be sharing a couple of my fave wet felting techniques on this evening.

Wednesday, April 19th: Sculpting with Fiber

Felted sculptures are so much fun! This is an area that I really want to explore more as well. I'll share ways to create basic sculptures with an armature and both wet and dry felting techniques. 

Wednesday, April 26th: Felting in Fashion

Y'all come prepared to create something fashionable! We'll be creating that wee palette hair clip I love so much and felting old sweaters into masterpieces. I'm super excited about this one. 

Are you excited yet? I know I am!

Join the chat right here tonight. If you have ANY questions, either leave them in the comments or throw them my way this evening. I plan to do an unboxing of Sue's kit so you can see what you'd be receiving. 

Interested in ordering a kit? Pop on over here! If you have any questions for Sue, feel free to reach out to her at sue@backtobackalpaca.com. 

I can't wait to have y'all over for a craft night starting in April!

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