Felted Sheep How-To
Martha shows Marlo Thomas how to make adorable felted sheep with a fragrant cinnamon fence.
Set a whimsical scene of felted sheep and a cinnamon-stick fence for a fragrant holiday touch.
Felted Sheep
Tools and Materials
Felted Sheep How-To
1. Wrap wool fibers around Styrofoam egg, covering entirely.
2. Cut stocking about 8 inches from toe seam. Place wrapped egg in foot of stocking. Wet egg and stocking with warm water and a squirt of liquid soap. Rub egg between hands to felt (approximately 5 minutes). Add warm water as necessary to create suds.
3. Remove egg from stocking and rinse out soap, continuing to roll in hands. Let dry on drying rack.
4. On underside of dry felted egg, cut four X's with a craft knife for the legs. Insert cinnamon sticks through each cut into the Styrofoam. Remove cinnamon sticks and squirt hot glue into holes; reinsert cinnamon sticks securely.
5. Cut small sheep ears out of felt and use a dab of hot glue to attach each to sheep's head. Wrap additional loose wool fibers around tops of legs and bases of ears; needle-felt to keep in place. For the sheep's tail, make a small ball of wool fibers and needle-felt to the sheep's backside.
6. Dip the ends of each cinnamon stick leg into dark-gray acrylic paint to define hooves. Let dry on a piece of wax paper.
Cinnamon Fence
Tools and Materials
Cinnamon Fence How-To
1. Trim cinnamon sticks to about 3 inches with a mini-saw or serrated knife to make fence posts.
2. Arrange sticks in desired fence design and use wood glue to attach. Try gluing two longer horizontal cinnamon "slats" between two vertical posts, occasionally adding a diagonal stick in between the horizontal slats.
Resources
Wool and felting tools available from Halcyon Yarn. Cinnamon sticks available from Spice Barn.
I think the sheep are adorable,I went right out next day to purchase wool
I would like to know the quantity needed of the wool roving. It is not specified, and I'm sure it would depend on the quantity of sheep you would like to make, but how much per sheep do you think? Thanks, Samantha
I love these sheep! However, I'm really disappointed that this uses styrofoam forms. I guess Martha uses all kinds of unsustainable materials but I've only just started to try to use less destructive materials in my everyday life and take notice of these things. Martha
Wool roving fibers (used to cover the egg) are available at yarn, spinning and weaving shops. Wool felt is available at many quilting stores. Some quilting stores also carry felted wool which is wool fabric that has been felted. I think this felted wool would also make good ears.
Charlotte, I think JoAnn's has wool felt, you could use a coupon too!
Where does one find wool felt? All the felt in craft and fabric stores is now acrylic or another synthetic. Will that work? CharlotteWS