Sometimes the nicest projects are the small ones. Something you can make slowly, by hand, and end up using every day. I recently made a felted wool coaster, and it turned out to be such a cozy, satisfying project that I thought I’d share how I did it.
If you’ve never felted before, this is a really approachable place to start. And once you understand the process, you can easily scale it up into something bigger like a pot trivet or plant stand!
Here’s how it came together.
Supplies
First, gather everything you’ll need:
- Different colours of wool fibre
- Felting needles
- Foam felting block pad
- Hot or warm water
- Soap (we really like olive oil soap for this)
- A bowl
- A towel
- Embroidery thread (floss)
- Embroidery needle
- Scissors
Once everything is set out, you’re ready to start.
Step 1: Needle Felt the Wool Balls
Start by taking small pieces of wool fibre and gently shaping them into a loose ball.
Place the wool on your foam felting block and begin poking it with your felting needle. Rotate the wool as you go so it begins to hold together evenly.
You’re not trying to make it perfect - just a small wool ball that holds its shape and is about the size of a large marble.
Repeat this step until you have enough balls to create the size coaster you want.
A little note here: if you ever want to turn this project into a pot trivet, you can follow the exact same steps, you’ll just need quite a few more balls. I’d guess close to 100, depending on how big you want it.
Step 2: Wet Felting the Balls
The first step was dry felting (needle felting). Now we move into wet felting, which is what really firms everything up.
Fill a bowl with hot water (as warm as your hands can comfortably handle) and lather your hands with soap.
Then:
- Submerge the wool balls in the hot water
- Take one out and roll it between your palms like you’re rolling a little meatball
- Gently squeeze it so the soap works into the fibres
- Put it back into the water
- Roll and squeeze again
You’ll repeat this many times - water, soap, rolling, squeezing - until the wool starts to tighten up and become firm instead of soft.
It’s actually really satisfying to feel the difference as the wool felts together.
In my coaster, I also added a border piece made from wool. I created that the same way as the balls:
- Needle felt it first
- Then wet felted it the same way in the water and soap.
A towel is helpful here to:
- Dry your hands
- Gently remove extra water from the wet pieces once they are fully felted
Step 3: Assembling the Coaster
Once the wool balls are damp but not soaking wet, you can start putting everything together.
Thread your embroidery needle. You can use the full strand of embroidery floss (which has six strands), or split it in half.
For my coaster:
- I used three strands when sewing the balls together.
- Later, I used the full six strands for the decorative accents.
Start with your centre ball and tie a knot at the end of your thread. From there, begin attaching the surrounding balls.
Work your way around in a circle (or a square if you prefer). As you sew, weave the needle in and out of the wool balls, occasionally stitching back toward the centre so everything stays connected as one solid piece rather than just a long chain.
Once the main circle was finished, I attached the border piece in the same way - weaving the thread through the border and back into the coaster until it felt secure.
Step 4: Adding a Little Accent (Optional)
This step is just for fun.
I felt like the coaster needed a small pop of colour, so I added a bit of gold embroidery floss around the outer edge.
I gently wrapped it around sections of the border and tied it off once I was happy with how it looked.
Totally optional, but it’s a nice way to add your own style to the piece.
Step 5: Final Trim
This last step is optional, but it really helps the coaster look neat and finished.
Take a pair of scissors and carefully trim any tiny fibres that didn’t fully felt in. Once those are cleaned up, the coaster looks much more polished and ‘finished’.
… And That’s It!
Now comes the best part.
Brew your favourite cup of tea, grab a good book, settle into a cozy spot - maybe near the fireplace - and put your new handmade coaster to use.
It’s such a simple project, but there’s something really special about using something you made yourself. And honestly, once you make one, it’s hard not to start thinking about the next colour combination or pattern!
Blog Post by Courtney Audette
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