To make felted Easter eggs you’re going to need a few things:
- Wool roving
- Styrofoam eggs
- A nylon stocking
- A bowl with some water
- A towel (for spills)
- Scissors
You can usually find pre-dyed wool roving at a craft store near the yarn and/or embroidery items. If you are allergic to wool, wear some gloves to prevent irritated skin.
If you buy white roving, you can dye it using the Kool-Aid Method. Also keep in mind that if you do dye your roving that the color might bleed a little; so when you put it in the washer make sure not to add items that you don’t want stained.
Directions for Felting the Eggs
First select a Styrofoam egg and a small section of wool roving. The goal is to add layers of roving onto the egg so it doesn’t have to be a lot of wool at one time. You don’t have to wet the wool, but I find it is a lot easier to handle. Wet a piece of roving and wrap it around your egg.
Now take another piece of roving, wet it, and this time when you wrap it around the egg wrap it perpendicular to the first piece of roving. This means that it needs to cross the first piece. The reason you have to do it this way is because when wool is felted, it felts best when the fibers are not all laying in the same direction.
Continue wrapping wool around the egg until you have covered up all of the Styrofoam. Once you have your egg completely wrapped, gently slide it into the nylon stocking and tie a knot at the top. You can chain several eggs into one nylon if your stocking is long enough.
Once you have all of your eggs wrapped in wool and tied in the nylon stocking, you can now felt it. Grab a towel or something and throw it in the washer with your eggs. Set it to a short hot water cycle; 20 to 30 minutes is probably good, and add a little bit of soap. Add towels or jeans to help agitate the wool – but remember: if you dyed your wool with kool-aid or some other kind of dye, add items that you don’t mind staining.
Once the cycle is complete, do not put the wool in the dryer. Cut your eggs out of the nylon stocking and set them aside to dry.
Now that your eggs are felted you can add beads, ribbon, or other embellishments!
