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DIY Elbow Patch

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While perusing Pinterest one evening, I came across an intriguing tutorial on the wonderful art of needle felting. I had to learn more – especially after realizing it entailed repeatedly stabbing a needle up and down into a piece of fabric or sweater. A satisfying stress reliever that results in something wearable? Sign me up. And now that I can officially call myself a needle felting maven (and nerd), trust me when I say that you’re going to have a blast with this technique. So grab your supplies and let’s get started on a pair of heart shaped elbow patches!

You’ll need:

With the sweater on, place a piece of tape about half an inch below the elbow. Do the same with the opposite elbow. Remove the sweater and insert the foam block into one of the sleeves.

Align and center the bottom of the cookie cutter along the top of the tape. Pinch off a few tufts of wool roving.

Fill the cutter, spreading out the wool fibers evenly.

At the base of all felting needles are tiny, sharp burrs, which grab and interlock the wool fibers. While holding the needle vertically, repeatedly stab it into the wool roving and through the sweater. I found it easier to work around the outer perimeter of the cutter first and then work my way inwards. Important tip: To prevent breaking the needle, always keep the needle upright and never at an angle. And don’t forget to pay careful attention to your fingers while felting as the needle is extremely sharp. Honestly.

Continue stabbing away until the surface is flat and even. Fun, right?!

Remove the cutter and use the tip of the needle to reign in any stray fibers, if necessary. Don’t worry about the holes as they will be mended later.

Patch up any bare or uneven spots by adding more wool roving where needed.

Carefully peel the sweater away from the foam. Notice that the fibers have transferred through to the backside of the sweater.

To smooth and set the patch, spritz with water and press with an iron on the wool setting.

Repeat the same steps the other sleeve.

Ta da! Your heart shaped elbow patches are finished!

(all images by HonestlyWTF)

400 Comments

  1. Anne    January 31, 2012

    I love this, I saw this as well, and wanted to learn more.. this is fantastic!!

  14. k    January 31, 2012

    WOOOW; this is soo cool!! i have never even heard about this!!
    Had a elbow patch day at my blog too a few weeks back, but this is taking it to a new level!
    I love it!!! thanks for sharing!!

    love K

  23. Silw    January 31, 2012

    Dear, I have one question about this DIY. Do the sweater needs to be 100% wool or just 20% or less or more percentages?

  29. Vienna    January 31, 2012

    We enjoy needle felting in our house and this is a fun idea for warmth and love:)

  31. FabiaJPS    January 31, 2012

    Hy!
    This technique is cool, but do you know if it remains in place after washing the sweater?

    Thanks for sharing!
    Fabia JPS

  32. SuzyMcQ    January 31, 2012

    To make this a bit easier, you can purchase wool felt, and it must be 100% wool felt, cut it into a heart shape, place on your sweater and jab away. The felt will incorporate itself into the fabric of the sweater in the same way the roving does.

    For wool felt Etsy is a great resource.

  35. Malia    January 31, 2012

    Great idea, now I gotta go and find the supplies, thanks for sharing.

    notjustanotherfnblog.blogspot.com

  46. Lindsey    January 31, 2012

    sooo cute! what do u recommend for care when washing this type of material???

  50. courtney    January 31, 2012

    oh my gosh. that’s so sweet! i have been meaning to do heart shaped elbow patched on my jacket forever but i was just gonna use a denim fabric or something. but this is WAY cooler!!!

  52. Chanelle    January 31, 2012

    Oh so sweet ! No problem to wash it ? And must the sweater be in whool absolutely ?

    sorry for the english, french fan ;)

  53. Material fixations    January 31, 2012

    I’ve known about kneedle felting for a while (my mother was a project craze when I was growing up and taught me all sorts of fun and ussless skills. But this is really clever!

