Sticky Paws Blog

As mentioned in an earlier post I am hopeless at making felt balls/beads.  I have tried most methods and my balls/beads are always a bit hit and miss.  However, a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a tutorial from a blog called Red 2 White which even I can do.  I very successfully made several balls but although the balls were successful I still felt that it took too much time if you wanted to make a lot of balls.

Therefore, I decided to experiment to see if I could make balls/beads which turned out perfect (no creases etc) but didn’t take too much time or energy.  This tutorial is basically my Swiss Roll Bracelet Tutorial with a twist.

Follow the instructions for the Swiss Roll Bracelet Tutorial using 3 pieces of prefelt in one colour for a single colour ball/bead or 3 different colours for a marbled ball/ball until the roll will stay upright by itself if held vertically.

Prefelt Rolls

Roll Cut into Segments

Very gently roll each segment in your hands for a few seconds only as though making a ball.

Segments gently rolled

Place the balls/beads in a laundry bag (rembering to close the zip) and wash on a 40 - 60 degree cycle in your washing machine.  When the cycle has finished remove the balls/beads from the laundry bag.  They will probably look a bit squashed so gently restore them by giving them a quick roll in your hands.

Finished Felted Balls/Beads

I made approximately 75 one cm felted balls/beads in less than one hour’s hand felting time.  For larger balls/beads you just increase the size of the original prefelt.  For cyclindrical balls/beads do not roll them in your hands before putting in the washing machine.  For tubular shaped beads cut the slices longer than the diameter of the roll. 

I hope you will agree this is a very quick and easy way to make felt balls.