A super cute and super simple way to decorate your Christmas presents this year using handmade pom pom wreaths. All you need to do is thread 6 felt poms poms (just 15p each at Atelier) together and join them with a couple of stitches at the top. Add a pretty ribbon or some baker's twine and voila. Looks lovely with brown paper and washi tape (I have a slight addiction to this stuff at the moment!).

Happy crafting x

TUTORIAL: tiny needle felted Christmas trees

Our lovely colourful bundles of 100% wool roving have proved a big hit for customers wanting to try needle felting; people have also been wondering what it is and how to use it. In short needle felting involves jabbing some wool roving with a special needle to bind the fibres together. The needle has tiny barbs on it that catch the fibres and mesh them together. It's particularly brilliant for 3D sculptural work but can also be used for 2D where you can add detail to flat felt and other fabrics. It's also super quick to learn the basics and the materials are wonderfully inexpensive. So why not give it a go with this really easy and super cute Christmas Tree decoration project designed by me specially for you

All you need is:

1 ball green wool roving
1 ball of red (optional as you could just make the tree on its own if you prefer)
needle felting needle
sewing needle and thread
sponge
tiny beads
craft wire or cocktail stick (optional)
pva glue (optional)

Pull off a section of wool roving and fold into a rough triangle shape. Take into account that the size of your finished piece will be approximately half this size.

Before you do anything else let me just say - the needles are SHARP so do take care. Use a sponge underneath to protect you and your surface. There are special dense sponges that are used for needle felting but for this project you can use an ordinary bathroom sponge from the supermarket or one of those big yellow ones used for cleaning cars. Start to jab the wool roving with the needle making sure that the needle goes in and come out at the same angle (otherwise the needle may bend or break). Jabberty jab evenly all over with your needle, turning all the time until you begin to see a cone shape.

Needle felt the base of your tree loosely so that you now have a fairly neat but still squishy cone shape. More jabbing now, all over, including the base, until you get a lovely tight shape that feels firm and looks something like this ...

Next you take some red wool and roughly fold into a short cocktail sausage kind of shape. Again remember that the final piece will be half this size.

Using the same process as before, jabbery jab all over with your needle to begin to bind the fibre together. To get the bucket shape start to needle felt one end until it is flat and starting to feel dense. Then fine tune the shape by needle felting the body and shaping the base with extra jabs (the more you jab an area the smaller it gets!). You should now have two pieces that look something like this ...

Now it's time to add the tiny beads for decoration. To do this thread up your sewing needle using a dark thread (or a thread that kind of matches the colour of your wool). I used single thread but you can use double if you prefer. 

Tie a knot at the end and put you needle up through the base of your cone up to a spot on the side of your tree where you'd like to add a bead.

Place a bead on the end of your needle (tip: you can use the needle to scoop your bead up) and pull the needle through, then put the needle back into the tree and push it through to the next place you'd like to thread a bead onto your tree. You are stitching the beads into place this way. To finish, thread the needle back to the base of the cone, tie it off and cut the spare thread.

Now add a bead at the top of the three, or a button, or a star. I used red thread and created a loop that I could use to dangle the tree. You can also use pretty ribbon or ric rac, anything you fancy really.

Last but not least you can add the trunk of the tree using craft wire or a wooden cocktail stick. If you are using wire that is fairly thick you may need to sand the end to a point so that you can more easily poke it into your finished piece (as it is quite dense now).

Add a tiny dab of PVA glue (as it dries clear) to the wire/cocktail stick and push it into the cone. It just helps to keep it in place. If you are having difficulty doing this, use a large sewing needle to create a hole and try again. Do the same to the base and Ta Da - you have your super sweet, super easy needle felted tree decoration ...

needle felting workshop

We had a wonderful crafty afternoon at the gallery this Sunday playing with wool roving and creating some rather fabulous 3D sculptural pieces. You take a few balls of fluffy wool roving and jabberty jab with a special barbed needle and you're on your crafty way. Needle felting is a weeny bit addictive and all the ladies have bought extra stashes of woolly stuff to carry on making pieces at home. We happen to have over 45 different colours of wool roving here at the gallery (and needles and foam) if you fancy having at crack at this yourself. We'll also be running another workshop in the Spring - so do make sure that you are signed up to our newsletter (www.gallery-atelier.co.uk) to make sure you don't miss out.

What is really marvellous about running creative workshops is seeing all the wonderful ideas that people have: I'm always surprised and delighted by how diverse the things are that everyone makes in a single workshop. It's so amazing to see those creative juices at work.