FTC Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate or referral links (full disclosure here), and if you make a purchase or sign up for a service within a certain timeframe after clicking on one of those links, I may earn a small commission paid by the retailer at no extra cost to you. I wouldn't recommend anything that I don’t or wouldn't use myself. Thank you for your support!

This post was last edited/updated in March 2021.

But first, jump links. This post is long, so I split it up into sections so you can jump to the section you’re interested in reading.

• My criteria for a good starter kit

• List of select starter kits with links

• My à la carte kit suggestion

• Advice to those who are interested in selling kits

I’ve since come back and updated it just one more time to do the following:

1. Remove the listings for kits that provide a palette of .1oz of wool or less (including private sellers) - it wasn’t fair of me to exclude the ones on Amazon and include the others. I’m raising the bar across the board. Sellers who are skimping on supplies are not going to be on here. For those who did provide more than .1 oz, I’m still factoring total price for the kit.

   • I’m going to be pretty clear here… when I bought a sampler of Daniel Smith watercolors (which are not cheap), which came with ten 5ml tubes of paint, that was cheaper than some are charging for wool. It’s not gold, it’s wool. Wool is cheaper than paint (especially ones with gemstone pigments). I could make tons of paintings with those watercolors. A person might complete 1 wool painting with those 10th ounce (3g) color palettes…

2. Add a very long note to current and future sellers of needle felting kits who might want to reconsider their product design. If that’s you, and why you’re on this post, you’ll find it at the bottom of the post (it’s just a long list of my own personal suggestions on how to make a stellar felting starter kit). Because I really don’t want to hear the whole idea of “people dipping their toes.”

Since I am based out of the United States, most of the shops mentioned below are stateside. Some may ship overseas, but from what I know from my international readers is that there are excellent sources that are likely local to you, at least if you're based out of UK/Europe or Australia that won't end up costing you double just to ship it. There are a few I included on the Etsy one for other locations, and I mention where they’re based.

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What I personally look for in a good needle felting kit:

• Who put the kit together? I don’t expect someone who doesn’t know wool to know how to put together a kit (and even then, it’s debatable - mass-produced kits like Dimensions leave much to be desired, even though they’ve been in the business a while). This is a good rule to follow when it comes to any hobby or craft: is this coming from someone who has knowledge and experience in the field, or are they simply trying to make a quick buck? Note: don’t assume that there aren’t any indie sellers who would take advantage of beginners, because some absolutely are. Just because it’s “the handmade community” doesn’t mean it’s only made up of good people.

• How much wool is in the kit? Add it all up. A tenth of an ounce of wool equates to about a golf ball sized amount of wool - not much. Wool and needles are the most important parts of a kit - everything else is extra. That being said, several of the kits I listed here do supply .1 oz of wool in various colors - the reason I included them is because from personal experience, there is a difference in quality, and the other supplies they include are good quality. I mentioned the amounts for each kit when I saw them, so pay attention to the ones that give you more. To give you an idea, the tutorials I have in my shop for the most part use .1 oz of wool or less, save for maybe one or two colors depending on the tutorial (which were around .15 oz). So you can get one or maybe two wool paintings done with those if you used every single color in your kit (barely).

• Are they padding the kit with a lot of extra stuff you don’t need? You can always get something you think you need later/separately. Most of what I’ve seen in some popular kits, you’ll never need.

• The quality of needles is important. You will not need 30 needles, unless you’re getting cheap ones, then you will need 30 needles because they’ll keep breaking on you - and that’s frustrating for a beginner. Good needles don’t break that often. I’ve maybe broken 10 at most in 7 years, and that includes learning how to felt. Most were my fault while transporting, not while felting. If they’re including a lot of needles, they’re compensating for the lack of quality. Unfortunately, most sellers do not mention the manufacturer of the needle, and it’s really hard to compare.

• The felting mat is important, but not that important. You can likely use something you already have at home as a felting mat, or even DIY it. If a kit doesn’t come with one, but they filled the kit with lots of good wool, just get it separate or make your own.

If you pay attention to those things, I think you can easily narrow down your choices to getting higher quality ones. I follow that with a few more points that you should consider:

• Merino is wonderful… for things like wet felting and spinning yarn that will be used for textiles that will be worn against the skin. But otherwise, it’s a bit overhyped - it is not wonderful for needle felting (unless part of a blend), especially not for 3D and not for a beginner. If you really want to work with it, pick a kit that includes it in a blend with coarser fibers.

