How to Felt Heart Wall Hangings - Red Ted Art

Happy New Year! And with the new year, the 31 Day of LOVE series is back. The 31 Days of Love series is indeed becoming a tradition for sharing ideas from my blogging friends that live all over the world. The theme is “love”… ready for Valentine’s Day, however, as you will see, these are not JUST Valentine’s Day Decorations or Valentines Crafts for Kids, but lovely heart crafts that you can make and enjoy all year round. Today, I am welcoming Bonnie from Make it You Own, who kicks off the series with her great “how to felt heart wall hangings“!!! We have looked at needle felting before, and this is a wonderful new project for beginner to have a go at!

Over to Bonnie!

NEEDLE FELTED HEART WALL HANGINGS

For Valentine’s Day we like to add something special and handmade to the gifts for the kids’ teachers. These felted heart wall hangings would also look beautiful on Grandma and Grandpa’s wall! Valentine’s day for us, is a day of gratitude, celebrating the positive in people and your relationship with them- whether it be your friends, classmates, teacher, a neighbour or family members.

Needle Felting – Materials

NOTE: This list of needle felting materials contains amazon affiliate links for your convenience. Should you choose to purchase via these links Red Ted Art will earn a small commission which goes towards the upkeep of this website!

Felted wool squares or hearts (we got ours at Michaels craft store here in Canada, but have also purchased them online. US/ UK/ Canada)
Roving wool (US/ UK/ Canada)
Felting needle tool (this particular one is excellent for children as it has a protective cover US/ UK/ Canada)
Felting mat (US/ UK/ Canada)
Wire
Beads

How to Felt Heart Wall Hangings – Directions

Plan and sketch out your ideas for your heart on a piece of paper if you like before hand. This is an activity that can appeal to various age groups. Our youngest went with more abstract designs and faces, our daughter with more concrete creations such as the cat and our eldest with letters and more complex designs such as the flower.

Lay your wool heart (you could cut one out of a felt square by folding it in half, using fabric scissors) on your felting mat. The mat will allow you to push through the fibres of your roving wool through your felt square. Place the part where you would like to start your design in the centre of the mat.

Unroll your roving wool and take off a small piece. Using your hands, gently bend the wool into the shape that you would like. Lay it in that shape on your heart and then begin to compress the wool with your needling tool. The tool that we suggested is great for kids as it has that protective casing (we used them for a large age range). The best way to get the fibres to blend together (and to not accidentally break a needle) is to slowly work in a straight up and down motion. You are going to want to do this until you see the fibres “meld” together. Once you see this in the section that you are working on, move to another area, making sure that you shift your heart on your mat, so that the piece you want to work on is right in the centre.

Once your heart is done we then cut a piece of wire to form a handle. Push one end of the wire through the front of your design. We left about a 5 cm/2 inch tail that we then wove around the longer portion of the wire, simply by lining them up together and twisting. We then covered the twisted portion with the beads, creating a handle and then doing the same on the opposite end, tucking the twisted part under the beads.

Give your heart to a special person!

Purpose

Learning how to work with different types of materials and tools.
Expressing gratitude.

Safety Notes

Use scissors and your felting needle with care and direct, adult supervision.
Cord, yarn, wire etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
Beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.