How to Make Needle Felted Mushrooms

We love an autumn craft here at Babipur. These needle felted wool mushrooms, made by our lovely friend Danielle, are a great project to try as the evenings draw in. With colourful caps, little white spots, and tiny flowers around the stems, they make beautiful handmade decorations for an autumn seasonal table.

Danielle shares her inspiration below, followed by step-by-step instructions to help you make your own.

Autumn crafting with Danielle

A wooden house-shaped shelf filled with colorful wooden toy figures and small decorative pieces, styled on a tabletop with Gluckskafer felt mushrooms, dried flowers, pinecones, and a glass vase of botanicals against a light wall.

“Autumn has got to be one of my favourite seasons. The changing colours of nature, golden sunlight, crisp air, crunchy leaves, and fun autumnal crafts.

Needle felting is such a lovely craft. I love that you can turn a ball of wool into a fuzzy felted creation. It is the perfect time of year to make autumn-themed decorations for seasonal displays.

I’d been eager to test out the Glückskäfer wool from Babipur, so I was really excited to create something for their autumn craft blog. And what says autumn more than toadstools?

We love nothing more than a walk in the woods spotting all the unusual fungi. We absolutely love them here, and it’s no wonder they’re one of my favourite felting creations to make.”

What is needle felting?

Needle felting uses a special barbed needle to tangle wool fibres together. As you repeatedly poke the wool, it becomes firmer and holds its shape. You can gradually build up your creation, adding small amounts of wool and shaping different areas.

For Danielle’s felted mushrooms, the stem and cap are made separately before being joined together.

What you’ll need

A handcrafted Gluckskafer felted wool mushroom pin or ornament with an orange cap, white spots, and a green-and-white stem, displayed on a small burlap pillow over a wooden surface.

Glückskäfer felting wool in white and your chosen mushroom colours.
Felting needles.
A felting mat, pad, or brush.
Small amounts of green and other coloured wool if you’d like to add flower details.

Felting needles are sharp craft tools, recommended for ages 14+. Always work on a suitable felting surface and keep your fingers away from the needle’s path.

A six-panel collage showing the step-by-step creation of a Gluckskafer felted mushroom figurine. The process begins with wool felt pieces on a burlap cushion, progressing from a white stem to an orange cap with white spots, and finally to a painted green and yellow flower at the base.

1. Shape the stem

Place some white wool on your felting mat and loosely roll it into a stem shape. Poke the wool repeatedly with your felting needle, turning it between short sections of felting so you work around all sides.

The fibres will gradually felt together and become firmer. Keep the base a little wider if you’d like your mushroom to stand up.

Bring the needle out at the same angle it went in, without bending or twisting it inside the wool.

2. Make the mushroom cap

Take some coloured wool and work it into a rounded cap on your mat. Keep turning it as you felt, shaping the top into a dome and making the underside flatter where it will meet the stem.

You can make tall, narrow toadstools or mushrooms with wide caps. They don’t all need to look the same.

3. Add the white spots

Take tiny pieces of white wool and place them on the cap. Carefully needle felt each one into the coloured wool, working around its edges to make a little round spot.

Add as many or as few as you like.

4. Join the cap and stem

Position the top of the stem against the underside of the cap. With the mushroom supported on your felting mat, carefully needle felt the joining area so the fibres bind together.

Work around the join, keeping your fingers clear. Add a little more wool if needed to help secure it.

5. Add the finishing details

For the decorated stem shown in Danielle’s photographs, felt small wisps of green wool around the base and up the sides. Tiny pieces of coloured wool can be added for flowers.

These details are optional. A plain white stem and spotted cap make a lovely mushroom too.

How to help your felted mushroom stand up

Danielle’s tip is to add more wool around the base of the stem so it’s wider at the bottom. With the mushroom supported on the mat, felt the underside until it’s firm and reasonably flat.

Try standing it up, then adjust the base a little at a time until it balances.

Handmade mushrooms for your autumn seasonal table

Three handcrafted Gluckskafer felt mushroom figurines in red, orange, and yellow with white spots, displayed on a round wooden plate with pinecones and autumn leaves, with a blurred background of toys and dried flowers.

Make toadstools in different shapes, sizes, and colours for your autumn seasonal display. Arrange them with pinecones and fallen leaves, or make a little group on a wooden plate, as Danielle has done in her photographs.

These handmade mushrooms are decorations, so keep them out of reach of babies and young children.

A huge thank you to our lovely friend Danielle for sharing her needle felted mushrooms, tips, and photographs with us. You can find the felting wool, needles, and more craft supplies at Babipur.