  64. mackenzie    January 31, 2012

    Felting is SO much fun! And roving is so beautiful! Love this post and am totally adding this to my DIY-do list.
    xoxo,
    Mackenzie

  65. Emma    January 31, 2012

    Really good idea!! I would like to do it myself aswell, but do you know if you’re able to do your sweater in the washing machine, or will the felt come off again? Would love to hear from you xxx

  67. sarah    January 31, 2012

    genius! I freaking LOVE this – and I think I have most of the materials already. how cute will this be for Valentine’s? =)

  68. sarah    January 31, 2012

    PS – Emma, if you are using a 100% wool sweater, you probably don’t want to wash it in the first place – it’ll shrink like the dickens, even if you don’t put it in the dryer (and you need to felt onto 100% wool as the felting needle is designed to help tangle the wool fibers around other wool fibers; I’m not sure you’ll be as successful if you are not using 100% wool). And I don’t think the needle felting would come off, but it DEFINITELY would shrink and warp if you put it in the wash. Hand washing SHOULD be okay, but you’ve got to use really cool water, and woolite (or ecover) and not let it soak longer than 3 minutes before rinsing and drying, and you’ll still probably notice that the wool will gradually shrink/contract over time, with repeated hand-launderings, which may cause the elbow of the sweater to pucker and/or the heart shapes to warp into something less adorable. (Still, it’s what I plan to do, honestly; I hand wash most of my wool sweaters cos I simply can’t afford to pay for dry cleaning)

  72. Whitney    January 31, 2012

    this is such a cute idea! I am a little bit obsessed. but I have a quick question, do both the sweater and the roving need to be wool or can the sweater be some other material? I am slightly allergic to wool so an entire sweater of it would send me over the edge but if it were just the elbows I could totally handle it. let me know! I would love to try this if I could :)

  73. Erica    January 31, 2012

    @Whitney, I’m sure felting on woven cotton would work – I don’t see why you shouldn’t try! Good luck!

  74. Samina    January 31, 2012

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  77. Rio and Jane    January 31, 2012

    Sweetness!!!!! so cute!

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  78. Audrea    January 31, 2012

    WHOA! I never even knew such a thing existed. So cool and so easy! Must try. thank youuuu!
    I’ve been looking for something to spruce up my wardrobe. Look at some of my outfits and give suggestions, would you?? I would so appreciate it!

    http://www.audreamy.blogspot.com

  80. Root    January 31, 2012

    This is such a sweet idea! I love elbow patches and this looks easy enough for even me to do! Thanks!!

  84. Jessica    January 31, 2012

    Love this!!!! I’m going to do this myself!!! Super cute!!!!

  85. ONE LOVE ONE DNA    February 1, 2012

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  86. laure    February 1, 2012

    LOve the idea:) I made one inspired from Zadigue and Voltaire! Come have a look …
    ilovedoityourself.blogspot.com

  87. Paula    February 1, 2012

    Oh I am SO excited to do this! I’m going to be extra cheesy and wear it on Vaneltines day ;) x

  94. DC2NY    February 1, 2012

    OMG, I had no idea about such incredible craft as needle felting! Girls, thank you so much for ShARinG this diy, <3<3<3
    I'm going to do it for sure!!!
    Btw, I voted for you on Bloglovin' and hope you win!!!

    DC2NYConfessions Blog

  105. Amanda    February 1, 2012

    This is such a great way to add a personal touch to my old cardigan! I have never heard of needle felting until now, and it looks so much better than a cut-out and sewn-on patch of craft felt would. Thanks for sharing this project!

  106. S    February 1, 2012

    Would it work on a thermal shirt? Would the texture affect the felting?

  107. hikaru    February 1, 2012

    inspirational as always!!!! thanks for the great tutorial!!!

  109. Erica    February 1, 2012

    @Ran @Jillian no, the patch will not come off and is not removable. And wool should always be dry cleaned or carefully hand washed. @Beindolwen yes, you can make patches in any shape. I like using cookie cutters which obviously come in all shapes and sizes, including stars!

  111. Erica    February 1, 2012

    @S I haven’t tried needle felting on anything else other than wool but I’m sure it should work on loosely knitted cotton. It’s worth a try! Good luck!!

  114. Greta    February 2, 2012

    What a cute DIY idea… very suitable for upcoming Valentine’s day. Thanks for sharing it.

