Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Felting of the Fox

So, last August while I was on bed rest with nothing but crafting to do, I ordered all of these little critters from Crafty Alien. For one reason or another, it took two months for her to send them to me which meant that my plan of getting them all done before the babe showed up didn't happen. And now here we are a year later and I'm just now finishing a couple of them (I did get the owl done before Will was born).

I was going to do a tutorial on felting but...I forgot and only took a couple of pics. So, it's probably not terribly helpful, but I'll post the pics anyway.

All the pieces knit up and ready to go.


Soak for 5 minutes in hot, soapy water. Then roll and squeeze each piece around in your hand until the individual stitches disappear.


All of the pieces are now felted. Stuff with batting and shape as desired. Allow to dry overnight.


Attach parts and applique face, etc. Allow to roam free.


Will loves the owl but it took him a few minutes to warm up to the fox. He seems to like it here.


Ok, so I'm pretty bad at following directions and have to read things a million times to understand what they're telling me. And even though I read the instructions many times, I still missed a step or two. Haha. So, this fox has plenty of mistakes. The white belly was supposed to be appliqued onto the body pre-felting, which I did not do. And the tail wasn't supposed to be stuffed. Haha. So the tail is like...as big as the body and the fox can't stand up at all. It's pretty comical.

I still have kits for a squirrel and a raccoon but felting the fox and the deer in the same night kind of burned me out. So we'll see when I get to those. However, the raccoon kit has gone MIA. Typical.

10 comments:

Lisa said...

Aw! That little guy is cute! So is your little guy. :)

Kaja said...

Okay, so i have seriously never heard of felting before. Is it some kind of special yarn or something? I love your fox though, he's super cute.

Ryan Southwell said...

Felty Fox is awesome! And I happen to like the stuffed tail. Good job. Can you teach me how to make a felty Rhino?

Alissa said...

The fox is adorable! The "mistakes" just make him unique. One of a kind for the one and only William :-).

kelly said...

I love it! I've never even heard of felting...so I learned something new today, thanks!

it is adorable, and I love the pic of it "roaming free".

Bethany said...

So I keep picturing the fox trying to sit up and for some reason that is hilarious to me.

kelly said...

Happy Birthday!!!
I loved talking to you tonight, it was fun and made me laugh!
miss you!!

sheena said...

cutest ever.....will AND the fox--I Love it!!

and a little birdie told me it's our birthday....happy day!!

Dani said...

okay. you inspired me. i've only knitted one disaster in my lifetime but i'm going to attempt one of these little critters. i just ordered the rabbit. wish me luck.

cara lou said...

Kaja: Felting is done with wool or any other animal fiber. Ever machine washed a wool sweater? Felted!

Ryan: Ooo, now I'm totally looking for a felty rhino...

Kelly: Thanks so much for calling! You're always so sweet for remembering my bday. It was very fun to talk. Hopefully we'll be doing more of it now!

Sheena: Thanks!

Dani: Cool! These guys really are easy and fast to make. I am in no way an expert knitter and I managed to figure them out. Can't wait to see your little rabbit!