Journal · 2018-04-15
Needle Felting Explained: How much wool do I need for needle felting????
How much wool do I need for needle felting? It’s a question I get asked often. Wool is typically sold by the ounce – and since I primarily use wool batting (rather than roving) I’ll talk about that.
An ounce of lofty wool batting will fill a 2 cup measuring container.
Depending on how firm you felt, this ounce of wool can stay nearly this size with very loose style of felting or can be felted down into the size of a walnut with enough hours of jabbing..
For my projects and my style of felting, a 12″ doll typically weighs about 3-5 oz.
Since my dolls are solid needle felted wool (no wire armatures or sewn fabric clothing) that’s how much wool I need for needle felting a doll!
The bulk of my dolls are the core parts that I felt with un-dyed wool batting. I use about 2 ounces for that.
And then I can plan to use another 1-2 ounces of a skin colored wool. The remaining weight comes from the wool I use for clothing and the wool I use for hair and accessories.
For a 3″ Soft Sculpted Pixie, it takes less than an ounce of wool!
also, for smaller projects I don’t use the undyed wool for the core parts – I just use the dyed wool. It’s just easier.
I hope this gives you some idea of where to start when asking yourself “how much wool do I need for needle felting?”