Monday, September 11, 2017

Needle Felted Pumpkins

Want to make some needle felted pumpkins? 
Let us help you get started!

Needle felted pumpkins are a great beginner project and we have a couple of video tutorials on how to make pumpkins. We have recently added some fun House Carded Pumpkin Batts and coordinating Dyed Sheep Curls to our website for your pumpkin felting pleasure.

This blog post is meant to help guide you to finding the right Sarafina™ wool products to make beautiful pumpkins.

If you are just starting out, try starting with our Sarafina™ Pumpkin Tutorial Video and Pumpkin Supply Pack.
Sarafina™ Pumpkin Supply Pack
In addition to the supply pack, you will need a needle felting surface like our Stabbit (that you fill with 3 pounds of uncooked rice) and needle felting needles.

Helpful tools to have if you want to do more, but aren't necessary to complete the project:
Pen Tool, Punch Tool, Sarafina™ Zullitool.
Toothpicks, bamboo skewers, pencils are always good to have on hand for wool wrapping.
See our Tools and Hardware page to shop for lots of fun tools.

Once you feel comfortable with making the basic pumpkin shape, and you want to expand your pumpkin palette, watch the Needle Felted Pumpkin Bonus Material Video and look at these next photos will help you pick out some of our coordinating batts, locks and core wool to be more successful with your project.


Links will follow below.

Sarafina™Needle Felted Sleepy Mouse among the Needle Felted Pumpkins.
Sarafina™ DeVine Curls with the Pumpkin Patch Batts
Sarafina™ Pumpkin Patch Curls with Pumpkin Patch Batts
Sarafina™ Squash Blossom Curls with Pumpkin Patch Batts
Sarafina™Twilight Tendrils Curls with Pumpkin Patch Batts

The above house carded Pumpkin Patch batts can be found in our website shop:
Shop Supplies - Fiber - House Carded


Remember that the Vine Pumpkin Patch Batt makes a great pumpkin stem color!

The above Pumpkin Curl Locks can be found:
Shop Supplies - Fiber - Specialty Fibers


Please keep in mind that the hand dyed sheep curls that you receive may vary slightly from the photos due to the nature of sheep fleeces being from individual animals, and dye variations in the dye pot, but they will in these palettes.

Next are suggested core wools that coordinate with the Sarafina™ Pumpkin Patch Batts.
You can buy most of these core wools in Sampler Packs to try them out. If you want the most for your money, consider buying the individual 2oz or 4oz balls of core wool.

Sarafina™ Pumpkin Chunky Core with the Harvest Moon Batt and Pumpkin Patch Curls

For the most uniform color and fast success, try to match a core wool with a batt or top coat color that will cover it.
If you want a challenge, try a core wool underneath that is darker or lighter for a different tone, knowing you will probably use more top coat or batt to cover the core wool.

Sarafina™ Harvest Moon Pumpkin Batt (front) with Pumpkin Chunky Core (left middle),
Copper Chunky Core (right middle), and Cinnamon Dyed Core (top).

Sarafina™ Blue Moon Pumpkin Batt (front)
with Gray Chunky Core (left) and Denim Dyed Core (right).

Sarafina™ Full Moon Pumpkin Batt (front)
with Off White Chunky (left) and Funky Chunky Core (right).

Sarafina™ Meteor Shower Batt (front)
with Brown Chunky Core (left) and Black Dyed Core (right).

And if you like to coordinate your home decor with the season, consider making pumpkins that can decorate your house through the winter with Snow Hare or Snow White (sparkle) batts.
Add any color locks that make you happy!

Sarafina™ Snow Hare (left front) and Snow White Sparkle (front right) Batts
with Off White Chunky Core (back).
We have many core wools to choose from:
Shop Supplies - Fiber - Core Wool

If you want to try the different core wools in a sampler, we suggest starting here for pumpkins:

Please remember too that this is just a starting point. There are so many possibilities if you want to try to make your own color palettes.

Notice the magenta pink pumpkin in the photo towards the top of this post?
We took our Berries Top Coat Sampler and blended the 4 colors together (you can use hand carders to start (watch video), but if you become addicted to blending your own colors, you may want to invest in a drum carder). Check out all of our Roving and Top Coats for colors that you can blend or use as is for your pumpkin body and stem colors.

Overwhelmed yet? Here is a quick check list to make a needle felted pumpkin:
Video Tutorial
Needle Felting Surface and Needle Felting Needles.
(Pen and Punch tools are handy).
Pumpkin Supply Pack 
OR
Core Wool for the body.
Yarn to make segments.
Top Coat or Batt for Pumpkin color.
Top Coat or Batt for Stem color.
Dyed or Natural Sheep Curls.
(Wire: pipe cleaners, fabric coated wire, Tacky Wrap Wire or Tacky Wrap Sticky Bun)
If you are making faces, have a toothpick and small bamboo skewer on hand.

Don't forget to check out the Pumpkin Tutorial Bonus Material video for more pumpkin ideas!

Have fun and show us your pumpkins on our Sarafina Felting Fanfare Facebook Group!

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