It’s only December 8th but I feel like Christmas is breathing down my neck. In an effort to ramp up my holiday home decor, I came up with this needle-felted string o’ Christmas lights. We don’t have a tree yet… But now we have adorable lights.
This is a great beginner needle-felting project. It’s quick and only requires a few different colors of wool roving, a ball of yarn in any dark color (to look wire-like) and a felting needle and pad.
To start on my lights, I pulled out my box of roving and selected the colors I felt were most light-like.
Then, I wrapped a length of roving, about 5 inches long, around two fingers, rolling it up (img. 1). I set the ball down on my pad, inserted my felting needle all over the ball to tack it down, and then concentrated repeated pokes around one tip of the ball, to begin forming a tapered look (img. 2). When my ball began to resemble a Christmas light shape, I rolled it up in my fingers to further mat the fibers (img. 3 & 4), but also to check that the density of the light was consistent throughout the piece. Lastly, I took a pair of sharp scissors, and shaved off the excess fuzz from my light (img. 5). Note: You can leave the top of your bulb a little fuzzy since that’s where you will be attaching your yarn. The extra fuzz provides a nice mass of fibers for your needle to grab onto while attaching the yarn to the woolen light bulb.
When I’d completed the first woolly bulb, (about 3-7 minutes of poking/trimming etc. depending on the type of wool roving you are using) I repeated the technique with several other colors of roving.
When I had about a dozen light bulbs felted and trimmed, I grabbed my ball of yarn. I measured out about twelve inches, and then selected a small (inch-long) segment of yarn to coil around the top of one of my needle-felted bulbs. By leaving a foot of slack at the ends of your light garland, you allow yourself enough yarn to tie your garland up.
After wrapping the coil of yarn around the top of the bulb, I tacked it down with the needle; poking it about 30 or 40 times.
Once the first coil was secured to the woolly bulb, I wrapped the yarn around the top a couple more times, leaving a small raised section of yarn to mimic the look of the Christmas light connector piece. Using my barbed needle, I tacked the second coil of yarn down until it was secure and the yarn entry and exit points were opposite each other.
I measured out about 10 inches from the first bulb, and added my next colorful bulb to the yarn wire in the same way. Before I knew it, I had a length of Needle-Felted Christmas Lights that could be draped across a tree (if you’ve got one!), window sill, or you know, a Papier-mâchéd deer head. Presto! Easy Christmas cheer, right?
But wait, there’s more!! I will be hosting a very special pre-Christmas GIVE-AWAY THIS SATURDAY where you can win this needle felted Christmas Light Garland in addition to a few other holiday crafts I’m working on. Check back on Saturday when I will have the complete list of goodies I’m giving away and details on how you can win!
THIS COULD BE YOUR HOLIDAY WINDOW!*
*Glass, drapes and curtain rod not included.
Stay tuned!!
Aaahh I LOVE these! What a brilliant idea! No fear of fire starting from these babies!
Where is that deer head from? I totally love this one!
These are so gorgeous, what an excellent idea!
XX Nicole
My Dude, this is SERIOUSLY awesome!!!!!!! Very very pretty! Love it!
xoxo
J