POCKETS OF SPRING

A miniature garden made from felted soft-hued blooms and stripy bees creates a pretty display in a vintage cup or jug

NEEDLE FELTED FLOWERS, leaves and fuzzy bees are simply fashioned and make for an absorbing spring craft. Incorporating them into a vintage teacup or pretty jug of soft green felt creates a charming miniature garden, which can be enjoyed all year round or gifted to a friend or family member.

To create the felted shapes, a barbed needle is used to manipulate the wool roving into solid forms by repeatedly piercing the fibres with a pricking motion. As the needle passes into the wool, the fibres knit together and create a firm shape. Wool roving is most often found in 50g or 100g sizes, in a myriad of colours.

Needles are available in various gauges. Some are more suitable for larger shapes and others for the finer details. It is best to experiment to discover which ones are appropriate for a particular project.

Felting over a piece of foam provides a pliable surface for the needle to pass through and will help to prevent it from breaking. A stiff brush works in a similar way and is a matter of preference.

Making the grass

To create the grass, a ball of yarn is loosely bound to fill the chosen cup or jug to just below the rim. The colour of the yarn does not matter, as this will be covered, but it should not be too firmly bound. Green wool roving is placed over the yarn, ensuring that it reaches the edge of the crockery, and felted with a needle until a neat domed mat is formed, rising above the top of the container.

“For so work the honey bees; Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom”

William Shakespeare, Henry V