Bunny needle felt-along


Supplies:

- felting needle (any size is fine, I prefer 38 triangle myself)

- foam to felt on (I have heard some people use a pillow, if you will, I suggest putting the pillow on top of something hard so that if you felt in your lap you wouldn't poke your leg)

- wool in bunny color (I use wool batting for the inside because it is cheaper and roving for the outside, fairy fleece works too; you can also do the inside out of roving, use either natural (cheaper than colors!) or some color you don't care about. Or you can just make it all out of bunny color)



I start by looking at all the images I have of felted bunnies – maybe there is one that looks like I want my creation to look like. Here is a link to the compilation of bunny images (these are all found in the internet, I save pics for inspiration).


First take a piece of wool and roll it into a roundish blob. It is up to you how big you want the bunny to be, the first blob is going to be the body. When you think of size remember that felt compacts a lot, your original blob will reduce in size by at least a half, if you make a very firm bunny then even more than a half.






Felt the blob until it holds nicely together and it looks like an oval rather than a blob.





Now roll a smaller roundish blob for the head. Felt it until the same firmness as the body.






Tear pieces of fleece for the legs. It is easier to have four leg sized pieces of fleece waiting. If you make just one leg from start to finish then you won't remember how much fleece you started with and the next leg might come out much bigger. Ask me how I know ;)
 


Roll leg pieces into little log shapes with one end rounded. Leave the other end fuzzy, you will use it to attach the leg to the bunny.





Repeat on the rest of the legs.



Now felt the head and body together. Try to poke so that the needle goes in from the head part and into the body. Do this all around the head. The needle should go in at an angle. Try all kinds of angles to see what is easier to do for you. Go round the head a few times to make sure it is well attached.







Attach legs in the same way. 










The bunny is starting to take shape but doesn't look quite like a bunny yet – it still needs skin. If you have used the bunny color from the beginning then skip the wrapping part and just felt the bunny body and legs until the fleece is nice firm and not too fuzzy





Take some bunny colored fleece (or roving) and wrap it around the head. Needle over it. If some part of the head doesn't get all the way covered, i.e. Some undercolor shows through, then just take a small piece of fleece and needle it over the bare spot. Don't worry about the neck yet.









There is a bit of a "bald" spot, I add more fleece.








Wrap the legs in the same way.















One leg done!









Two legs done! Keep wrapping, I skipped a few pictures.
While you needle the "fur" onto the "skin" do not poke through like this. It makes the white fibers of the body show amidst the fur. Either poke at an angle or do not poke so deep that the needle would come through.








Four legs done!



Take a longish piece of roving and put it across the bunny's back. Needle the back. Turn bunny and needle the side, turn again and needle a bit on the stomach, then change the direction of the roving and cover the neck. If your roving piece is too short to reach the neck just take a new piece. Use the other end of the roving to cover the bottom of the bunny.



















Check your bunny: are there any spots where the “skin” shows through? Take small pieces of roving and cover them. It is easier to take only small bits of roving even if you have a large “bald” spot, it is much harder to needle a thick wad of roving down so that it would blend in.















Now make the ears. Take two longish thin pieces of roving. 



Fold them in half. Needle over them. They will become somewhat embedded in the foam.





Turn them around and fold the sides to the center. Needle to attach.







Now comes the tricky part. Hold the ear in your hand and needle itso that the needle is almost parallel to the ear. This reduces the fuzz.




My ears look a bit different size on the picture, irl they are more uniform.



Attach ears to the head.




 
Fold extra fleece from the ears under the chin.




Take a little piece of roving and roll it up for tail.




Attach one end to the bottom of the bunny.




Then attach the other. Needle around the tail.




Needle around and over your bunny until it is as firm as you like. Some people make quite soft needle feltings, some make really hard. If you keep felting it can become really firm. If you have any bald spots still, cover them now.





The bunny is felted.



I prefer to sew on the eyes with embroidery floss. It is possible to take tiny bits of eye colored roving and needle the eyes but in my experience, especially with smaller animals, the result is not as nice as I would like.


Due to a child that is awake this bunny does not have eyes yet.