Needle felting is a craft that isn’t done nearly enough! Needle felting is perfect for all ages, takes little materials to get started, and you can make a not only flat items but dimensional things too. Today I wanted to share a fun gift idea Needle Felted wool socks.
I know what you’re thinking… who wants socks for a gift? But these ones are sooo cute (and cozy) they’ll be begging for a pair!
These socks will cost you only a few dollars and can be made in about the time it takes you to get through a TV show!
What you’ll need
- Wool socks (cotton works too)
- Felting needle (The needle pictured is a bit nicer than standard but you can buy a single needle for a few dollars)
- Roving wool
- Needle Mat, Bristle brush or a piece of thick foam (I use a shoe brush)
* You can find all these needle felting supplies at Michaels
How to Needle Felt
If you’ve never needle felted before this is a great beginner project. If you decide it isn’t the craft for you you’ll only be out a few dollars (but I doubt it, its so easy to do you’ll love it).
- Gather your supplies.
- Insert the brush or styrofoam into the sock (this is so you have something for the needle to poke into).
- Rip off two small balls of roving, shape them into loose ovals with your fingers.
- Lay the ovals together to form a heart, where you’d like them to be placed on the sock.
- Begin to poke the wool with the felting needle.
- Poke, poke, poke, and then poke some more. As you poke the wool fibres are becoming intertwined with those of the sock.
- When the hearts becomes firm you are ready to move onto the next one.
- Add as many hearts as you like, or maybe an monogram! If your shaping skills aren’t quite up to snuff, you can also lay a cookie cutter onto the sock and fill it with wool to maintain a shape, you can see an example of this method on Honestly WTF.
- Viola, cute and easy gift idea for any age!
Can you believe how easy that was?! You have to try it!
Check out these other great needle felting tutorials for more project ideas and tips-
- Introduction to Needle Felting ,
- Fiona Duthie (the mother load of needle felting tutorials and ideas),
- Martha’s Sweet needle Felted Penguin.
Today lots of other awesome Canadian bloggers are sharing some fun handmade holiday gift ideas too, check out what they have created by following the hashtag
#CDNHandmadeHoliday
I hope you add these needle felted wool socks to your must make list, plus find some other fun, easy and inexpensive handmade gifts to add to your list this year!
You might also like these fun handmade gift ideas
Children’s Purse- Free Pattern
Love, love, LOVE these!!!
V these are the greatest!! What a fantastic (and easy) DIY!
These are so sweet. I’ve never tried needle felting but you make it look so easy, and with such great results.
These are adorable and yes you make it look easy and tempting to try!!
This is brilliant Virginia! Not only would this be fun to make but this craft really adds a special touch to blah looking wool socks. Your tutorial made this technique very doable! Thank you!
What a sweet touch that adds, Virginia! Love it! Would make such nice gifts or stocking stuffers! I was wondering I’d you need any crochet (or knitting) experience to make that beginner cowl? Love it too!
OK I think everyone on my list is getting a pair of those! Seriously adorable. And I really like the idea of felting on purpose, rather than accidentally like I did the other day when I washed some wool scarves 🙂
I’ve never felted anything, but you make it look so easy, Virginia! I love these socks – they’re cute, but still look so warm!
I LOVE this so much! This is the tip of the iceberg really. A beautiful felted heart on a wool sweater, sky is the limit! What a wonderful gift and I would love these socks under my tree.
Thanks Laurie, You can felt anything, I really should add it to more things! Happy Holidays
Such a great gift idea for my tween daughter to make for her friends. Simple and lovely.
Very cute, very cute!! They would make a great gift too, thoughtful!
Thanks Heather, I’ve got a few pairs on my give list this year!
Okay…you have shown me that I might actually be able to do this. Even though I am DIY challenged. Thank you! They are awesome.
There’s been a lot of interest in Needlefelting here in the Uk since a crafting TV programme by Kirstie Allsopp featured it quite a bit. It’s still on my “to do ” list at the moment but it does look really easy and fun.
And everyone LOVES socks as a present, especially when they are super cute ones (have you read Harry Potter? – socks are Dumbeldore’s most wanted gift!!!)
Those are so cute! Going to pull out my roving now. 😉
How fun! They look both cozy and adorable! These are being featured at our weekly link party! http://www.thelifeofjenniferdawn.com/2015/12/8-things-to-make-this-winter-and-little.html