Felting Needle Gauges demystified: Sensible advice for lazy felters
Felting needles come in many different gauges, from coarse to fine. In this post, LeBrie Rich of PenFelt Studio explains the gauges, and recommends the two best needles for most felting projects.
Felting needle gauges - from coarse to fine
Felting needles come in gauges 32 - 42. The lower the number, the coarser the needle. In general, you want to match your needle gauge to the fiber you’re using - use a fine needle with fine wool, and coarser needles with coarse wool. Here are the most common felting needles on the market:
36 gauge needle - coarse needle. Use it for starting out sculpting when you want to move a lot of wool quickly. Also great for joining felted pieces together. Switch to a finer needle when you’ve roughed in the shape and want to smooth out the texture.
38 gauge needle - all-purpose needle. Good for most uses - if you only buy one needle, choose the 38. Less susceptible to breakage than the 40 - if you’re a needle breaker you might try this as a finishing needle (also read the post on how to avoid breaking needles).
40 gauge needle - fine needle. My preferred finishing needle - great for adding details to your work without modifying the overall shape. It is thin so it won’t leave holes in your project.
For projects about the size of an apple or smaller, these are the only needles you really need. If you’re working much larger, or with coarser wool, a coarser needle will felt the wool faster. If your wool is very fine (or if you’re using combed top) you might try the 42 gauge.
The rule of thumb is: if you’re getting big holes in your felt, use a finer needle. If the felting is going too slowly, try a coarser needle that will move more wool.
Felting needle shapes - triangle, star, spiral & reverse
Felting needles come in four shapes. 90% of the needles on the market are triangular - and they work great in almost all cases. If you get really into needle felting though, you might want to experiment with other needles.
Triangular felting needle. The standard needle. You know it, you love it!
Star felting needle. It has 4 sides - felts a little faster than the triangle because it has more barbs.
Spiral felting needle. Used for attaching hair or doing 2D applique on fabric. It pokes less of a hole in the felt than the other needles.
Reverse felting needle. The Wacky Wednesday of felting needles. The barbs are upside down - when you pull it out of the felt it brings a little puff of fibers out. Most often used for making fuzzy texture.
Full disclosure: I only ever use two different felting needles!
Over the years I have bought many “completion sets” of needles to try them all out. It’s fun to see how they perform with different fibers. However, 99% of the time I only ever use two needles: 36 triangle (for shaping) and 40 triangle (for finishing). These two needles do everything I want even though I have 20 others to choose from.
With needle felting you don’t need a lot of specialized equipment - just get a basic needle and start stabbing.
Happy felting!