How to Make felted Wool Ball Ornaments
Wool ornaments……what? If you think about it, it’s not that goofy. We hang wool garland as nursery decor. We give wool felted toys to our children. We wear wool. We use wool diaper covers.
I decided to make wool Christmas tree ornaments because my wool dryer balls kind of look like they would be cute on a tree. Plus, let’s be real. I have a lot of kids, and as I write this, they are young. They have shattered nearly all of my glass ornaments due to general toddlerhood and then rough-housing. I don’t like that plastic look of the shatter proof balls. Just like I dislike the look of wood veneers, faux leather, and plastic plants. We are all about rustic and earthy here on the farm, so wool just makes sense for an unbreakable ornament.
Plus, making them is so easy!
You’ll need:
- String for hanging
- Raw wool roving
- An old set of pantyhose
- Rubber bands or string
- Optional wool felt for decoration
Be sure if you use colored felt for decoration, that it is at least 50 percent wool felt. A merino blend works fine. A poly felt won’t blend well with your raw wool for felting. You can cut out any shapes you like for the balls, but it will shrink a lot, so make them bigger and more defined than you want them to be.
For my hanging string, I went with baking twine. The red and white twine reminds me of candy canes and it seems more “home spun” and down to earth than the glitzy gold ribbon. Not that I don’t still love glitzy ribbon. I use it on some of my other ornaments.
Cut the string into strips about eight inches or longer. Tie the ends with an over under knot.
From here, we are making these just like dryer balls, but we will wrap the wool around the string.
Make Your Balls:
Roll a bit of batting around the bottom half of your string loop. Pull more batting from the bunch and wrap it around the ball. Keep it snug enough to hold together. Keep adding wool to your ball until it is about three times the size you desire for the end ornamant. It seems big now, but it will shrink up a ton.
Put the balls inside the stockings, separating each ball by tying with string or Rubber bands on the outer side of the balls. You are tying between balls much like your would links of sausage. Once all of your balls are securely and snuggly tied into the pantyhose/tights, they are ready for the washer and dryer.
Once they have gone through one hot wash and hot dry, you can remove them from the stocking and run them through your machine again to round out the lumps. If you run them through your machine with a load of laundry, be forewarned that your laundry will smell like lanolin for a few washes. No big deal, but some people don’t like the scent of raw wool.
After they have gone through washing and drying 3-4 times, they will be completely felted, lump free, and ready to hang.
And then go hang them on your spruce or fir or your artificial tree. As much as I like natural materials, I never judge an artificial Christmas tree! Living on a tree farm, I know just how messy real trees can be!
There you go! Shatter proof Christmas tree ornaments made from natural materials and trendy to boot. And the kids can help make them. You can even take it further and make a wool garland.