How to needle felt a cherry keyring

Learn how to needle felt a cherry keyring and make your bag or keys look extra cute!

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Phoebe Burt

Published: April 26, 2021 at 1:00 pm

Have you tried felting yet? Maybe you’ve seen our how to felt guide in issue 13 of Mollie Makes to make the felted doglets? If you’re new to felting and you’d like to practice before launching into Gretel Parker's adorable needle felted animals, this guide to making cherry keyrings is a great beginner project.

A warm welcome to Katherine Jalaty. We’ll hand the reins over to her for now, so she can let us in on this fantastic beginners’ needle felting project. Over to you Katherine!

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries

This is a quick needle felting project to spruce up any handbag or piece of luggage. It’s an ideal starter project, and great practice if you’re thinking of trying out the needle felted doglets in issue 13 of Mollie Makes. These fruity felt decorations are easy to make. Give them a go!

You will need

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries materials

An 8″ length of leather cord (available from most jewellery making suppliers, or shoe repair stores)
Wool roving (natural and red)
Felting block and needles
Key ring finding
Green felt

How to needle felt a cherry keyring

You will need:

Roving
Cord
Felting mat

Step 1

To begin, fold your leather cord in half and, holding it in the middle of the key ring, pull the ends through the loop in order to secure it to the ring.

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 1

Tie a knot on each end of the leather.

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 3

Step 2

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 4

Wrap a length of the natural coloured wool roving around your fingers to form a loose ball (about the size of a golf ball). Make sure there is a hole in the centre, as shown.

Step 3

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 5

Slip one of the strips of leather through the middle of the sphere.

Step 4

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 6

And use your needle to felt the wool into a ball shape. Watch your fingers, those needles are really sharp!

Step 5

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 7

Repeat to create a second cherry…

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 8

Step 6

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 9

Using a needle, adhere a layer of red felt to each cherry…

Step 7

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 11

Cut two little leaves out of green felt and hot glue them to the back of your cherry stems.

And you’re done! These needle-felt cherry keyrings are really quick to make and make great last-minute gifts.

how to needle felt a bunch of cherries step 11

Thanks for sharing your brilliant tutorial with us, Katherine. This felted cherry keyring will look super-cute and we will be giving this a try ourselves. Now you’ve made your needle felt cherry keyring why not try another needle felting project? We have a teacup pincushion and some needle felt birds to try out too.

SEO and Communities Editor, Gathered

Phoebe has worked for Gathered, and our sister magazine Mollie Makes, for 3 years. She manages our Arts & Crafts section and specialises in social media and content strategy. She has a background in all things marketing, a flair for Pinterest and a knack for finding the next big craft trend. Previously she worked as Digital Campaign Executive for Fat Media. You may recognise her name from Mollie Makes Social Media magazine, where she shared her expertise and top tips on becoming social media savvy. She has two passions in life - craft (specifically embroidery) and music. She's written for online music publications including Bristol in Stereo, Culture or Trash and Festival Mag so if you're looking for a new band recommendation she's the one to ask.