Have you watched Minions 2015? We went for the Minions movie during the weekend and the kids laughed their heads off in the cinema. The Minion movie reminded me that I have a pending Needle Felted Minion tutorial yet to share with you. I made it end of last year and it is a beginner-level project. All you need is a little patience and love to produce this cute little yellow minion.

This Needle Felted Minion is about 4″ high, made from a rolled-up yarn ball as the sculptural core. The sculptural core is then wrapped with the wool followed by the needle felt. It saves up a lot of wool with this method. You may add a jingle bell in the body to make it rattles if you are making it as a toy for the kid.

You can even resize it to turn it into a bigger doll or a smaller charm. You may also adapt the basic shape of this Minion to make other characters of needle felted Minions, tall needle felted Minions, single-eyed needle felted Minions, short needle felted Minions, baby Needle Felted Minions, etc.

How-To Needle Felted Minion

scroll ⬇️ to get the needle felting tutorial

What you need to get ready are some needle felting kits and supplies. Supplies like felting wool or wool roving in banana yellow, denim blue, black, a little on off white, brown, hazelnut brown, and grey. Some yellow and black yarns. Whilst for the tools, you need needle felting needles and cushioning foam, a tapestry needle, a marker, and a pair of scissors.

Love love loves the Minions Stuart, Kevin, Bob, and their fellow Minions colony. They are friendly, funny, innocently simple-minded, and lucky on their thrilling journey. They worked as the henchmen for the world’s first female supervillain Scarlett Overkill and her husband Herb Overkill in the mission to steal the St. Edward’s Crown from Queen Elizabeth, and the adventure begins…

These small, yellow pill-shaped creatures have existed since the beginning of time, evolving from single-celled organisms into beings who have only one purpose: to serve history’s most villainous masters. “Minions 2015” is, in fact, the prequel to the famous “Despicable Me” (2010) and its sequel “Despicable Me 2” (2013). Hence, you will see how Minions transform into this yellow pill-shape figure who is wearing denim overalls and goggles. Lastly, you will see what makes Minions work for Gru in “Despicable Me”.

Say “BA NA NA”

If you are interested in making another Minion’s craft, we have another tutorial to DIY Minions Hat out of Colored Corrugated Cardboard.

WHAT’S NEXT:

Start needle felting and share your completed handmade on Facebook and/or Instagram. Remember to tag us, @craftpassion, so that we are able to see them.
Pin it to Pinterest for a future To-Do List.
Share with your felting groups for a craft-along event.
Browse more craft ideas to make, particularly for Needle felting crafts

Needle Felted Minions - How To

Yield: 4" Tall Needle Felted Minion

Active Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours

Difficulty: Avid Beginner

Estimated Cost: $5 - $10

This needle-felted Minion is about 4 inches tall and is made from a rolled-up yarn ball as the sculptural core. The sculptural core is then wrapped with the wool, followed by the needle felt. It saves up a lot of wool with this method. You may add a jingle bell in the body to make it rattle if you are making it as a toy for the kid.

Enjoy felting them!

Materials

Wool roving in off banana yellow, denim blue, black, a little on off white, brown, hazelnut brown and grey
Yarn – yellow, a little on black

Tools

Multi-Needle Pen Style Needle Felting Tool, Clover with Heavy weight needles
Felting needle, Fine weight
Felting sponge / foam block
Tapestry Needle
Water soluble fabric marker
Scissors

Instructions

Reference tutorials with video:

