Needle felting a baby penguin was Pebbles’ first project after receiving a complete set of supplies for Christmas.

She saw instructions from a cute book in the library and went for it!  This time, she did use her finger guards that I insisted she wear. 😉 After dozens of youtube videos warning everyone about excruciating bloody wounds and NOT to needle felt while watching TV – we took it to heart!!

This was a fairly simple and quick project.

SUPPLIES:

•  finger guards (even though cumbersome, try to use when possible. if not be careful!!)
• barbed felting needles of different gauges
• natural gray wool roving ** (I like my source for a natural gray, other grays are ‘dyed’ and look fake)
• black wool roving **
• white wool roving **
• tiny bit of orange wool roving **
• 2 small (4mm) black safety eyes with posts
• glue
• felting foam pad to protect your table

** wool roving must be REAL 100% wool. Synthetic will NOT work. We recommend New Zealand Corriedale wool roving.  They are long strands of spun wool, not yarn. Many books recommend Merino roving, but I’ve already read that it can be more ‘slippery’ and can be trickier for needle felting?

STEPS:

1. Roll gray roving into a round sausage shape and needle it til firm and round. Do extra needling on the bottom where the feet will go so it can ‘stand.’
2. Roll black roving into a ball shape and needle it til firm and round.
3. Add more loose roving and needle the black head onto the gray body until completely attached.
4. Press onto the head a kidney bean type shape of white roving to make the penguin’s face. Needle til firmly attached and melded with the head.
5. Make a tiny triangle beak with orange roving and needle it til firm completely before needling into onto the face. Be CAREFUL. These tiny shapes are where you’re at risk for stabbing your fingers !!!
6. Fold gray roving into 2 wing shapes and needle til firm. Be careful to keep flipping them so they don’t stick to the matt.
7. Fold black roving into triangles to make 2 little feet and needle til firm shapes first before attaching to the bottom of the body. You can cover the penguin base completely if you want and if easier to attach the feet. Might stand better anyway.
8. Carefully needle onto the body the wings.  Make sure the wing tips are not attached to the body.
9. With a needle or awl poke repeatedly into the face where each eye post will be inserted into. It must be DEEP enough for the post to push into. It will take some time.
10. Squeeze some glue onto the posts and gently insert each post into the face. You may have to twist and turn as you go in.
11. Let dry.

Enjoy your sweet cutesie cute penguin!!