needle felted leaves

How to make beautiful needle-felted Autumn leaves

  • Gather supplies
  • Fill leaf cookie cutter with felting wool
  • Jab felting wool all over with needle
  • Add embellishments

Read on for more details.

This easy needle felting project is perfect for children to do on a rainy Autumn afternoon and the finished piece will make a beautiful seasonal decoration for your home.

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
fluttering from the Autumn tree.”

Emily Bronte

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I just love the Autumn.

I love the crisp mornings, the mellow golden sunlight and the beautiful leaf colours that adorn the trees and carpet the ground.

I also love the cosiness of Autumn – coming home to the warm nest of home, candles, twinkly lights and the chance to indulge in Autumnal crafts.

Last year we made some beautiful needle-felted leaves. And not only are they beautiful, but they are also really easy to make! Even my then 6 year old was able to join in making these.

So I thought I would share with you how to make them.

Gather your needle felting supplies

You can buy each item separately or buy a needle felting kit which contains a good selection of needles, handles, finger protectors and wool. Whatever you choose, I would recommend buying an extra pack of needles as they can break quite easily: it is very frustrating if your needle snaps when you are not quite finished and you don’t have a spare one.

. . . and create!

  1. Place the cookie cutter on top of the felting sponge/block.
  2. Then fill the cookie cutter with the felting wool. Choose either one colour or mix together 2 or more colours. You can mix colours by layering them on top of each other or pulling them apart and ‘weaving’ them back together.
  3. Next jab the felting needle into the wool lots of times in the same area as well as all over the leaf. Pay particular attention to the edges of the leaf so that they are bound together tightly.
  4. When you are ready to add more details such as veins then pull out a very thin strand of felting wool and lay it over the part of the leaf where you want it and carefully push the needle over the top. Make sure that you bind it well to the leaf by jabbing enough.

Top Tips for successful needle felting

  • You will need to jab the same area lots of times to get the felt to ‘knot’ up and go thicker/ more solid. The needles have tiny barbs on them which help to knot up the wool. The more you push the needle through the more knotted and dense your leaf will become.
  • You can alter the colours and thickness of your leaves by adding more felting wool as you go.
  • Periodically lift the leaf away from the needle felting block, turn over and needle felt on the other side, to keep both sides tidy and avoid it becoming part of the block!
  • With children it is a good idea for them to wear a finger protector so that they don’t accidentally jab themselves.
  • Supervise younger children appropriately – the needles are very sharp.

Transform

Once you have made your needle felted leaves you can use them to make a garland or a mobile, attach them to a headband or hat, or simply scatter them on your dining or nature table as a decoration.

Try some other seasonal crafts

If you liked this, then you will probably love my Easy Button Flower Sewing craft activity, which not only looks beautiful, but is relly easy to do!