MORE DETAILS ON HOW TO NEEDLE FELTED A MINION

a. Gather all the materials and tools needed for making needle felted Minions. Note that not all items needed are shown in the picture. Please follow the material list above.
b. Roll the yellow yarn into a dense flat ends pill or ovoid shape of about 3 1/2″ tall and 2 1/4″ wide.
a. Pull about 3 1/2″ wool from the roving (always pull your wool, don’t cut unless instructed), spread out the fibers, and split them into a few groups. Flatten them into thin layers
b. Wrap the thin layer of wool around the basic yarn ball, vertically and horizontally, and cover it up evenly. Add more wool if needed.
a. Pierce the wool with a multi-needle pen (with heavyweight needles) onto the yarn ball.
b. Check if you need more wool to cover up and refine the shaping during the felting.
c. The wool fibers are all intact and the body of the Minions is formed.
Sketch the outline of the denim overalls suit of the Minions with water soluble fabric marker. The suit is about half of the height on Minions, with the front chest piece slightly higher that the back piece.
a. Pull a small amount of 4″ denim blue wool form the roving and split it into 2 equal parts.
b. Pierce them on the foam to form strips, or you can lightly hand-roll them into strips.
a. Place the strip onto the marking of the strap.
b. Pierce the strap with the fine felting needle until the fibers fused onto the body.
Repeat the piercing of strip to the other strap.
a. Pull apart about 6″ of denim wool to make overalls.
b. Fold the loose ends and tuck them under the wool at the edge of the overalls.
c. Pierce the wool to secure the fold.
Pierce the denim wool with multiple needles after you are happy with the coverage. Again, piercing until the fibers are fused into the body and form a nice even layer of felt.
Draw two 5/8″ circle onto the face, about 1/4″ apart.
a. Cover the circles with off white wool and felt them.
b. Add a bit of hazelnut brown wool to make the iris of the eyes. Outline it with dark brown wool, and add a pupil at the center.
c. Add a bit of white on the iris to make the eyes sparkle.
a. Mark two parallel lines on the top of the head, about 3/4″ long and 1/4″ apart.
b. Insert black yarn to the tapestry needle, knot the end.
c. Insert the needle from behind and come out from the end of the line.
Pull the yarn tightly until the knot goes into the head.
It is alright to leave an obvious hole at where the knot created. You can cover it with some wool upon finishing.
a. Sew the yarn on the head to make loops of hair for the Minions, about 3/4″ long.
b. Knot the yarn at the top of the head after the last sew.
c. Bring the needle out at the back of the head, pull to make the knot hidden into the head.
d. Trim off the yarn as close as possible, cover the traces with some yellow wool and pierce.
Cut apart the loops and this is how the Minions looks like with hair.
Make a few piercing on the center part of the hair. If the black yarn is visible at the center yellow part, cover it with some yellow wool and felt it until coordinated.
Just like the way you did the straps for the denim overalls, repeat the same to the goggles strap, fold the loose ends of the wool and tuck under the rest.
a. To make the goggles, felt two identical amount of wool into rod shape of 3″ long.
b. Bring both ends together to form a ring. Pierce the ends.
c. Repeat the same to the other ring.
Place both rings next to each other and join them up by wrapping a small amount of wool and felt to join.
Place the goggles onto the Minion, pierce it in place.
a. Draw a smile on the face.
b. Continuously piercing on the line until a dent line is formed to resemble the smiling mouth.
Next, we are going to give the denim overalls some additional details.
Same method as you did on the smiling mouth, continuously piercing on the side pocket line to make a dent line.
Add a thin black line to further refine the outline.
Repeat the same to the other side.
Add button and front pocket and details with a tiny amount of black wool.
Next, let’s make the arms and legs for the Minion.
Pierce 2 identical amount of yellow wool into a rod shape, about 2″ long with one end rounded and the other end in loose wool. The 2″ length does not include the length of the loose wool.
Use a pair of sharp scissors to snip the round end to make fingers of the Minion.
a. Wrap the fingers with black wool to resemble the black glove.
b. Add a small bit of wool of the glove to make the thumb.
c. Add more black wool at the edge to make the ribbed cuff of the glove.
This is the arm after completed. Repeat the same to make the other arm.
a. Felt the legs with denim wool into a short cylinder shape.
b. Felt the shoes with black wool, form a thick oval shape and pierce the sides to make them dented and resemble the shoes.
Pierce the legs onto the body, add some denim wool at the join and felt it until coordinate and the legs are securely attached to the body.
Attach the shoes to the legs in the same manner.
Lastly, attach both arms to the body, just under the straps.
Needle felted Minions is completed.

Notes

When doing needle felting, pierce your needle straight into the object (don’t bend or prick the needle) to avoid the needle from breaking.
Use a multi-needle in heavyweight for quick felting and use a fine needle to perfect the finishing.
Draw and mark the outline of the shape on the felting object that will guide you on where to felt.
Never cut wool instead pull it out from the roving, unless instructed otherwise.

Get the full article at https://www.craftpassion.com/needle-felted-minions/

Recommended Products

Purchase the exact same material and tool used in this pattern from Craft Passion Shop.