  117. Marj    February 2, 2012

    Omg! Haleluiah!!!!!! This is so awesome!! I love doing projects like this. Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!!

  126. Liz    February 3, 2012

    Not sure if you mentioned it somewhere, and I missed it…but did you use wool roving from the website that you linked to? If so, what color? I want to recreate this exactly since it is to die for :)

  127. Lynn    February 3, 2012

    Erica this is totally what I had been searching for — as soon as sweater season hit I knew I needed to do something about elbow patches. This felting thing is bomb-ass.

  131. Lili    February 4, 2012

    I love the idea, but what about washing the sweater? the woll roving will cretainly leave colorful stains all around the patches…

  133. Mette    February 4, 2012

    Omg so wonderful, so unique and awesome!
    check out my blog: www-le.courage.dk, and leave a comment:)

    Love from denmark <3

  134. Miss K    February 4, 2012

    Thanks for this DIY! I spent the week gathering supplies and did it this afternoon. I LOVE the results. The first time I put too much wool roving in the cookie cutter, but it was easy to peel off and try again once I had it down.

    I found your blog through pinterest and am a convert!

  136. Sara    February 5, 2012

    Best DIY ever! so easy and so pretty! I loved it! greetings from Portugal :)

  139. Evelina    February 6, 2012

    Wow – this is amazing! I’ll definitely want to try it out one day! :)

  141. Mhea    February 7, 2012

    Unbelievable. But if I had to do something like this, I’d be a little worried :D

  147. JennyOH    February 9, 2012

    So cool! I’ve seen needle felting mentioned elsewhere but never really knew what went into it. Great idea for a beginner project. I think I have hand and star-shaped cookie cutters which would be equally neato for a patch.

  148. Sewitsa    February 9, 2012

    Hi Gina,
    Wow that’s Great! You know I never knew you could do this by hand…..i’ve only ever seen the felting machines! (like sewing machines) x

  150. Hafizah    February 10, 2012

    LOVE it! looks so easy and really cute. Thanks for this, going to try it one day. Hope you don’t mind me linking it on my blog :)

  152. Sara Moura    February 12, 2012

    WHOA! So cute!! It’s easy and it lokks great! I think I will try this on an old sweater :) Thank you so much!

    Btw visit my blog, I have posted a few fun DIYs too :)

    Made by: sara

  154. Wesley Barras    February 12, 2012

    Nice post. I need to put this on my blog! I am going to buy these materials and try to make it. Whoever came up with those red hearts is a pure genius.

  156. Amy    February 13, 2012

    About how much wool roving did you use? I just want to be sure I get enough. Thank you so much! Can’t wait to try this!

  157. cindy    February 13, 2012

    You are the queen! I’d seen this popping around Pinterest and finally took a moment to track down the original post. Huzzah huzzah! And now… I go snoop around your blog. :D

  159. tantra tapok    February 16, 2012

    wonderful idea, I have all the materials necessary to try something similar. I am interested in the question of washing? wash your hands in cold water, perhaps? or not to wash? you certainly have the experience, please share
    …. and greetings from Moscow :)

    http://tantratapok.blogspot.com/

  163. tameka    February 29, 2012

    This looks fun! Can this only be done on wool? Do you know if this works on socks (like darning socks)?

  164. Amy    February 29, 2012

    Just an update, I purchased wool roving @ Hobby Lobby, a great big bag of various colors! I did my first trial on a very nice 100% wool sweater (mens actually for a good price on evilbay), turned out well! I was actually surprised at how easy it really was. I had LOTS of roving left over. THEN, while I was at Walmart…yeah, I know…..they had little girls sweaters on clearance for $7. They were acrylic and cotton (I believe more acrylic than cotton…the cheap ones! LOL) So I purchased one to try it out, and if it worked, my niece would get a cute sweater out of the deal! I followed all these instructions, BUT I made sure to really get a good amount of the roving through to the other side. THEN, I even washed it! *gasp!* I washed on gentle, in cold water, and then I did the unthinkable….I tumble dryed on ‘cool’ for about 10 minutes. It turned out PERFECT! The wool felted just enough to really keep it in place, but not enough to shrink horribly and distort the shape or wrinkle the sweater sleeves. I wouldn’t do the same if I was planning on a large design, as it would be too noticable, but for a little girls sweater, it turned out fine!

