Fashion

FASHION DIY: Needle Felting Heart Elbow Patches

By Gurlinterrupted | July 19, 2013

I stumbled (literally – I love ‘Stumbleupon.com’) across this Heart Elbow Patch DIY tutorial by Erica of ‘honestlyWTF’ a couple of years ago and I’m determined to do this with one of my jumpers before winter comes to an end. I mean hey – all it entails is repeatedly stabbing a needle up and down into a piece of fabric, heck yes I can do that. Here’s Erica’s ‘how to’ and exactly; what I plan to do myself this weekend!

Here’s what you’ll need (most of which you can get from Spotlight or The Warehouse)

wool sweater
36 gage felting needle
piece of dense foam cut to size (or a needle mat)
some wool roving
a 3” (or thereabouts) cookie cutter
an iron

With the sweater on, place a piece of tape about half an inch below the elbow. Do the same with the opposite elbow. Remove the sweater and insert the foam block into one of the sleeves.

Align and centre the bottom of the cookie cutter along the top of the tape. Pinch off a few tufts of wool roving.

Fill the cutter, spreading out the wool fibres evenly.

At the base of all felting needles are tiny, sharp burrs, which grab and interlock the wool fibres. While holding the needle vertically, repeatedly stab it into the wool roving and through the sweater. I found it easier to work around the outer perimeter of the cutter first and then work my way inwards. Important tip: To prevent breaking the needle, always keep the needle upright and never at an angle. And don’t forget to pay careful attention to your fingers while felting as the needle is extremely sharp!