In this tutorial, I will show you how to make this adorable needle felted mouse ballerina that you can gift as a present or use as a Christmas ornament or house decoration.
- White felting wool
- Black felting wool
- Craft pipe cleaner
- White felt fabric (24 pack)
- Gold thread
- Pink Tulle Ribbon and Pink Thin Ribbon
- Felting Needle Set
- Needle & thread
- Scissors
Needle Felting Process:
1. Create the head
Take some wool and roll it into a ball. Then, take the felting needle and stab the wool while rotating it. Continue to stab and mold the wool. To create a pointy nose, continue stabbing the edge while rotating the head. To create the ears, cut out a square and then cut it into two identical triangles. Then, cut out tear drop shapes out of the triangles. Use the needle and thread to sew the ears to the head.
Now, add the eyes. With the needle, stab where you want the eyes to be. Take the tiny amounts of black wool and roll it into little balls. Take the eyes with the needle and stab it lightly where you created the eye holes.
For the nose, take some white wool and create a small ball. Continue to roll the ball and stab it with the needle a little to make it feel firmer. Carefully, without hurting your fingers attach the nose to the head. Now, lightly stab the whole head.
2. Create the body
To create the body, take the pipe cleaner and cut into 8.5cm for the legs, 6.5cm for the arms, and 4.5 cm for the body.
To create the arms and legs, take a piece of wool and wrap it tightly around the edge of the wire. Because the wire edge is pretty sharp, fold the edge over and then continue to wrap it with the wool. Do the wrapping for the legs and arms.
Attach the middle pipe cleaner to the arms and legs. Take the wool and start wrapping it around the body. Use an X motion around the arms, then normal wrapping around the body and an X motion around the legs. Wrap some more wool and start stabbing the body. Continue adding the wool and wrapping it around the body. It’s a pretty lengthy process, so be patient! Once there’s enough flesh on the body, you can start stabbing it. Continue adding the wool and stabbing it until the full body is formed.
When the body feels pretty firm and substantial, take a little piece of wool and add a tummy to the mouse. First stub the piece of wool with the needle to add some firmness and then attach it to the body.
To create the tail, take a long piece of wool and roll it with your hands, periodically stabbing it with the needle, but mostly rolling it with the hands. Once it looks like a tail, trim it (to about 6cm), fan out the edge of the tale and using the needle attach it to the body. Make a little booty in similar fashion to how we created the tummy and attach it over the tail.
To join the head to the body, we’ll need to add the neck. Take some wool and stub it first to create some firmness. Then, attach it to the body by stabbing it and molding it until it looks like a neck.
Add the head by holding it firmly to the body and stab around the neck. Pierce the needle from the neck into the head and then from the head to the neck. Add more wool around the neck and continue stabbing it until the head is attached well to the body.
Use a pink blush to add some color to the mouse. Lightly dust the blush over the ears as well as the nose, hands and feet. You can also paint the mouth with the blush as well, and stub it with the needle afterwards to create a crease that forms the mouth. Use the needle and gold thread to sew on whiskers.
3. Create a tutu skirt
To create the tutu skirt, you’ll need a thin pink ribbon and a pink tulle. Cut enough of the thin ribbon so it can easily be tied around the body with the bow. Now, take the tulle ribbon and cut into rectangular strips, you’ll need about 15 pieces.
Tie the strips onto the ribbon. Fold the ribbon in half and put the folded end under and through to make a slipknot. Repeat the process until the ribbon is full.
(Hint) Tape the ribbon to the working surface area, to simplify the tying process!
To finish up the mouse, create a bow and attached it next to the ear. You can also create a beaded necklace on an elastic to add some more festivity.
You can turn the mouse into a Christmas ornament by attaching a ribbon to the head or you can use it as a decoration in your house. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
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Unknown says
Dasha, superbedankt voor de uileg.
Hartelijke groet. Yteke