Needle Felted Christmas Stockings

This year I added some new designs to my stable of needle felted Christmas Stockings. I detailed the process of making them here.

The stocking above is a gift for a new baby.

Needle felting can be done on many fabrics. These stockings are made of wool felt, which doesn't ravel and is very easy to work with.

The Poinsettia Design is my own - I free cut the petals and leaves to get a primitive look.

I lay them on the felt until the design pleases me, and then felt it down with my machine.

After that I sew them together. I have a bunch more to show you later this week.
I always get new ideas to try whenever I make them.

Hunkered Down

Image of Sandy courtesy NOAA/National Weather Service
(A government agency that saves thousand of lives daily - just sayin')

It's pouring rain and windy; it's only a matter of time until the power goes out, probably sometime tonight. The utilities say that due to safety issues that they will not be able to even start getting it back on until Wednesday. If we're lucky.

I have my embroidery and needle felting supplies at hand to work on. We have food, water, batteries and cat food. Plenty of books and flashlights.
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Batten down the hatches, we're in for a rough night, say the eerily cheerful weather TV people.

Needle Felted Christmas Stockings

Sometimes when I get an idea, I have to stop everything and try it out. I made these Needle Felted Christmas stockings this week, even though I was working on a fall top. But when inspiration strikes, I've learned that I need to take advantage of the ideas when they are fresh.
The body of the stocking and the cuff are loosely based on McCall's 2991, but the design is all mine.
Here is the red side:

These are constructed of wool blend felt , which is very easy to work with and a dream to needle felt applique.
I cut the poinsettias freehand and laid the petals on until I had a pleasing design:

Then I needle felted them down with my machine, the way I did the polka dot stocking:

Then I sewed the stockings together normally. Felt does not fray, so it is a very quick process. Don't they look beautiful?
If you'd like to work with wool blend felt, I have two sets of felt sheets in assorted colors available on my website here.

I took my pictures and put away my supplies. When I came back to cut out my next stocking, the cutting board had been taken over by Rebel Forces:

They are so much help!

New Favorite Thing

Mr. Hunting Creek gave me a needle felting machine for my birthday, after I had expressed a desire for one after seeing an article about them in one of my magazines. He ordered it ahead of time, which should go down in some kind of husband present-giving hall of fame. He’s come so far from the bicycle pump of our first year of marriage! (When I asked, somewhat pointedly, why he had given me a bicycle pump out of the world of gift giving opportunities, he replied, simply, “Yours was broken, so I thought you needed one.” He can be a bit pragmatic)
After playing with it last week, I had one of those epiphanies that has to be followed: Needle felted Christmas stockings. Needle Felting is my new Favorite Thing. Felt is awesome, and my machine is even awesomer.
There are handheld felting needles, but the machine makes it easy enough for a complete neophyte to use. I bought some wool-blend felt and started messing around.
I happened to see a ball of yarn on top of my Wall o’ Fabric. (I had hidden it there to keep the cats away from it. It’s true, they do love to unroll yarn. Unroll all of it. Down, down the stairs and around the chair legs...but I digress.) I needle-felted the yarn on top of the denim blue felt. See top picture. It looked awesome. I then decided to do a Dr Seuessian inspired dots and shapes for the other side.

Felt will stick to felt, so it is easy to lightly tack the appliques where I want them, then go back and really felt them down. Here's the back, so you can see the fibers have meshed and attached the applique firmly. 

Here are both finished sides:

Here is the finished stocking:

This felting is fun, and easy and nothing is a mistake. My favorite kind of art. Hardly any learning curve, and the results are amazing. This weekend I’ll go looking at the thrift store for some wool sweaters to felt. Then I have plans for it. Serious plans.
Have you needle-felted anything yet?