How To Make A Hummingbirds Nest : Needle Felting Tutorial

Oh my gosh… it’s SUCH a joy to watch the birds begin to build their nests. We are hoping like mad that a bird will build a nest in our garden. More than anything, we are preying that one of the hundreds of hummingbirds that visit us will build a nest in our avocado tree. A few years ago a friend found a hummingbirds nest in her avo tree and it was the sweetest thing we had ever seen. Mr Hummingbird had fastened two leaves together and had built his teeny-tiny nest between them. It was smaller than a golf ball in diameter and was woven with string, moss, lichen and minute little feathers.Oh the enchantment!

I was thinking about this little nest the other day and, remembering how sweet it was, I could not resist the urge to make my own… with wool, my felting needle and a myraid of little nature treasures I collected, ofcourse. After seeing it, I’m sure you’ll want to make one for yourself and so I have put together a tutorial for you to follow. I have also made a needle felting kit available in my shop with EVERYTHING you’ll need for this wonderful little felting project – you can buy it here :  Needle Felting Kit : Hummingbirds Nest.

Materials you’ll need :

• a foam ball about 2 inches in diameter
• a foam board and needle felting needles
• variegated brown/grey wool
• white wool
• moss
• sticks
• burlap string
• feathers

Start by wrapping a length of the variegated brown wool around half of the foam ball. Needle felt it where it overlaps. The foam ball will allow you to needle felt through the wool and into it. I love this method for making a hollow nest shape. Felt all around the ball until your nest shape is pretty firm.

Use your needle to round the edge of the nest by poking your needle between the ball and the inside layer of wool (as in photo #4)

Gently pull the foam ball away from the wool nest and there you have it… a perfect little hummingbirds nest.

Now we want to add the nature bits that are so enchanting in hummingbirds nests. Hold the little nest in your hands and gently pull the outside layer of wool into loose tufts.

Wind a few strands of burlap string randomly around the nest and secure by pulling the loose tufts of wool over the string and felting into the nest with your needle.

Lay some fluffy white wool in the palm of your hand and place a few feathers on top of the wool.

Place the nest on your protective needle felting board and line the inside of your nest with this fluffy, feathery wool. Needle felt gently to fasten.

We also want to fasten some feathers to the outside of the nest. Pull off the bottom part of the feather to expose the quill. If your feather looks too big, break it to the right length and use the top half to feather your nest.

Insert the sharp quill into the wool and needle felt it in place, pulling a little wool over the quill where you need to fasten it.

Now, randomly add moss to your nest… a little inside and some more outside.

There you have it… the sweetest little hummingbird nest in existence. If you are like me, you’ll place it in your avocado tree to try to start a trend and show the real hummingbirds that this tree is a VERY nice tree to build a nest in.

Notes :

Click here to purchase a hummingbird nest needle felting kit from my shop containing EVERYTHING you’ll need to may a hummingbirds nest just like my own.

Click here to see a photo of my friends hummingbirds nest.

Click here to see me holding a hummingbird in my very own hands and read how this very precious event came about.

Click her to see the other free needle felting tutorials on my Needle Felting Page.

Happy crafting,

Blessings and magic,

Donni