The Tale....heh...Tail of The Golden Goose...

We're getting close to the end of things. Hahaha! Goosey's tail is complete. Classroom teacher requested that the goose have feathers the children can grab on to. That means they have to be pretty strongly attached. Here's what I started with...

More curly wool...

and Sparkly Gold Tulle.

I cut a strip of tulle which I then layered four times so that there would be a stiffness to the feathers.

One thing I forgot to mention that is VERY IMPORTANT...ALWAYS HAVE A PILLOW OR FELTING FOAM BETWEEN YOUR NEEDLE AND YOUR LAP!!! It is very painful to get a needle stick and your pillow or foam will give you some protection as well as a nice surface to work on. I use an old meditation pillow. It fits nicely in my lap, and has a handle so I can take it anywhere.

Here I am needle felting wool right into the tulle creating an outline for each feather.

Here is what it looks like before I cut it out.

I cut the feather out along the outline. Then I felted more wool into it...to give it some texture and make it more aesthetically pleasing.

After I had five or six feathers completed, I tacked them together with the felting needle. Then I placed a piece of tulle underneath the bunch.

I then folded the tulle over...

and used my sewing machine to really secure them together as a bunch. The stitches don't have to be pretty...no one will see them.

I trimmed off the excess tulle and at this point I used a regular needle and thread to sew the tail feathers as strongly as I could to Goosey's behind.

I placed them in such a way that the ends of the wings overlapped the ends of the feathers.

Here's Goosey with his tail...

Just a few tweaks left! We're almost finished!!!