Needle Felting Demonstration

January 20th from 1-3 PM

Needle felting demonstration and instruction with Kathleen Dodge DeHaven

Demonstration will be from 1-1:30 PM, and then you can try it yourself!

For ages 8 through adult. Children must be accompanied by an adult and supervised, as needles will be used.

The Fiber Art of Felting

There are three processes for making felted items: needle felting, wet felting, and Nuno felting. Needle felting differs from wet and Nuno felting because it uses no water. A special felting needle is stabbed over and over into cleaned, processed, and dyed animal fiber, most often sheep's wool. The needle tangles or felts the wool until a sculpture, picture, or other felted artwork is formed. Wet-felting tangles the fibers with water, soap, and agitation. Clothing, accessories, sculptures, pictures, and more can be made this way. When you want to create a fabric with a softer hand, join silk or other light and airy fabrics with wool to create a whole new fabric. This is called Nuno felting, and also involves soap, water, and agitation. Nuno is especially useful for vessels and for wearable items like scarves and dresses.

Local fiber artist, Kathleen Dodge-DeHaven will be demonstrating the art of needle-felting showing how to create a sculpture or picture. She often combines multiple felting techniques with hand embroidery and machine stitching to make one-of-a-kind works of art. If you attended the 2023 Whidbey Island Fair and visited the Fiber Arts exhibition, you likely met Kathleen and saw her working on one of her beautiful felted "paintings."

Kathleen is a member of the Pacific Northwest Art School, Whidbey Working Artists, and Whidbey Weavers Guild. She is also a career musician. Though retired from full-time work, she still continues to freelance in classical and liturgical music. She lives in Coupeville with her husband, Steve, and their cat, Bhuji.