My First Needle Felting Project!

This is my first attempt at needle felting - I made this for my step-daughter's birthday. She's crazy about horses and goes to Virginia Tech (VT), so this just seemed like a natural excuse to learn a new technique!

I knitted the pillow out of Lamb's Pride Bulky (85% wool, 15% mohair) in the Orange-You-Glad and Medieval Red color way (as close as I could get to the official VT colors). I knitted the front and back of the pillow separately so they would dry faster and so it would have the same type of edging all the way around the pillow.

I fluffed out some of the Medieval Red yarn to make bunches of fiber. I traced a running horse on a file card and cut it out to make a stencil for needle felting the horse shape onto the pillow. I then needle felted the design onto the pillow front. I used craft sticks to hold the fiber in place as the felting needles are extremely sharp barbed needles. (I'm glad I did because at one point, I stuck one of the needles through one of the wooden craft sticks!!!)

Finally, I blanket stitched around the sides of the pillow to close up all the sides and stuffed a pillow form inside. It was VERY difficult to get my yarn needle through the felted pillow, so I stabbed one of my metal knitting needles through both thicknesses of felt to "prepare" it for my yarn needle. I still managed to suffer sore fingers for a few days afterwards.....probably because I blanket stitched an entire side without "preparing" the holes! Another lesson learned! I was quite pleased with how this turned out and plan to do more needle felting - it's a great way to decorate/embellish felted bags!