Needle Felting: Bird of the Month: Chickadee with Erin Carlson

Paying attention to the bird

Needle Felting: Bird of the Month: Chickadee with Erin Carlson is a three-hour class for people learning the process as well as those looking to practice it. Carlson guides the making while participants look closely at the chickadee’s form and markings. Those observations give the project a particular subject: the aim is not simply to make a bird, but to consider what makes this one recognizable.

Contemporary Craft welcomes adventurous beginners. The listing notes that the work uses sharp needles and requires detailed, repetitive hand motions, useful considerations for anyone deciding whether the session is a good fit. Participants can contact the studio to discuss questions or accommodations before registering.

Further reading: Needle Felting: Bird of the Month: Chickadee with Erin Carlson - Contemporary Craft ↗

From animal forms to local fiber

Carlson is a multidisciplinary fiber artist and backyard bird enthusiast who has worked and taught in the Pittsburgh area for about a decade. At Red Cottage Fiber Studio, her practice centers on weaving and needle felting; she describes much of her felted work as realistic representations of animals. The chickadee class brings that interest in animal subjects together with her teaching.

Her work also reaches back to the source of fiber. In WQED’s Local Fiber program, Carlson discusses growing flax for the Rust Belt Linen Project, an experiment involving growers across the region. Participants save a portion of their crop until its seeds mature, then return the seeds to help build a seed bank and provide information about different growing conditions.

In the program, Carlson demonstrates processing flax, including breaking its woody outer layer and hackling the fibers. It is a different project from the needle-felted chickadee, not an announced part of the class, but it offers a view of her wider interest in local materials and the work that prepares them for use.

Further reading: Needle Felting: Bird of the Month: Chickadee with Erin Carlson - Contemporary Craft ↗ · Red Cottage Fiber Studio ↗ · Local Fiber: Weaving Stories Into Community | PBS ↗

A monthly subject, without a yearlong commitment

The chickadee is November’s selection in Contemporary Craft’s 2026–27 Bird of the Month series. The in-person classes meet on the first Thursday of each month from March 2026 through February 2027, and each bird can be taken as an individual workshop. Someone interested in returning can choose the Northern Cardinal in December or the Red Breasted Nuthatch in January 2027.

The series was first offered virtually during the pandemic. Carlson told WQED that for those earlier sessions she made step-by-step illustrations and participants felted together over Zoom. The current edition moves the instruction into a shared studio; the November listing does not say whether the earlier illustrations will be used.

Further reading: Needle Felting: Bird of the Month: Chickadee with Erin Carlson - Contemporary Craft ↗ · Local Fiber: Weaving Stories Into Community | PBS ↗

A place for more than one fiber practice

The Fleischner Family Fibers Loft includes both weaving and fibers studios, within the Timmons Studios building that also houses Contemporary Craft’s wood studio. The chickadee workshop is one way into a space used for several approaches to making.

For a separate introduction to weaving equipment, the organization describes a Loom Club that welcomes people without prior experience. Its initial goal is to prepare donated floor and tabletop looms for weaving classes. It is not part of Carlson’s workshop, but it points to another way to learn about fiber work at Contemporary Craft.

Further reading: Needle Felting: Bird of the Month: Chickadee with Erin Carlson - Contemporary Craft ↗ · Our Studios - Contemporary Craft ↗ · Visit or Contact Us - Contemporary Craft ↗