Marshall the Mushroom: Needle Felt Tutorial

Autumn is just about upon us and that means mushroom season is here! What better time to make your own mushroom friend to join you on your fungi-hunting adventures?

Marshall is a chunky, little fun-guy. He is pretty simple to make, so grab your cuppa and let’s get started!

*Grab a cuppa and get your workspace ready*

What you will need:

Needle felting mat/sponge
Felting needles (I used 36 gauge triangular and 38 gauge star, but just one of these will work fine)
Scissors (small/embroidery scissors are preferable)
Wool: white (base), red (cap), brown (cap), black (eyes), pink (cheeks)
Note: white wool must be carded, the rest can be carded or tops

Step 1: Felt the body and limbs

Note on needles before we start: I tend to use a 36 gauge triangular needle for the start of each shape or layer. Once it begins to firm up I switch to a 38 gauge star as this helps firm up the piece faster. You can use either or both of these needles, it will have little impact on the final product, it’s more about figuring out what works best for you.

Start with Marshall’s body by felting a simple oval shape, roughly four to five centimetres long (or whatever size you prefer) using your white base colour. Wrap more wool around one end of the oval to form more of a pear-shape, this bulker side will become Marshall’s lower half. Felt until firm, but you can leave the narrower end a bit looser as this is where we will attach the cap.

Felt two arms, which are really just mini versions of Marshall’s body (pear-shaped) with the bulker end forming his hands. The arms should be about a quarter of his body size with loose fibres making up some additional length. Leaving loose fibres makes it easier to attach the limbs with a more seamless join (more on that later!)

Repeat this process to make two legs, though make the legs twice as chunky as the arms.

Step 2: Create the cap

Moving onto the cap we will start with our base colour again. This time you want to begin with your wool quite flat and then bring all the ends into the middle to form it into a circle. Felt this shape, flipping it over every twenty to thirty seconds, until it holds its shape. If you need to add more wool to thin areas that’s not a problem, you just want it to be a rough circle that is about a centimetre wider in diameter than the top of Marshall’s body.

*Form a flat circle by pulling the edges to the centre*

*Check the cap is a bit larger that the body*

Attach the cap to Marshall’s head (narrower end of the body), making sure to felt from above and below so it is securely attached. Then, fold the lip of the cap down and felt it to the body the whole way around.

Now, it’s time to add some colour! The cap colour is really up to you, but I went for a muted red. I only had bright red on hand but I mixed the red with a light and medium-toned brown to make the red less vibrant, this is really personal preference so go with whatever you feel!

If you want to mix colours you can do this with your hands, carding brushes, or a carder. We’re going to do a few layers over the cap so don’t worry too much about the first layers being perfectly blended.

Add the first layer of red to the cap, keep each layer somewhat thin so we don’t add lumps and bumps and misshape the cap. Felt under the brim of the cap so no white is peaking through, but avoid felting the red directly onto Marshall’s body. Add more layers until your cap is firm and has good colour coverage.

After three or four layers, when you’re satisfied with the shape and coverage of the cap, felt a small amount of brown wool all the way around under the brim of the cap to add some definition.

Back to your main cap colour, grab a strip that would be long enough to wrap the full way around the cap. Felt the strip of wool on your mat, focusing on one long edge and leaving the other edge fairly loose. Carefully flip the strip a couple of times until one edge is moderately felted. Add more wool to thin areas as needed.

Wrap this strip around the cap, with the felted edge slightly overhanging the cap edge and felt it into place, this will help define the cap edge. Carefully felt under the cap to secure it into place without covering the brown wool.

Add one final layer of your cap colour to smooth everything out.

Lastly, if you feel the area where the body meets the cap is a little messy, you can add a strip of your white base colour just under the cap to neaten things up.

*Neaten up where the cap attaches to the body*

Step 3: Add the limbs

Retrieve Marshall’s limbs that have been off to the side for a while and let’s give our fungi some personality. Place, or very lightly felt, the limbs into different positions to envision how you want them to be. Do you want him cheering? Waving? Meditating? I just went for standing to keep things simple, but by all means position them how you wish.

Once happy with the position felt the loose fibres into place, for the arms I like to felt the upper arm/shoulder to be fairly flat. For the legs, I felt the hips at the widest part of the pear-shape, but bring the legs forward and slightly together/towards the centre. If you have any “seams” (obvious joins where the limbs are attached to the body) just felt a very fine layer of your base colour over the seam to blend it in.

*Use a small amount of wool to blend seams*

Step 4: Let him see!

Facial features can really impact how your character looks. To keep it simple (and because it looks cute), Marshall just has two small eyes. There’s nothing stopping you adding more features, the world is your oyster-mushroom (or something like that)!

Use your needle to mark two holes for eyes, this will help you line them up. If your holes don’t align, just lightly felt over one to remove it and try again. You can also use a pencil or marker if you find this easier.

*Use a needle to make a guide for the eyes*

I like the eyes to be sunken in, rather than on top of the white wool. I think this gives a natural eye-lid to the creature. To do this, I stab wool into the pre-made hole and bring my needle back and forth without pulling the needle out fully too often (see video below). Pulling the needle out each time means you’re more likely to stab around the pre-made hole, and this makes the eye look less tidy. You really want to remain as close to the original hole as possible. If necessary, cut away any loose fibres.

Step 5: Finishing touches

Lastly, felt a small amount of pink under the outer sides of his eyes for his blushed cheeks. If you find your pink is too bright or dark, just add a thin layer of your base colour over the top to mute the tone.

Optional

I also added a small amount of cream wool under his limbs to add a bit of definition, this is completely optional, but if you don’t have cream you can use a mix of your white base with a small amount of brown, or use a neutral beige eyeshadow instead.

You can also add some accessories, I crocheted him a little backpack so he’s ready to go on his adventures!