Easter will be here before we know it and these easy to make felted Easter Eggs would be perfect to display for the coming holiday.
Have you ever tried felting?
It is surprisingly easy to do, requires very few supplies and the creations are only limitted by your imagination! A few years ago I created several felt pumpkins for my entryway and that post is still getting pinned. I just love how they turned out. I display them every year.
I have always wanted to start a collection of Easter Eggs to display every year and I have a few half-finished knit eggs in my WIP pile. This year though, I wanted to take a stab (pardon the pun!) at making a few felt Easter Eggs. Luckily they take less time to knit. The perfect project for a rainy day.
First you will need a few supplies:
- Plain roving wool
- colored roving wool
- felting needle (barbed)
- thick foam for shaping
I like to buy a large bag of plain white wool for making the base of my shapes. It usually costs less than buying all dyed or colored wool. I can add a layer of colored wool over the top. But, feel free to use the wool you can find, or have on hand.
I buy smaller balls of colored wool, depending on the project. I found these primary colored roving wool on Amazon. You can also find a variety of sellers on Etsy.
Then you need to get yourself a felting needle.
Felting needles can be a little intimidating! They are very long, tapered and sharp.
If you look closely at the tip you can see the little barbs. This helps to pull wool into the center as it is jabbed. I have gone through several different needles and simple is best for me. Unfortunately I have broken the tips off of more expensive needles.
Used properly, they are quite safe. Even my kids enjoy felting. Just make sure your needle never gets too close to your hand during shaping.
Begin with a big handful of roving wool. It will compact down a lot as you shape it. For one egg, I used a large handful of wool. The nice thing about felting is you can always add or take away wool until you achieve the size and shape you want.
I press the wool together with one hand and gently jab with the other. I will fold and roll the wool into the desired shape as I make controlled jabs until the object starts to shape up.
Once I had the basic egg shape, I could jab and turn the egg to get a more compact and smooth shape.
To decorate the white eggs, I took small amounts of colored wool and layed them over the egg. Then slowly and deliberately jabbed them in place.
Use the needle to pull any loose fibers into place, or stretch them with the needle tip to fill an area. If you don't like the placement, just pull the colored fibers off the egg. It is that easy.
For my multi-colored banded egg, I layered on multi-colored roving yarn and then layered it with a little more white, then another layer of colored wool till I achieved the desired pattern.
On another egg, I put created red flowers and green leaves.
In the future I would love to try stencils to achieve patterns around the eggs. Experiment and let me know what works for you. If you make your own felt Easter Eggs, leave a link below, I would love to come check them out.
For more craft ideas, visit a few of my favorite bloggers:
