Create Hanukkah Decor With This Age-Old Technique
Use wool felt to make 3 attractive decorations and gifts this holiday season
Try some hands-on creativity this Hanukkah with a versatile textile craft that requires no gluing or sewing. Appliqué needle felting is the process by which wool yarn, felt or roving is attached to a base piece of wool fabric or felt using special felting needles. This needle felting technique is perfect for crafting festive holiday decorations and small handmade gifts, as it is fast and easy and the results are incredible. If you love texture, color and all things cozy, this wool felt craft is for you.
Tools and Supplies
- Wool crafting felt, 12-by-12-inch squares
- Cereal box cardboard (optional)
- Freezer paper (optional) or white paper
- Medium-point permanent marker
- Sharp scissors
- Needle felting mat or 2-inch-thick piece of foam
- Pins
- Needle felting pen for one or two needles
- Multineedle felting tool
- Wire
- Small wooden clothespins (optional)
- Buttons
- Rotary cutting knife and ruler (optional)
Appliqué Needle Felting in 3 Steps
1. Design your project on paper. Spend some time drawing shapes for your project (such as the dreidel, star, figure eight, candles and dot seen in the first photo) until you come up with one perfect example of each. Make a template using cereal box cardboard so that you can use that to create multiple matching shapes.
Draw the designs or trace around your template on the nonshiny side of your freezer paper using a black permanent marker. Press the freezer paper onto the felt using a dry iron. The freezer paper may or may not stick well, so if you’re cutting out small designs, secure the freezer paper to the felt with a pin. You can also draw designs on white paper and pin them to the felt as patterns.
1. Design your project on paper. Spend some time drawing shapes for your project (such as the dreidel, star, figure eight, candles and dot seen in the first photo) until you come up with one perfect example of each. Make a template using cereal box cardboard so that you can use that to create multiple matching shapes.
Draw the designs or trace around your template on the nonshiny side of your freezer paper using a black permanent marker. Press the freezer paper onto the felt using a dry iron. The freezer paper may or may not stick well, so if you’re cutting out small designs, secure the freezer paper to the felt with a pin. You can also draw designs on white paper and pin them to the felt as patterns.
2. Cut out the shapes and arrange the pieces on the felt that you’re using as a base or background. If placement is crucial, you can secure large appliqués with a pin. Just don’t forget to remove it!
3. Now it is time to get felting. In this case, needle felting is the process of “punching” barbed needles through wool felt shapes into the felt below. (See the tip below.) The barbs on the tool’s needles grab the fibers in the appliqué piece and pull them down through the base fabric. This causes the fibers of the appliqué to become tangled through the weave or fibers of the base fabric so they attach to each other. If you turn the work over, you will see the fibers coming through to the other side.
Tip: Try out your tools with small scrap pieces of wool before starting to work on your actual project. Start by placing a felting needle mat under the fabric. While holding the felting needle tool vertically, punch up and down, covering small areas as you punch. The more you punch, the more securely the appliqué piece will attach to the base. The multineedle tool is a wise investment for ease and speed. A single- or double-needle tool is needed for felting small details, like the points of stars. Clean out wool fibers as they collect.
Depending on the thickness of your base fabric and how hard you are willing to work to punch the fibers of the appliqué, you may see a blurry version of the design repeated on the back side.
To set the wool, spray with water and press with a steam iron on both sides. Be sure to use a pressing cloth or you can easily burn your precious work.
Use this process to try your hand at making the following easy, festive decorations and gifts for Hanukkah.
3. Now it is time to get felting. In this case, needle felting is the process of “punching” barbed needles through wool felt shapes into the felt below. (See the tip below.) The barbs on the tool’s needles grab the fibers in the appliqué piece and pull them down through the base fabric. This causes the fibers of the appliqué to become tangled through the weave or fibers of the base fabric so they attach to each other. If you turn the work over, you will see the fibers coming through to the other side.
Tip: Try out your tools with small scrap pieces of wool before starting to work on your actual project. Start by placing a felting needle mat under the fabric. While holding the felting needle tool vertically, punch up and down, covering small areas as you punch. The more you punch, the more securely the appliqué piece will attach to the base. The multineedle tool is a wise investment for ease and speed. A single- or double-needle tool is needed for felting small details, like the points of stars. Clean out wool fibers as they collect.
Depending on the thickness of your base fabric and how hard you are willing to work to punch the fibers of the appliqué, you may see a blurry version of the design repeated on the back side.
To set the wool, spray with water and press with a steam iron on both sides. Be sure to use a pressing cloth or you can easily burn your precious work.
Use this process to try your hand at making the following easy, festive decorations and gifts for Hanukkah.
