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Hand Felted Pin Cushion

A great beginners project for needle felting by hand.

You will need the following for this project:

Size 36 or 38 felting needle
Approximately 1 ounce of roving suitable for felting (Merino, Corridale, Colonial, etc.)

  A great first project for a new needle felter to make a pincushion.  You can do this without a foam pad.  I seem to want a pin cushion in both my sewing room and in my den (and you can always give them away as gifts.)  To make an easy pin cushion, wrap some roving around itself to form a small ball using a piece of roving that is about 1/2 inch thick and 1/2 inch wide and about 6-8 inches long.  It doesn't work well to try to roll it in your hands like cookie dough...I know, I tried.  It is better to just fold it over itself a few times and then push a needle through it a few times to anchor the roving, then turn the roving and go in a perpendicular direction.  If you think about how you would wind a ball of yard, you will have the right idea.  Be careful not to needle your fingers because the felting needles are sharp.  I find that using a leather quilting thimble on the thumb and index finger is great protection.
  After each 2-3 turns, just needle the ball a few times.  When you have used all 6-8  inches of roving, you should have a small ball that you can hold between your thumb and index finger.  Now, use you needle to make the ball tighter by pushing it through the small ball, rotating the ball and then needling it again.  You will begin to feel the ball compact.  When it is tight (you will know when the needles are harder to push through the ball, then it is time to add more roving.  You can repeat the as many times as you want to make the ball larger.  You can use larger pieces of roving as the ball becomes larger.  To anchor a new piece of roving, place one end of the roving on the ball and use your needle 10-15 times to push the ends of the roving into the ball.  Then repeat the wrapping steps until your ball is the size that you want.  Once you are happy with size of the ball, you can then decorate it by felting in different colors of roving, adding in some scraps of yarn, or anything else that your heart desires.
  You can, of course, make other shapes as well.  Making an egg shaped pin cushion is a good second project because it makes you think about how to change the shape of the object.  It is also helpful for those who want to make animals, because many simple animals are made with balls and egg shapes that are attached together.
  I hope you have as much fun with needle felting as I do.
 
Copyright   D. Spanos  September 1, 2006.  All rights reserved.
You may print this pattern for your personal use only.  You may not use this pattern to teach a class or make copies for distribution without the permission of the copyright owner.  Please do not share copies of this pattern with others, rather, give them the link to this page so that they can get a copy for their own personal use.  Please send any feedback on this pattern to tryourdesigns@aol.com.