• If you plan to work make 3D art, pay attention to kits that include core wool - don’t waste the dyed fibers on the inside. Core is much cheaper.

• All wool isn’t the same, and I’m not talking about corriedale vs merino. How the sheep was cared for, how the wool is processed, if it’s been carbonized, how it’s dyed, and what sort of chemicals they use all make a huge difference. This project was made from quality corriedale wool mostly from a starter kit (I needed to go back and buy more wool to complete it) - and that kit is one of the ones I listed on this post. Coarse wool isn’t supposed to feel like steel wool. A good kit will have good wool (that’s harder to tell from photos, so pay attention to reviews, especially if an experienced needle felter leaves one). Someone with experience working with wool can tell between a good fleece and a bad one.
  An example would be if two people have the same type of hair, but one person doesn’t worry about nutrition and uses really harsh chemicals on theirs, and the other eats nutritious foods and takes better care of it. The hair is technically the same, but one will feel like straw, and the other will feel soft and silky.

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Select Needle Felting Starter Kits:

These are the starter kits I would personally recommend to purchase for yourself or to gift to someone else (some I would recommend over others, but the choice is entirely up to you). They are not listed in any particular order - the purpose was to give you a selection to pick from that will leave you (or the recipient) with a positive experience off the batt (pun intended).

Also, I tried to avoid including any kits that don’t provide a proper felting foam. Needle felting is the only hobby that somehow manages to convince people to spend money on something you could dig out of a dumpster. I’d much rather they included more wool instead of taking up space with packaging and call it a deal. I expect a starter kit to supply a high-density charcoal foam at the least, or just leave it out entirely. The foam isn’t that expensive.

Acceptable Kits on Amazon

Weir Crafts

This is the set I started out with years ago when I was interested in giving it a proper go. My first introduction to needle felting, if you will, was a discounted kit I found on an end cap at Michaels with the tiniest bit of wool and a felt purse, which introduced me to the concept of needle felting as an embellishment. I loved it, but I didn’t know where else to get more supplies (I tried all the local shops). I didn’t think to search for it online, or know what to even search for. (By the way, I do not recommend any kids sold in big-box craft stores.) Many years later, I was asked to create a baby mobile by a friend (she’d made something for my child, and now it was my turn), and I thought needle felting would be the perfect way to do it (it was) but I didn't know where to go or what to get. I love how this one is incredibly budget friendly but gives you a decent amount to start with. I was able to complete most of that mobile with this kit, and only needed to place a second order for a little more (mainly because I didn’t realize you use core for the inside of sculptural pieces).  All kits come with:

• 15 colors .3oz each for a total of 4.5oz of wool - you can upgrade to the mega pack of 46 colors with .3 oz each for a total of 13.5oz of wool (with the megapack you get over 1lb of wool

• 4oz of core wool

• high-density charcoal foam pad (unless they changed, I believe mine was 8x10x2)

• assorted color-coded needles (triangles in 36, 38, 40, and star in 38g)

• basic instructions

What I really love about this starter set is that you get to choose which colors you want, especially if you already have a project in mind, and build your kit based on your budget. Weir Crafts also has since added project kits as well, so you can come back to try those.

Living Felt

Living Felt is a wonderful shop/seller on the market, and really doesn’t get enough credit or name dropped as much as they deserve. They have two kits:

• The basic starter set - not going to list out stuff here, because I’m meh on this one - I think this is their original starter pack, and then they created another one that’s much much better - the one mentioned next. If you’re on a tight budget, opt for one of the other ones listed in this post.

• The super starter set includes

  • 8oz of core wool

  • 12 of their Merino-Cross felting batts, which is a blend of coarse wool with merino that’s wonderful to work with (their custom blend made with needle felting in mind). Again, doesn’t mention how much, but I’d guess around .25-.3 oz each. Best-guess is based on crunching numbers, the .5oz MC batts would alone add up to the total cost of the kit. Let’s go with .25 oz and say 3 oz total?

  • 10x7x2 soy foam block

  • commercial felt

  • variety pack of needles (36g, 38g, 40g triangles)

  • instructions

  • “fun extras” - and Living Felt does carry some fun extras! Curious what they throw in? Maybe some locks? Some fancy merino blends?

Living Felt also has project kits available.

