I started making these rolled felt beads a few weeks ago and thought you might enjoy making some for your projects.
Here is what you will need to get started.
- pieces of wool felt
- bamboo skewer or knitting needle (to wrap the felt on)
- hand sewing needles (assorted sizes), thread, scissors
- yarn, perle cotton, embroidery floss (embellishment to wrap around bead)
- assortment of glass seed beads (embellishment to wrap or sew around bead)
First, gather up your materials to make the base of the beads
Here is an assortment of wool felt pieces, acrylic ruler and rotary cutter, bamboo skewer, black silk buttonhole twist thread. Cut a few pieces of felt – 1 inch wide by 2.5 inch long. I chose black felt to make the set of beads for this tutorial.
Take one of the felt strips you cut and wrap it around the skewer tightly. Use your needle and thread to sew the edge closed. I chose white thread for this first bead so you could view the sewn edge.
Once you have completed sewing the edge down, make a knot in the thread, pull the thread through the felt and bury the knot in the felt.
Now pull out your yarn, perle cotton, embroidery floss or whatever you want to use to wrap around the bead.
Below are four beads waiting to be embellished. I used black thread on the other three. It is up to you whether you want the thread to match the bead color or not.
I chose a purple and pink perle cotton, cut a length of each, twisted them together then threaded them onto a crewel needle.
Insert the needle into the felt bead as shown.
Pull the thread through and leave a small tail.
Begin wrapping the thread around the bead, catching the tail as you wrap. Wrap tight enough so the thread will not slide.
Leave some areas unwrapped so the felt color will show through.
When you are done wrapping, insert the needle into the felt bead and pull the thread through to the other side of the bead.
Feed the needle through the bead once more to secure the thread and cut the thread flush with the bead.
Next select a few colors of seed beads. I chose sparkly shades of purple and pink.
Thread a bead needle (this one is a size 10 quilting between) double threaded and knotted at the end. I used waxed silimide thread, but you could use a strong hand sewing thread as well. Pull the needle through the bottom of bead so that the knot is buried in between the layers of felt.
Begin threading the needle with your seed beads.
I created a pattern of 5-3-5 (5 purple beads then 3 pink beads then 5 purple beads) until the length was long enough to wrap around the bead three to four times.
Once the length was right, I wrapped the beaded string around the bead. To secure the string on the bead, I inserted the needle through the felted bead and came out the other side. I made a knot close to the point where the needle exited then pulled the needle through the felted bead again and buried the knot.
And here is the completed rolled felted bead. Pretty cool huh?
I will leave these on the skewer until I am ready to use them. They make great eye candy sitting in my pencil jar.
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Please leave me a comment with your ideas – I’d love to hear what you would make with these.
Keep it simple!
Simply Artistic Pleasures 
I just finished making my first bead, how much fun was that, & NO GLUE!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. So pretty
I LOVE your beads! Thanks for sharing
What nice, easy to follow instructions to make these wonderful felt beads! Of course, the photos help a great deal. There are a lot of us who are audio/visual learners.
Thank you for the wonderful tutorial.
I used sari material as I have heaps of small pieces to make the beads and have made dangers for clothes like ties and on necklace thank you for sharing the tutorial
You could use them like a tassel on pillows. How about using them on blue jeans purses or on jeans. On a head band. Great idea that’s for sharing
Thanks for such a great tutorial. I would love to make few of these beads😊
Can I request for embroidered bead tutorial please? Thanks Marci
Hello Jaya,
I’m so glad you enjoyed the tutorial. I like your idea of an embroidered bead. I’ll see what I can come up with.
Thank you for sending a note. Cheers.
Love your beads and have tried to make some myself. I found it difficult. I am wondering if you sell any on line and where I mite get the green one without orange that’s posted on pinterest.
Hello Rita. At this moment I don’t have stock to sell. I’m planning for some Spring releases though. I will post an update when they are ready. Thank you for asking. Cheers.
