How to Make Needle Felted Hearts
Learn how to make these cute needle felted hearts for a fun Valentine’s Day decoration and easy felting craft for kids!
Learning how to make felt hearts is a great beginner felting project for kids or adults.
This was my daughters first needle felting project and it was a great project to learn the basics of felting! You will need a few simple felting supplies to get started, but once you discover how therapeutic felting can be I’m sure you will use them again and again!
I homeschool my daughter who is in kindergarten using the Charlotte Mason homeschool method where kids are encourage to learn simple handicrafts and create useful projects.
This was one of the first handicrafts we have incorporated into our lessons and it was a perfect beginner project for her! She loved playing with the wool hearts and seeing how she could transform the wool roving into something beautiful.
The heart-shaped cookie cutters also helped so much in creating the basic shape of our wool hearts. I would definitely recommend using a metal cookie cutter for beginners!
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Materials
- Felting needle
- Heart shape cookie cutter
- Felting mat
- Wool roving – I bought my roving off of etsy a long time ago, so this isn’t exactly what I used, but it looks like a great option with many fun colors!
- Cut proof gloves (if you are working with younger kids or if it’s your child’s first time felting, these gloves will protect their little hands from the sharp needle in case they lose focus or go out of the cookie cutter on accident. My 4 year old attempted to make her own felted hearts as well, but needed a lot of help staying focused and we will use these gloves next time so she can do it more independently!)
How to Make DIY Needle Felted Hearts
First start by gently tugging your roving apart until it is not too thick and 3-4 times larger than your heart cookie cutter.
Take your piece of wool and layer it into your cookie cutter. It shouldn’t be filled too tightly, but if it’s up to the top of your cookie cutter that’s okay and it will become less full after felting for a few minutes. You can always add more roving later if you want your hearts to be thicker.
Using your felting needle poke at a 90 degree angle all over the roving until it begins to feel compact and a little harder to push through. You don’t need to push your needle all the way down, just until you feel it hit the mat.
Once the first side of your heart is feeling more firm, peel your heart gently from the mat and flip over your cookie cutter to do the same thing on the back of your heart.
After both sides are compact you can take the heart out of the cookie cutter and go around the edges of your heart to give it a more defined shape.
Poking your heart at an angle around the sides will create a more rounded edge for your heart. Poking at an angle on the top of your heart will smooth out any unwanted holes or bumps as well.
After your edges are complete and the loose fibers have been smoothed out your cute little hearts are complete!
We strung ours together with some gold thread to make a heart garland for Valentine’s Day. They are also cute sitting out on your table or for loose play pieces for your kids!
Tips for Making Wool Felt Hearts
- If you notice your finished heart has small holes, you can use a finer felting needle to smooth out your heart. You can also try going over the heart with more shallow pokes at an angle to smooth out your finished hearts.
- When you use your roving try to pull it apart instead of cutting it with scissors. This leaves the fibers more in tact and can make it easier to use.
I hope you enjoyed this fun and simple felting craft! If you make your own, we would love to hear in the comments how you use them or tag us on facebook or instagram @foxfarmhome with a picture!
Happy felting!
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