  165. Rachel    March 7, 2012

    Thank you for this, I have shared this on my blog because it is inspirational. We are just starting to experience the first signs of Autumn here in Melbourne and the other day I pulled out a boring black merino wool top and give it a new look..which I am sure my friends will ask about. Please check out my blog if you have the time.

    Cheeers from Melbourne, Australia

  166. Megan    March 10, 2012

    This is awesome, definitely gonna go get supplies and do this to my cardigan tonight. What are the care instructions afterwards though?

  170. Asha    March 14, 2012

    This is awesome! I was wondering though if you could do it on a regular tee shirt though I was thinking of doing diff designs on some shirts I got since it’s a bit warmer now. Thanks in advance!

  172. Sophia C    March 22, 2012

    This is an easier take on elbow patches! I used to sew them on with printed swatches I collected from work. I will definitely have to try this!

  173. Molly    March 22, 2012

    Such a great post interesting and fun. I totally agree anything to take out a little aggression that in the end creates something cute. Sign me up!!

  174. Toni    March 24, 2012

    Finally, a clothing revamp that doesn’t require sewing skills……count this talentless soul in!
    toni xo

  175. Catherine Yarmosh    March 24, 2012

    So cute….hope it’s easy to do! Going to try it on my daughter’s shirt:)

  176. Mary    April 1, 2012

    It is amazing, so nice and simple to do!
    I was wondering, how much fibre do you need?

  177. Lara    April 5, 2012

    Love this DIY! It’s a little bit unclear to me though.. Do you have to put the sweater inside out?
    ‘Cause I don’t really get it after the step ‘take out the foam’ it looks to me as if you put the sweater inside out..?
    Xo

  178. Marie    April 9, 2012

    It is so cute! I’m going to try this as soon as I can!
    One question: has the felting needle a special function or is it also possible to just use a regular needle like one you use for stitching?
    <3

  182. luck    May 8, 2012

    How do you launder the sweater or sweatshirt after adding felting

  184. Callie    May 20, 2012

    I’m about to go on uni holidays for 6 weeks but I won’t have a minute to spare with all these awesome projects! I will be little miss felting heart elbow patch just you wait. You’re my new favourite imaginary friend :)

  189. Rachel    June 16, 2012

    I love this, I’m going to use the same technique for cushions!

  190. Kristie    June 24, 2012

    Does anyone know if this ONLY works on wool sweaters? :(

  192. Annie123    July 8, 2012

    Adorable :) does anybody know if you can use polyester??

  193. Annie123    July 8, 2012

    Adorable :) does anybody know if you can use polyester fabric?

  194. Crystal    July 27, 2012

    sorry if you already answered this, but does it have to be a wool sweater? and can it be other fabrics? i would love to do this to a hoodie that is mainly cotton with some polyester.

  197. Kait    August 11, 2012

    Just wondering about how long you have to be doing this before you see it start to flatten and look like that photo? I tried this and was at it for nearly 3 hours and was getting no where. My craft store only sold one type of felting needle, so I’m wondering if that’s the case? :( :( :( .

  198. laura    August 15, 2012

    Hey, this is so cool, i just did it by myself! I hope it’s no problem that I translated it to German and posted it on my blog :)

  200. sugarmomma    August 27, 2012

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  201. Chernalyn    August 29, 2012

    I saw this on pinterest and I had to repin it!! I plan on doing this project soon, and I was wondering if the sweater has to be wool?

