Needle Felting - Maybrie's Pillow

I received this cute invitation in the mail.

It's a baby shower!

In the past I have made charm necklaces

 for special occasions.

It's was time to do something a little different.

I really liked this invitation and thought it would

 make a wonderful keepsake pillow.

I started making this pillow by blowing up the image
of the shower invitation and copying it.
 Then I cut out all the letters,

the branch and the owls.

I then placed my cutouts on my 12x12 felt piece

so that I would have an idea of what my pillow

 was going to look like. I then cut out my felt pieces.

I like the cream background better then the blue

 for this pillow.

If you think you would like to try making a felted pillow you will need:

one 12x12 wool felt, craft felt in various colors, roving, scissors, a needle

felting mat, multi felting needle and a single felting needle.

Okay, are you ready?

Once you have your felt pieces cut out and placed on
 your felt it is time to start felting.

 Place your felt over your felting block (mat).

Start tacking your felt pieces down.

Hold your multi felting needle straight up.

Push down on your needle, let it come back up.

Continue doing this with a straight up and down motion 

until all your pieces are tacked down.

Once all your pieces are tacked down cheek your 

placement. If you do not like where they are gently pull off
 the pieces you do not like and reposition them. 

Once your pieces are where you want

them continued to felt. Turn your 12x12 felt over and felt

from the back side ( not too much) this will secure your pieces.

Turn your 12x12 felt piece back over and felt the front side again.

Now that your letters are secure it is time to bring out the

single felting needle and the roving.

Pull off a small amount of roving. With your single

needle start pushing the roving into the felt. Remember,

you are going straight up and down. If you don't you will
break your needles.

This will take a lot of time and patience. 

Have fun with it, don't stress. If you start to get tired

take a break and come back to it later.

I used three colors of roving for my leaves.
A small amount of roving goes a long way.

When you have all your roving in, turn your 12x12 felt over

and gently felt the back side. Turn the felt back to the

front and felt again. With your single needle go around 

all the edges of your design making sure they are secure.

I added a little depth to this piece by embroidering

around the letters and placing knots in the owl's eyes.

Now it is time to make your pillow.

All wrapped up and ready for delivery.