Needle Felt Gruffalo

I bought a needle felting starter kit from a friend of mine, because I had an idea to try and create a Gruffalo character using felt. Bearing in mind that I had never used needle felt before, I went ahead & threw myself right in at the deep end. I had no idea just exactly how you were supposed to start making a sculpture, so I started with the body shape & hoped for the best.

I first made his tummy, his legs, and his tail

I used brown wool for his body, legs and arms, and was starting to get a feel for the process. By the time I got to the head, I decided I would have a go at using cushion stuffing (that fluffy polyester stuff) to make the basic shape & then felt the coloured wool onto it, I decided that this gave it a much firmer texture & did not use up as much wool.

I added all the small details to his head, such as eyes, horns & poisonous wart, then felted the head to the body & added his arms. The last details added were claws and his purple prickles all over his back.

I was more than a little bit chuffed with the finished item! I love him!!! Not bad for a first attempt!!!

I imagine that there will be professional needle felters cringing when they see this, as I probably broke every rule in the book, and just made it up as I went along. But I think that is one of the joys of this fabulous little craft; I don't think you can get it wrong. It was so much fun to do, surprisingly easy & the possibilities are ENDLESS!!!!!!


Update: I decided that my Gruffalo needed to be a bit "chunkier" so I've been fattening him up a bit & he is looking much more, well, Gruffalo like. Pictures to follow, so watch this space! Right folks, here he is, now slightly chunkier. He is officially finished.