Woolery

Sarafina Fiber Art

I'm mentioning her here because I've seen people recommend her store when this question comes up in needle felting groups. Sara does not have any basic non-project starter kits available. Her needle felting starter kit has the burlap sack and instructions, but you’d still need to get one of her supply packs all of which are for specific projects.

Etsy (USA)

Various sellers on Etsy have put together their own starter kits, which look really great. The first time I looked at these, most of the starter kits contained merino, which I mentioned earlier that on its own (unless you’re doing wool painting) really isn’t beginner friendly - and that’s why I don’t personally recommend them here. Here are a few:

Felted Sky

This small American business does not sell a felting kit per se, but it’s really easy to piece one together by following these steps:

• Pick your felting mat (that wool mat is on my personal wish list)

• Grab a needle variety pack and any accessories you want (based on the description, I would bet money they sell Groz-Beckert needles, which are the same ones I use and used to supply in my shop - get painted if using “naked” and unpainted if you plan to use felting tools)

• Add the rainbow scrap bag (doesn’t list how much wool is in the scrap bag total, but from the photo looks like a decent amt)

• If you want to do wool painting, pick something from here too

Felting kit done.

The Felted Ewe

They have so many needle felting starter kits available based on the colors you’d like to work with, so I’ll just link the entire page here. Note: if you buy one of my tutorials, for which I don’t currently supply kits - I’d recommend their custom 10-wool color kit and pick the colors you need based off the list in the tutorial. They provide more than enough wool to complete the tutorial and have plenty left over. I’m not an affiliate of theirs, this is just the easiest/cheapest way to get the colors you need to do them.

Shep’s Wool

Their needle felting kit comes with

• 3oz of fun and random mix of wool in colors, includes pencil roving (very skinny, almost like yarn but not spun, really fun to use), batting, roving

• .5oz of core

• needles (looks like 2 in the photo)

• no felting mat or base included.

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My à la carte Retail Starter Needle Felting Kit:

First... here are my guides to the various tools and wool commonly used: Felting Needles, Felting Foam, Wool. OK, now, onto my custom kit that will give you the most wool for the best price (none of these are affiliate links):

• For 3D felters, 8oz of core wool (price: $12)

• For 2D felters, sheet of 100% wool felt (price: $6.50 for fat quarter)

• EcoSoft roving (their custom blended batt for needle felting, $2.45 an oz) Corriedale is 10 cents more - I’d say about 9 colors in a rainbow (ROYGBIV) plus black & brown are a good start, but pick your own based on your needs (price $22.05 for ecosoft, $22.95 for corriedale)

• 10”x8”x2” foam pad (price $4.59)

• 5-pack 38 gauge spiral felting needles (price: $4.95)

Of course you can add onto this whatever you like, like maybe more needles in a 40-gauge, they have a few tools, but for a grand total of $44 retail I just built you the ultimate starter needle felting kit with over 1lb of wool for 3D felters, and $38.09 for wool painting. Retail means they’re still making a profit. You don’t really need all the colors to start, and you can blend them to make new colors! If you need a specific color for a project, just buy it separate by the oz when you need it.

Happy Felting!

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How To Build and Sell An Excellent Needle Felting Starter Kit (or kits):

As I step out of the shadows in my felt trench coat and hat that I don’t actually own and motion to get your attention to come close…

HI! I’m so glad you found this post and either sell or want to start selling needle felting starter kits! I really hope that you read the top of my post on what I look for in a good starter kit, but don’t worry on scrolling up if you skipped down here, because I go into more detail below.

To start, I really have nothing to gain from this. I haven’t been a beginner for a while. And in case you read this and wonder “who the heck does this B think she is” please realize it’s written with quite a bit of tongue in cheek humor. That being said, I am definitely bothered by what qualifies as a “starter kit” these days. While I did include a handful of kits above with wool in tenth-of-an-ounce increments, that’s because there aren’t many that sell more (and I wanted to leave it up to people to compare the amounts and decide what’s worth the price to them).

To put it another way, when I designed project kits to go with my tutorials, this was a multi-step process. First, I weighed out the wool I planned to use in my design in certain increments, and kept them separate. Then, I would document how much I would use as I created the project. After that, I would build myself my own kit, and film my tutorial using my kit exactly as someone would if they received it. I had a bit extra on hand just in case my calculations were off, and would document if I needed to add on a certain color. Those were my minimums when weighing out my kits. I would always add a bit more because while I personally might use really thin layers of wool, everyone does not, and they should at least have enough (within reason) to complete the project. Yes, it’s a very involved process, but it’s a necessary part of product design.