Hanukkah Menorah Wall Hanging
Size of base: 10 by 12 inches
Applique pieces:
Size of base: 10 by 12 inches
Applique pieces:
- 2 large yellow stars, 1 large white star and 6 small yellow stars
- 8 purple candle shapes
- 1 tall purple candle shape
- 8 red candle shapes, slightly smaller than the purple ones
- 8 white flame shapes
- 1 white wick shape
- 1 purple base, 10 inches wide
- Assortment of tiny circles
1. Start the needle felting process by attaching the stars to the base. Next, add the purple candles. Felt the red rectangular strips onto the eight smaller purple holders. Add the flames and wicks. Attach the horizontal purple base piece to the bottom of the row of candles, letting half of the base piece hang below the candles, thus extending the length of the wall hanging. Fill in the top edge with tiny circles.
2. Make dreidels and appliqué stars onto them. Make number eights and add the holes by felting white circles onto the shapes.
Attach stars to the bottoms of the dreidels with wire and add circles above the eights. Hang everything together on a length of wire using small wooden clothespins.
2. Make dreidels and appliqué stars onto them. Make number eights and add the holes by felting white circles onto the shapes.
Attach stars to the bottoms of the dreidels with wire and add circles above the eights. Hang everything together on a length of wire using small wooden clothespins.
Mug Cozies
Size of base: Roughly 6½ inches long and 3 ½ inches tall, with a 2½-inch-long tab closure
Applique pieces:
Size of base: Roughly 6½ inches long and 3 ½ inches tall, with a 2½-inch-long tab closure
Applique pieces:
- 2 large white stars
- 1 dreidel or 2 dreidels and 1 large white star
1. Make a pattern for the cozy by wrapping a piece of freezer paper around the mug. Trace both the top rim and the bottom rim of the mug onto the freezer paper. Mark the left and right sides of the handle with vertical lines.
2. Remove the paper from the mug and turn the lines you’ve made into as perfect arcs as possible. Reduce the height of your pattern so that roughly three-quarters of the mug rim will be exposed, to make drinking easier.
3. Add a tab to one end of the pattern, and then affix the freezer paper pattern to the felt with a hot iron. Cut out the cozy and remove the freezer paper.
4. Cut a slit in the tab to make a buttonhole and sew a button to the cozy on the other side. Affix the appliqué pieces to the base with needle felting.
2. Remove the paper from the mug and turn the lines you’ve made into as perfect arcs as possible. Reduce the height of your pattern so that roughly three-quarters of the mug rim will be exposed, to make drinking easier.
3. Add a tab to one end of the pattern, and then affix the freezer paper pattern to the felt with a hot iron. Cut out the cozy and remove the freezer paper.
4. Cut a slit in the tab to make a buttonhole and sew a button to the cozy on the other side. Affix the appliqué pieces to the base with needle felting.
Felt Coin Purse
Size of base: 6 by 12 inches
Appliqué pieces: 1 large white star and many tiny circles cut from scraps
1. Cut a 12-by-12-inch felt square in half using a rotary cutter.
2. Cut the flap shape by folding the piece in half vertically and cutting on the diagonal from the fold to the side. Attach the appliqué pieces to the base, fold the base in half and, using a needle and thread or a sewing machine, close the two sides.
3. Attach a snap for a secure closure or simply press the fold flat using a hot iron and pressing cloth.
Size of base: 6 by 12 inches
Appliqué pieces: 1 large white star and many tiny circles cut from scraps
1. Cut a 12-by-12-inch felt square in half using a rotary cutter.
2. Cut the flap shape by folding the piece in half vertically and cutting on the diagonal from the fold to the side. Attach the appliqué pieces to the base, fold the base in half and, using a needle and thread or a sewing machine, close the two sides.
3. Attach a snap for a secure closure or simply press the fold flat using a hot iron and pressing cloth.
Tips and Safety Precautions
- Felting needles are very sharp and should not be used by children or anyone with visual limitations.
- Keep your eye on the needle at all times when it’s moving, with no exceptions.
- Always hold the needle or needle felting pen or tool so it is perpendicular to the surface you are working on (that is, the needle should be vertical). This helps prevent needle breakage and results in more efficient felting.
- Do not use needles on wet wool. This can lead to rusty needles.
- Needle felting should always be done on a felting pad or a piece of 8-by-6-inch foam that is 2 inches thick. Always place the foam on a firm surface while you’re working, never directly on your lap.
Unlike flimsy acrylic crafting felt, wool felt is thicker and stiffer, rendering it perfect for making basic shapes, such as the dreidels, stars and number eights seen here. The shaped pieces can be appliquéd to a base or hung as is. The following three crafts use wool felt squares in a variety of vibrant colors and some basic needle felting tools.