A great way to start needle felting is to get yourself one of the needle felting kits that are perfect for beginners.

There are several different types of beginners needle felting kits.

Needle felting kits are a great way to start your new journey.

Why Use a Needle Felting Kit?

If you start with a kit it is easier that they ususally include most if not all that you need for a few projects. There are lots of differnt kits to choose form so at least one will suit you.

6 Tips to Help You Pick Your Needle Felting Kit

1. Decide on the type of needle felting kit you want to buy. There are several different kit types shown below.
2. Make sure your kit is a beginners kit. It should say if it is. Beginners needle felting kits usually have everything you need to get started. You can use our startup tools as a guide to making sure. Or you can check their list.
3. Double check your chosen kit includes a sponge. If anything is missing from the kit it will be the sponge.
4. Double check it is a needle felting kit and not a wet felting kit. They look similar and it’s easy to mistake them.
5. Avoid armature wire kits unless it is absolutely the only one you must do. The armature is harder to work with. You are also likely to break more needles.
6. Don’t go too complicated to start with. That doesn’t mean it has to be boring. There are some great kits out there for beginners and those with some experience.

Beginner Needle Felting Kits

These kits are great for starting out. They usually include everything that you need to get starting including the instructions for several easy projects.

The Heidi Feathers needle Felting Colored Wool kit

This kit is lovely. This one remains my favorite beginner kits along with its wet felting counterpart. I saw my niece open hers for Xmas and my eyes were as wide as a child’s.

These kits are like samplers. There are a lot of colors 5g (0.18oz) of each color. There may not sound like a lot, but I have made whole jointed mini bears with less. Although it varies most of the time I only buy about 10g (0.35oz) of each color anyway. It really depends on the size of the projects you like to do.

You will need to top up the wool once you have done the projects. This is still a good way to do it as if you buy larger amounts of wool in that many colors it can become quite expensive quite quickly.

The Natural Wool Heidi Feathers Needle Felting Starter Kit – Perfect for Making Animals

I Bought the wet felting version of this kit because I wanted the colors & wet felting tools. I have always regretted not starting out with a full needle kit after my small kits. But at the time it was the right decision. So I got this one later on as I wanted a section of more natural colors. You can see some of my kit in the main photo at the top of the page.

This is a lovely kit. The wool colors you get is about the same in both kits. The amount is 50g in the needle felting kit (100g in the wet Felting kit). It is perfect for making animals as it is all natural wool tops.

I found the wool very different to work with than the colored merino that I am used to. It was much softer and quite silky. Although, it didn’t look it on the finished piece. I created a trial grey elephant as a preliminary to a larger piece. The finished elephant is much fuzzier than merino (although I could do with felting it more). I used core wool because that is what I’d do in a larger project. This means that there is enough for 2 to 4 projects per color because the projects are small.

The kit has everything you need to get started making lovely needle felted animals.

One Off Kits Easy Kits

These are very small taster kits. These typically include a couple of very small projects and the needles, wool, and instructions for them. This is perfect for beginners to test the waters.

The cheaper kits tend to have polystyrene centers. This is where I started. I got it into my head that I wanted to start needle felting and convinced a very reluctant sister to get me a cheap kit for Xmas.

Kitty Kit
These are adorable. I spotted these recently on Amazon (aff. links).

Upside

• There are different kits to choose from.
• They have good reviews.
• They are perfect for and designed for beginners.
• Not too big.
• Everything you need is included including the sponge.
• No armature.
• You get something at the end to be proud of.

Downside

• About 60% of a full sample kit price

If you have any concerns simply follow the help on this blog to make sure you can correct any issues you might have.

Bigger One Off Kits

These kits usually consist of a larger project. These are often animals. Just because they are bigger does not mean they are more difficult. Some are still ideal for beginners.

Larger kits often include armature wire. If they do include wire (or pipe cleaners) unless you are happy to embrace the added difficulty its best to get some basic felting practice in before branching out to armature projects.

If you are a beginner and you want to do a larger kit be prepared for it to take a lot longer. Perhaps get a multi-needle holder and a lot of needles so you can felt down the basic shapes faster.

Or You Can Put Together Your Own Starter “Kit”

There is no reason why you can’t put together your own “starter kit”. I’d say to do this if you have something specific in mind you want to make. Otherwise, wait until you have some experience. There is a lot to learn in needle felting. Needle & wool choices can be a minefield for beginners and you want to get stuck into enjoying the craft.

Once I’d done the small taster kit I decided to put together my own kit because I’d bought a book on making bears and wanted to get the wool specific for this.

Although the book was very good and told me what I needed I was still clueless. I didn’t know anything about needles, mulesed wool, the differences in wool terms, different types of felting wool – well anything. It took ages to research it all. It’s one of the reasons I started this blog.

It wasn’t any cheaper and I ended up with a tiny sponge. This worked well for bears but for anything larger you need a bigger sponge at least 6”x6” ( 15.24 cm x15.24 cm) or even bigger.

This is why I think a starter kit is a good idea. It’s so much easier. It has everything you need until you want to learn more about individual things. Its something I regret not getting after my tiny kit. In fact, I did later buy a full kit as well, lol.

The tool pages will give you a complete list of tools you need to get started if you want to go down this route.

In addition you will need a pattern. You can get these from books or as PDF downloads. Esty do some lovely ones.