Needlefelted Nativity

I just couldn’t stop myself once I got needlefelting. I was enjoying the stabbing process so much, and I was so in love with the results of my animals, that I knew I needed to expand and do an entire nativity set. It was actually a whole lot easier than the animals.

Partly to keep it easy on myself, and partly to make sure that the figures could stand up on a table by themselves, I kept the bodies really simple by making them into a cone shape. Mine are just under a foot tall, but the only time size matters here is for consistency. I spent the majority of my time felting the bottom of each cone to get a sturdy, flat, bottom.

I wanted Mary to kneel, so I started by making a shorter cone, then I added some more wool on the bottom of one side to be her knees. The result is a bit of a squat L shape.

I had a lot of fun dressing all the different wise men in different ways, so when you make your sleeves you’ll want to have a plan. If you want it to be part of a tunic, then make them in the same color as the body. If you want your wise man to wear a jacket, then make your sleeves a different color. Either way, just roll up a bunch of wool roving and felt it to make a couple of tubes. Remember to leave some of the wool on one end unfelted to attach the sleeves to the body.

Felt the sleeves in place, just below the top of the cone to create a bit of a neck. You can felt your sleeves into a shoulder shape by felting more heavily in one area, creating a little bump.

To make any kind of loose flowing clothing, you just have to make a felted sheet, and then drape it or cut it as necessary. I felted a piece of wool just as wide as the body and long enough to wrap from the back to the front, then cut a slit in the front to create the two sides of the vest and to make room for the neck. Some light felting at the sides and shoulders sticks the vest in place.

The head is always the most intimidating part of making figures, but you can do it. For starters, just felt a flesh colored ball, leaving some loose wool at the bottom. I made this wise man have a prominent chin by making one end of the ball a little flatter than the other.

Use the unfelted wool as a handle as you make your face. All you have to do is push the needle in to the wool a few more times in order to give some shape to the face. Punching the needle in a skinny U-shape pushes enough of the wool up to make a nose, and felting some small white circles in place will naturally create ridges that would surround the eyes.

Add some dark pupils to the white eyes you made, and make a mouth by felting an indented line.

Add a couple of eyebrows.

Then you’re ready to attach the head to the top of the neck by felting that raw wool you’ve been using as a handle.

Add hands to the end of the sleeves by making a couple of flattened disks. The wrists are made when you attach the hands to the sleeves by felting a little more wool roving on the end.

I gave this wise man a head scarf by making another felted sheet and draping it over his head. A few punches of the needle through the top of the head makes it stick in place.

I had so much fun giving each of these different figures a little different look. One of the wise man has a turban and a cape, another has gray hair and an embellished tunic, Joseph has a scarf and Mary has a shawl, and baby Jesus has a manger made by felting a couple of rectangles on top of each other. Once you realize that each piece is just a simple shape – a sphere, a cone, a rectangle, an oval – you can make any shape you want. And work out a whole lot of frustration while you do it.