Easy Wet Felting Wall Hanging for Beginners

A carded wool picture hanging on the wall.

There is something wonderfully calming about creating with wool. In this easy wet felting wall hanging tutorial, you’ll learn how to transform soft, colourful wool fibres into a beautiful piece of handmade art inspired by nature. Whether you’re completely new to wet felting or looking for a relaxing creative project, this step-by-step guide will show you how to layer, felt, and finish a unique wall hanging that brings warmth and texture to your home. With just a few simple materials and a little patience, you’ll discover how enjoyable and rewarding this traditional fibre craft can be.

Materials:

Different colours of wool roving
Soap
warm water
bubble wrap (optional)
An old towel (optional)
A stick and string for hanging

Wool roving:

Wool roving is soft wool that has been cleaned, brushed, and gathered into long, fluffy strips. It hasn’t been spun into yarn, so the fibres are loose and easy to shape.

You can buy different colours; natural dyes create softer, warmer, and more earthy colours than many synthetic dyes.

How to make it:

Thin pieces of carded wool on a bubble wrap square.

Step 1:

The first layer of wool is in the downward direction until you reach the size of the piece you want, and the next layer is in an across direction. Repeat these two steps to achieve at least four layers of wool.

Step 2:

Now you can start making your picture.

For the sky, my 8-year-old son put blue, purple, rosy pink and orange wool. Then, he made the green grass, and on top, he made the trees, the sun, and some flowers.

A child's hand puting colour carded wool on top of white carded wool to make a picture

a bowl of soapy water and a childs hand splashing the soap suds on to a carded wool picture

Step 3:

Once your picture is finished, mix the soap and warm water to make lots of suds, grab some, and splash them over the felt picture. Cover most of the picture with the suds, and then cover with bubble wrap.

Step 4:

Press the bubble wrap gently, then apply very light pressure, and start the felting process by rubbing with your finger in circular motions. Do this gently so the image does not move.

A childs hand presing bubble wrap that is covering a wool picture

A child is making a wool picture, and bubble wrap is covering it.

Step 5:

After a short while, lift the bubble wrap to check the image and check whether any parts need more soap suds; then smooth the edges.

Then cover it and continue felting until you can pinch the felt; if no fibres come out, it should be ready.

This takes time, so take turns with your child.

To speed the process, wrap the bubble wrap around a pool noodle, then wrap the old towel around the pool noodle. With the palms of your hands or your forearms, apply gentle pressure and roll your pool noodle the length of your hands or forearms.

For more instructions on how to work with the pool noodle, please take a look at my wet felting tutorial.