In my honest opinion, a starter kit should have enough wool to make several projects (not just one), and leave the beginner feeling safe to make mistakes and experiment along the way without having to be frugal with their supplies. Otherwise, why not just buy a project kit? As it stands, most of the kits I see on the market today don’t have enough to even complete one of my small projects. These tiny amounts do not encourage creative exploration. I suggest that you build your kit for yourself before you put it on the market, see what all you can make with it, and if you found yourself needing more, just add more. Expect that a beginner will probably use more wool than you do to add color until they get a feel for it.

I ask that you please read this with an open mind, and understand that this is coming from a genuine place of caring both for beginner needle felters and for raising the standards by which we operate so that big box stores craft stores couldn’t possibly hope to compete once they catch on (and if they do, we set the standard). Needle felting is really booming now (and I have yet to be wrong on market predictions and trends - just ask my closest friends), and you all are at the forefront of what can become a massive craft industry like that of other fiber arts - that is, as long as you’re not selling shoddy kits. Then you’ll just be left in the dust. If you already know what you’re doing and don’t care to hear what I have to say, then you have no need to read any further. After all this is all just a matter of personal opinion. (Include all the disclaimers on business advice and whatnot.)

1. First and foremost, remember that the intention of making and selling a starter kit is that it is a starter kit. It’s not a dip-your-toes kit. I see a lot of people buying dip-your-toes-kits and getting really frustrated with them. It’s supposed to be a first step on an endless, wonderful journey of needle felting. If you make sure that your kit is the best possible kit it can be, with the best possible tools and best possible wool for needle felting that allows people to make amazing things with ease and as little frustration as possible, they will be back for more.

2. Lots of wool! ALL THE WOOL! You and I both know that wool isn’t that expensive when you’re buying wholesale. You can certainly afford to sweeten the deal a bit and increase your amounts and still cut a profit. I’ve been on the other side of this, and I’m well aware of the numbers. If your wool costs are too high, either process your own (which you can market at a premium as exclusive hand processed/dyed wool from your own sheep whose names you call while counting them as you fall asleep, but it’s because it takes more time than weighing and re-wrapping wool you’re reselling) or find another supplier. Please for the love of rainbows and cupcakes stop putting merino roving in your 3D needle felting kits, and do not, under any circumstances, include it as core wool. If anything, use a blended batt with merino if you really want to catch people with the “fancy sheep” label. All it does is end up frustrating beginners when they do get it and wonder what the heck they’re doing wrong that they can’t make their projects look like those fancy smoothly-felted ones. Give them the batting that makes that possible. If you’re now stuck with a big bump of merino roving, make a separate wool painting kit, or make a wet felting kit and call it a day.

3. Mention how much wool you’re providing in your kits. If you’re afraid to include the amounts in your listing, that may be your subconscious telling you that you know you should be including more and feel guilty about it. I mean, you don’t want them to take those costs, compare them to buying the other parts individually, and figuring just how much they’re paying per oz right? Please be up front with your customers. They’ll eventually catch on.

4. Speaking of which, stop trying to compete with the cheaper sellers… You won’t catch everyone - people are still going to go on Amazon. When they’re not happy with what they got, they ask in the felting groups (which I really recommend you take time to participate in), and people redirect them to the shops they love. Be the shop they love.

5. High-quality needles: reach out to different manufacturers (or buy needles from others if they mention the manufacturer), find contacts, and absolutely test these yourself. I mean actually test them. Psycho-stab the densest felt with it - those wool dryer balls are a good test. Try to needle felt on a piece of canvas. Yes, the better needles will be more expensive, but it’ll be a much less frustrating experience for your buyers. We’re talking making dealer level connections here… needle felting is like a drug. When they’ve tasted the sweet, sweet sensation of stabbing an object into existence, you want to make sure that you are the one they turn to when they need to buy more supplies. You have a reputation you need to build and maintain. Word gets out if you go cheap on the most important parts of needle felting, i.e. the wool and the needles. I’ve made my personal preference for brand known on other pages on this blog - if you use the brand I love, you’ll definitely get a mention.

