Needle felting or punching is a great way to quickly and easily embellish any fabric project like handbags, book covers, sweaters, pillows, apparel and especially costumes. Some cultures even embellish their homes (yurts) with felt. Old-fashioned wet felting was messy and took a long time to finish. But that's all changed with needle felting.

What is needle felting?

Needle felting or needle punching uses a barbed needle to mesh different layers of fabric or fiber together into one piece. You stab the needle through all the layers of material over and over again. The barbs cause the fibers to tangle and eventually they are so tangled that the layers become one piece of fabric. (Beware, these needles are extremely sharp! This is not a kids' project.)

Because you can embellish with wool roving, yarn, ribbon, silk fabric, and lots of other materials, needle felting offers a unique avenue for incredible creativity. The fibers mingle to create new color and texture combinations that simply cannot be achieved with embroidery, applique, or any other kind of needlework. It doesn't require thread, a bobbin, or any previous sewing experience. And it takes only seconds to learn this simple technique.

What tools do you need for needle felting?

This type of embellishment can be done by hand using a special felting tool that holds several needles at a time. The needles vary by weight and shape depending on the type of materials you're using. Silk requires a different needle than wool, etc. The problem with felting by hand is it takes a long time and the repetitive stress on your fingers and wrists can aggravate (or even cause) carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis. I remember making a medieval-style coat for my daughter with lots of large needle felted flowers. It was beautiful, but my hands hurt for weeks afterwards.

Considering that the process involves stabbing a needle up and down through several layers of fiber and fabric, a needle felting machine just makes more sense. A machine can work much faster and more evenly than you can by hand, and you don't hurt afterward. Best of all, it's easy! You just move the fabric freely under the needles and watch your design come to life.

Here's a video of hand needle felting to show you how it's done. This method would work fine for small embellishments or thin borders.


Here's a video of needle felting by machine. If you're going to create large appliques or embellish lots of surface area on a costume, this really is a great time saver.


Want to learn more about needle felting by machine? The Janome FM725 is a fabulous, reasonably priced model.

Check it out on Amazon.com