Thank you for this. I have found something similar but far more complicated in a beading book. I’m hoping to teach it to a group of crafters from my women’s Institute group and I think I’ll use your method of sewing and beading but be sure I will say where I got this pattern and who has simplified it for me.
Thank you Moira. I would love to see what your group creates. Cheers.
This is a great tutorial. Easy to understand and pretty beads. I hope my bead thread is strong enough…thank you!
Thank you Susan. Enjoy!
Hi, thank you for a great tutorial – it is clear and easy to understand and the pictures reinforce your instructions and inspire with their loveliness! Thank you.
Thanks for a great demonstration. I’ve made fabric beads before, but this is a little different way of doing it and offers great inspiration for embellishment. So nice of you to share your knowledge with others.
I have just found your excellent tutorial thanks to Pinterest. Thank you for sharing this lovely post with your clear explanation and photos for making these charming beads. I have made all kinds of beads in the past including some fun fabric beads too. I really Loki your idea of using the felt for the base of the beads and will keep,this and have a go at making some too when I have some free time.
Warmest best wishes from France,
Susanne
Hi Marci…I also found the above site on Pinterest and followed your comment here to your site. I love these little beads and my mind is spinning out of control with various ideas. Thank you very much for such a wonderfully creative bead!
Marci, I found (through Pinterest) this tutorial on another site. You are credited, but since it’s completely reproduced, I just wanted to make sure it was with your permission. Here’s the link: http://buatkalunggelang.blogspot.com/2010/09/playtime-rolled-felted-beads-tutorial.html
Thank you Shelli for the heads up. I will investigate this further. Have a blessed day.
Glad you found her. She hasn’t taken it down yet, and I’m guessing she won’t. You should submit a DMCA takedown notice. In the meantime, I’m reporting the pins.
So sorry this happened to you.
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Thank you for sharing how to make these wonderful beads … I just happen to have some wool around too 🙂
oxo
Thank you for a great easy idea, love them. Carolynn
I can’t wait to try this delightful idea. How cool. It so fits with what I’m making. Thanks for sharing this. Love your site.
http://kbartdesigns.com
what a easy to follow tutorial fab x
I’ll give them a go n im gunna make some necklaces n bracelets to sell so unusual but easy what fun it will be thanks x
I make fabric beads from silk, cotton and leather. Love this tutorial and have some felt to experiment with. Thanks so much.
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Your tutorial is so nice. Easy to follow. I going to try my hand. Thanks so much. Diane
Great idea. You might like to see Alma Stoller’s website on beads. You can access her site from my blog!. I definitely try a few of these.
Thank you, Marci, for a very clear presentation. I’m going to make a few to add to my altered book project. Diane
Hi Marci,
I ran across your blog and found your rolled felted beads tutorial and found it most enjoyable. I decided that I would introduce my readers to your tutorial and your blog. I also mentioned your philosophy and hope everyone comes to your site and reads about the musings of Marci. I did not tell them what your philosophy was because I want them to go and read about it for themselves. I hope you enjoy my article and you stop by and leave a comment and have your friends and families do the same. Attached is an icon saying we’re talking about you on Craft Gossip if you care to place it on your blog. You have so many fun things to look at and I have to spend more time reading some of your postings.
http://felting.craftgossip.com/2009/02/17/rolled-felted-beads-tutorial/
Warm regards,
Linda Lanese, Craft Gossip felting
Thanks for the tut! Now I know what to do with the drawer of felt I have left from all the penny rugs I never finished…
These are really nice, I want to see what you do with them 🙂
I love these! Very pretty! Thanks for the tutorial.
Love the little bead dishes. Nice photos, too. Felt is so much fun to sew beads onto. This is a great idea. Thanks!
Your bead turned out really pretty! Great tutorial.
Thanks Ann! I hope that you will make some and post a photo!
Very cool! Nice tutorial! 🙂