6. If you want to include foam, here’s a trick to shipping it. This is how I’ve shipped it the few times I mailed foam for custom kits: get the strongest, industrial-grade plastic wrap (yes, I know it’s not eco friendly, but the need to fit lots of wool is imperative), and squish and roll the foam in it. You may need to kneel on it to really get all the air out of it. Kind of like trying to roll up a foam camping mat or getting the air out of an air mattress. You can even make it pretty by wrapping your foam-roll in some iridescent cellophane and tying the ends up in some feltable art-yarn with a bow like a giant candy roll. It’ll take up less space, so you can stuff the box with more wool (see point #1)

7. Don’t use cutesy names for the supplies in the kit unless this is absolutely an exclusive product of yours that you made, nobody else in the world makes anything like it, and you sell it separately and individually (so they don’t have to buy the kit again just to get that one thing). Whether or not you choose to mention the brand of wool you’re reselling is up to you, but make sure that you include searchable terms. This will not only increase traffic to your kit when people search for those specific things, but it’ll also make it easier for them to get the supplies they need when they need to restock. Especially since somewhere else on this blog I have instructions on how to make a swatch book and log which supplies they got where.

8. Provide more than one type of kit. Think of any possible kit you can think of. You don’t need to include tutorials, just options and potential. Make themed boxes, maybe ones inspired by a pretty stock photo that you include on a postcard with your branding on it. You got your basic 3D needle felting kit with a rainbow of colors and a lot of core wool (at least double that of the colors). Make a wool painting kit with a hoop to mount the art, quality 100% wool felt, and lots of colors and textures. Forget the cheap, plastic eyes they can buy 100s of for a few bucks, and instead opt to throw in some curly locks, or art yarn, or sari silk! How about a woodland kit with earth tones? Ocean kit with beachy colors? Spring kit with pastels? Halloween kit? If you’re going to include Holiday kits - do all the holidays, not just Christmas colors - it’s time to start being more inclusive of other religions. Even if only one of those ends up being popular, for each additional listing, you show up in the search that many more times.

9. Make a build-a-kit a thing. Bonus idea because I would really love to see someone do this (and maybe the one way I would benefit from this post): If you have your own website and have coding experience or know someone who does, make build-a-kit a thing. Buying wool 1oz at a time is way too pricey just to follow a tutorial or try someone’s wool (but 10th is too little). There are many artists out there who like to make tutorials but don’t want to get into the kit selling business and would much rather be able to direct their students to someone who can provide them with all they need instead. Based on my own experience with tutorials, .25oz bundles would be perfect - provide them in both batting and roving. Maybe the way you’d build this is have a build-a-kit page, and the buyer can input their budget. Then they can build the exact kit they need - choices of mats (or none), choices of needles (or none), choices of .25oz bundles of wool - you can still control your profit on the back-end (based off how much you price each item, but keep it reasonable). If you do this, let me know - because then I could “build-a-kit” to create a tutorial and send people your way. And please make it reasonable.

10. A bit of marketing psychology based off a listing I shared in this post that made me consider writing a tips-for-sellers section… I am fully aware that weighing out wool can be a bit challenging in the smaller (lightweight) amounts. Even if you choose to work within a weight-range, don’t tell your customers what that range is, because they will always expect to get the upper end of that range. Mention the low-end, and err on slightly more. Otherwise, this is just asking for potential negative reviews.

11. Schrödinger’s bonus tip: A bit more marketing psychology: if you are including a bonus, don’t mention the bonus - don’t include it in the pictures either. Rule number one of bonuses is do not talk about bonuses. Rule number two of bonuses is do not talk about the bonuses. Don’t say “surprise included.” It doesn’t exist until the seller opens the package. Hence the Schrödinger part of it - the package may or may not include a bonus, but they won’t know until they open it. Make an amazing starter kit that people want to buy just because of the amazingness of it. If you want to include a bonus (just make sure the shipping price reflects the additional weight if necessary or include it in “shipping and handling” but don’t pad it so much you put people off due to high shipping costs), you will get people literally raving about your starter kit, because you just included a surprise that they weren’t expecting that really made you stand out. This also frees you up to change the bonus up if you like based on the availability of supplies. Even if someone thanks you for the “gift” in your review and customers come to expect surprise bonuses in their purchases, they won’t know what to expect, or how much. Since it’s not in the listing, it’s not part of the sale. If you mention it, it’s now become a factor that they are expecting, and it’s no longer a bonus - it’s just part of the kit and is factored in comparing the price. If that was your intent, to make it a standard part of the kit, especially if you increase the price of the kit to reflect the cost of the bonus, but you’re using the “clever marketing trick” of treating customers like they have the intelligence of an amoeba, this will backfire on you.

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