  204. Kayla    September 11, 2012

    does the sweater need to be turned inside out. this is confusing one photo all the felt is inside the next its all been pulled back out……i guess im dumb but this makes no sense :( and i wanna try this but those last steps are drawing a zigzag instead of a straight line for me

  205. Rachel    September 19, 2012

    Hello,

    I am an Editor at Ladies Home Journal and would like to include your heart patch picture in a future issue of the magazine. Since this was a DIY project, I am assuming that this was an original photo taken by you? Would love to talk more, and fill you in on details of the story I’m working on. I hope to hear from you – rachel.shippy@meredith.com

  207. Monique D.    October 9, 2012

    Such a great and creative idea! And a great gift idea – cant wait to get started on this with one of my plain old sweaters! Thank you!!! Cheers!

  208. Tania Egan    October 21, 2012

    Hi Erica! I found this super cute tutorial via Pinterest, and I do hope that you don’t mind me sharing it over on my blog! I have done a blog post on cardigan make-overs, and have included this as one of my favourites, with a link back here. Tania ♥

  212. holly    November 20, 2012

    can you use any sweater or does it have to be made out of wool???? i would love to do this for my friend but i can’t find any wool sweaters she would like. I would love to try it on a hoodie….. this is such an adorable idea. thank you so much for sharing how you did this!

  213. Erica    November 20, 2012

    @holly, I’ve only known this to work on wool. you can, however, do a test patch on cotton . . . maybe try it on an old cotton tee first.

  215. Ammon    December 4, 2012

    How strong is the join? Would they survive going through the washer and drier?

  217. Cristina    December 18, 2012

    Hi! Brilliant idea, but I don’t understand one thing: is that natural wool or some synthetic fiber? And how resistant are these patches?

  220. Keiwan    December 23, 2012

    Can I use felt instead of wool? I don’t know where to find wool.
    Really appreciate if you answer me by email too, I barely have time to check the internet.
    keiwan.0207@gmail.com

  221. Megan    December 28, 2012

    I bought an 82% merino wool sweater and no luck. I am not sure what my problem is. Is it the sweater? Could it be the needle? (The felting kit I bought does not say what gauge it is.) Can anyone help? Thanks!

  222. oonie    January 1, 2013

    Hi, I wanted to try this. I have a thicker knit sweater will it still work?

  223. CoastieGirl02    January 1, 2013

    Gonna use this technique to make some creative tacky Christmas sweaters next year. I don’t knit so this will be a super easy and fun alternative that I can use to create fun sweaters for my kids and family members. Yay, so excited to be able to use my cookie cutters for something other than salt dough ornaments. The possibilities are endless.

  226. Sarah    January 18, 2013

    I’m crazy for this! I dabbled in needle felting a while back, so I have all the supplies on hand. Thanks for sharing!

  227. Darcy    January 23, 2013

    What a DELIGHTFUL idea! Thank you for this tutorial!

    Darcy from TheWildRoses.etsy.com

  228. sanne    January 27, 2013

    thanks, great tutorial. what a great feeling to stab something, was having so much fun my needle broke so im left with 1 1/2 elbow patch. Better order a new needle now!

  229. Dawn    February 5, 2013

    These are so cute! My kids will love these and I do not even have to sew :) Sewing is not at all my specialty (ok I am not at all good at it lol.) Thank you for showing us step by step, I will have some fun doing this project!

  232. E. Talamante    February 11, 2013

    Pity this is so cute, and I’m severely allergic to wool!

    I would like to know if there is a different blend that could be used?

  233. Jacinda    February 11, 2013

    I’m planning to try this out, but I’d like to know if it is a must to be using wool? Can I use a different material? Thanks in advance! :)

  235. Destiny    February 22, 2013

    Does anyone know if a cashmere sweater could be used instead of a wool sweater
    ?

  236. Jess    March 3, 2013

    SUCH a good tutorial!! I just had a go and your instructions were AMAZING!! Thanks so much! :)

  238. Melissa    March 25, 2013

    I love this! I just started needle felting a few months ago, and really enjoy it; I am always looking at things wondering how it would look in felt. When people ask me just what it is, I tell them the closest thing I can think of is that it is like tattooing fabric with wool. :-) It would be great to see more of your projects!

    Thanks, Melissa

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