Talisman Pouches

Talisman or amulet pouches have their origins in Africa and were typically made of leather or sometimes cloth and contained sacred prayers or written words of empowerment. The pouches were then sealed to prevent the writings from being read and giving power to the words that were written. The pouches represent both the physical (the pouch) and the spiritual (the prayer). These amulets were carried, and sometimes worn on the clothing of the Africans.

Machine Needle Felting

These little pouches are so easy to make using the needle felting machine and are the perfect project to do when your day is super busy and you only have half an hour or so to spare.

I particularly liked the black/white/red color combination that was used in the video, but I didn’t have any of those felted colors on hand so I machine needle felted some cream colored Corriedale wool, then painted some of it black and some of it red. But in the meantime while these pieces were drying I thought I’d put together a couple of pouches using colored felt scraps.

I had some scraps of hand dyed soy silk felt so I cut out the pouch pieces and a decorative shape.

Machine Needle Felting

I then needle felted the shape to one piece of the pouch.

Machine Needle Felting

Then added some hand embroidery plus a few bead embellishments.

Machine Needle Felting

I then needle felted around the edges to hold the pieces together and then added some more hand embroidery and bead embellishment around the edges. I really like the finished piece . . .

Machine Needle Felting