Due to the weather predictions for Saturday, March 23rd this workshop has been rescheduled to Saturday, March 30th at 10:00 am.  Registered participants will automatically be registered for the rescheduled workshop. If you are preregistered and unable to attend on the 30th please email us at events@shakermuseum.org.

Tapestry Needle Felting Workshop

10 am – 4 pm

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Join Vermont fiber artist Neysa Russo for an incredible workshop and unlock the mysteries of tapestry needle felting.

A simple technique that uses barbed needles to decorate a wool surface with design, work on a design that inspires you and use colors of our own choosing. Select from Neysa’s many tapestry needle felting designs or create your own from scratch. Along the way, you build your needling skills, gain design experience and experiment with color. Simple design shapes combine to create beautifully unique and personal folk-art tapestries. While we needle, we will talk about inspiration, composition, color choices, needle varieties, fiber, felting history, and many techniques and tricks are offered to keep your felting moving forward. Finally, participants will gain insight into the basic principle of wet felting in a way that is straight forward and accessible using readily available equipment.

BEGINNERS ARE WELCOME! No skills are required, but you must be able to pinch the needles.

All materials and needles are supplied.

During the class, you may not be able to complete your 15-inch square felted design, nevertheless, you will go home with all the supplies and skills needed to complete the tapestry on your own.

Children 8 and older are welcome to attend but must be accompanied by an adult.

Class is limited to 12 participants. Advance registration is required.

Please bring a bag lunch, the Museum will provide a dessert and beverage for each participant.

Museum Member – $110 (materials included)

Non-Member – $130 (materials included)

All proceeds from this workshop go to support the educational mission of Enfield Shaker Museum.

Coming from a distance? Why not plan to stay overnight in the historic Great Stone Dwelling? Check out room availability here.

Want to know more? Visit Neysa’s website http://thefeltingstudio.com to see examples of her exceptional work or read her Artist Statement below:

My inspiration is derived from a passion for ancient textiles and needlework from around the world and through the ages. People, animals and foliage combine to breathe life into my folk art scenes. The technical portion of each handmade wool felt tapestry is created in a three stage process.

The first stage is to create a piece of felt from carded wool that will be used as a blank canvas. Felt is made the same way today as it has been since ancient times. Wool, water and pressure are combined, forcing strands of the fiber to entangle. As the agitation and pressure is applied and the strands wrap around one another, a durable fabric is created.

The second stage is to decorate the surface of the felt with design. A felting needle has barbs located on the bottom inch. Carded wool is pushed through the surface of the felt with the needle. The needle has a sharp point allowing me to attain precision and detail when needling the colors.

Once decorated, the final step is to saturate the entire tapestry with hot water and begin applying pressure once again. This allows the needled fibers to entangle with the felt base, unifying the design work and creating a solid piece of dense fabric.