Speed past the yeti at Disneyland, but don’t pass up this little guy! We’re celebrating the anniversary of the Matterhorn Bobsleds –which opened June 14, 1959– with this needle felted yeti. If you’ve never tried needle felting before, I suggest you don’t do it while angry or distracted! We’re working with very sharp objects!
I’m no expert at needle felting. I have no idea what kind of needles I used, so I apologize to those who actually know what they’re doing!
Let’s get it started by looking at what things you’ll need!
| Supplies List: | Tools List: |
|---|---|
| Batting | Felting Needles |
| White Wool Roving | Red Thread |
| Dark Grey Wool Roving | Blue Thread |
| Light Blue Wool Roving | Sewing Needle |
| Needle Felting Mat | Scissors |
Instructions
We’re starting off with a good big piece of batting. Mine’s about 7 inches long and 5 inches wide.
Grab a Needle Felting Needle and start punching away! The more you punch the denser the batting will get. Think of it like you’re sculpting with clay, but you’re using a needle to direct where your “clay” goes.
The goal is to create a dense oval-like shape that’s tapered towards the bottom. This is the body of the yeti.
Tear off a smaller piece of batting (about half the length of your body piece) and start rolling. Felt the rolled parts, folding the outsides to the middle to create a dense ball. It’s not a sphere… more like a rounded cube. Now you have the head!
Use some loose batting and fix the head onto the body.
The Arms and Legs
Grab a couple chunks of batting about the length and width of the body.
Roll and needle felt until a dense log has formed. One end of the arm should be punched in, but not too much. The other end will have loose batting.
Make one more arm.
Fix the arms to the yeti shoulder using the loose batting on the top of the arm all the way around, under his armpit.
Repeat the steps for creating the arms to create the legs, except they are a little shorter and thicker. The loose batting at the tops of the legs should go all the way around the bottom of the body, but a good portion of it should go to the butt.
Position your yeti in a seated position upside down and needle felt his booty towards his legs.
The Fur
Grab some Dark Grey Wool and tear off small pieces. Punch your needle into the pieces onto the body and shape them into little leaves. We’re only doing this on the chest and back to create dimension. This step is optional if you don’t have grey wool.
Use the Light Blue Wool and lay it onto the yeti’s face. Punch in your needle and direct the edges of the wool into an oval shape. Layer and repeat.
Create a ball with the light blue wool by rolling up a piece, felting it, and pulling in from the sides to the center. Keep felting until the ball has formed. Leave some loose wool at the back to fix it onto the face.
The White Wool will be used for our yeti’s fur.
Separate thin bits of wool and punch your needle into the pieces so they stick together at one end. Use your other hand and pinch the bottom end together to shape it into a triangle. Punch your needle down to solidify the shapes.
Tip: Grab from multiple places on your smaller pieces to create more tangles.
Cut a slice of white wool and cut sections without cutting all the way to the top. Needle felt the pieces into triangles like before to create icicle-like pieces.
Take the separated pieces of white wool and felt it to the sides of the face, the upper back, and the shoulders. The face pieces are short, the back and shoulder pieces are longer.
The strips of white wool will be used to cover the rest of the body in layers. It’s going to take a lot of these! You can either layer top-to-bottom or the other way around. Just make sure you’re not punching in the individual hair locks.
Hands and Feet
Grab your light blue wool and roll and felt two small balls. Keep rolling, grabbing in from the sides to the center and punch your needle in until a dense ball has formed and cut off so that there is some loose wool left.
The feet are the same, just cylinders so you don’t have to pull in from the sides.
We want a crook in the foot (for the ankle) so take the loose end and fold it up with some of the dense part and punch that in place.
Fix your hands and feet in the loose ends of the arms and legs. You should be able to nestle them in and needle felt them together.
Take the loose ends of the arms and legs and felt them to the sides of the hands and feet. You can direct the wool to look more pieced.
Finishing up the Body
Continue cutting those strips of wool. You’re gonna need a lot. Layer them onto the arms and legs either bottom-to-top or top-to-bottom until the white batting is covered. Be thorough with your felting or the hair will fall off!
I worked both directions and it was fine either way, Again, don’t felt the individual locks of hair until your layers are complete. And when felting the locks of hair, don’t do it too much or else there won’t be any definition.
Personality!
Take a small piece of white wool and roll it in your fingers. Punch it on your yeti’s face where his brows should go and trim the excess.
Using your Red Thread, tie a knot at the ends after threading it thru your Sewing Needle. Punch in and out of a very small area under the eyebrows. Criss cross your stitches to create circles for the eyes.
The mouth is just a normal stitch. You can go over it again if you want a consistent line. Tie a tiny knot at the end.
The nostrils are made by punching in near the mouth and pulling back out at the top of the muzzle. You’re going to want to do this two times for a consistent line and tie a knot.
I had a tough time getting the knot to not pull thru. It takes a little patience.
Add some more eyebrow and punch in loose threads for a more appealing and cute face.
My additional brows made him look much friendlier.
You Made It!
Amazing work, everyone! It’s time to find a good place for our yeti to hang out. Some place high? Maybe near a mountain? This little guy is so cute and cuddly, maybe you don’t want him to be anywhere but by your side!
Thanks to everyone who made it down the mountain! Be sure to follow us on Instagram. We post pics from the park on there as well as the final pics of our projects. Follow us on Pinterest and add some of our pins to your inspiration boards! And please share with your Disney, DIY loving friends and family. We’d really appreciate it!
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