I have a new toy...a needle punch!

After much deliberation, I splurged and bought the Bernina Needle Punch accessory.

In the box came the needle attachment (there are 5 needles that punch up and down simultaneously), a serious finger guard (thank goodness), and screw to attach it all to my machine. Then I also had to purchase the special throat plate (round hole will allow all 5 needles to penetrate the fabric).

I watched the Bernina DVD that came with the package and felt prepared to give it a try. After all, I was told on the DVD that your first project is sure to be a success.

I dropped the feed dogs, removed my bobbin, bobbin case and the hook (you know what that is; the piece that holds the bobbin case in place). (You just didn't know it had a real name, did you?) Also, the bobbin case door stays open the entire time.

Natural fibers work best, so here's what I tried...

1.  mohair (left over from my "sure, I can knit" days) 2. wool yarn 3. sari fabric 4. wool roving 5. spun linen. One other thing the DVD lady told me is that it's great if you can separate the plies of the yarns. That's why in #2 it looks like there are three snippets of yarn.

Here's the result Front and Back:
 

Front

Back

 























The design goes through to the back because the barbed needles pull the threads through. As a matter of fact, Bernina recommends you needle punch on the front, turn it over and felt again and then do it again on the front. I used white felt for my background and when I tried that technique, I found that when I punched on the back, some of the white felt threads went through to the front, which wasn't what I wanted so on the sample below, I just felted on the front.

I like my new toy and my mind is whirring with possible projects...wool scarf, pillow, table runner? hmmm...we'll see what's next.