Calling all felters! Felt some poppies and help us raise money for the RSA.
- Sarah Ritchie
- Dec 30, 2025
- 2 min read
FELTED POPPY INSTALLATION
The Auckland Felters group is preparing an exhibition titled Deeply Felt (21 March to 2 May 2026) in Auckland, New Zealand. We are inviting felt-makers from around the world to help us create a collaborative installation of felted poppies.
The exhibition will encompass ANZAC Day (known in other countries as Remembrance Day), making this shared work especially poignant. The poppy installation will be used to raise funds for the RSA (Returned and Services’ Association).
Why poppies?
The poppy became a symbol of ANZAC Day and other Remembrance Days because of its strong association with the battlefields of the First World War, particularly in Flanders, Belgium. After the war’s heavy fighting, bright red poppies were among the first plants to grow in the disturbed soil of soldiers’ graves and shell-torn landscapes, creating a powerful visual link between loss and renewal.
What is an ‘art installation’?
It’s typically a three-dimensional artwork designed for a specific space, which viewers often experience by moving through or around it, rather than viewing it as a single, self-contained object. Below is an example of a poppy art installation. Ours will be different, but it will give you an idea of what is possible (the more poppies we have, the more spectacular it will be).
What you can do to help
If you haven’t yet watched the video, above, please do so. If you would like to be involved, here is the information that you’ll need to get started.
Quantity: Make as many poppies as you wish to make – we are grateful to receive one or many.
Colour: Predominantly red.
Size: Minimum 100mm (4"), maximum 150mm (19.5").
Technique: Must be hand-felted (wet, needle, nuno, etc.). The poppy can be 2D or 3D.
Design: You can create any poppy design you like.
For needle-felters, you are welcome to use one of the templates supplied below. To transfer the design to your base material you can draw the design freehand, trace it onto fusible/interfacing or ‘wash-away’, or use an iron-on transfer pen. Your base can be whatever you like (e.g. felt, cotton, linen, jute, denim, etc.).
For a wet-felted poppy example please visit:
Deadline: Your poppy will need to arrive in New Zealand no later than 10 February 2026. This is a volunteer-led, fundraising project, so we will not be able to reimburse postage costs or return poppies. All contributions will become part of the installation, and all net funds raised through the exhibition will go towards supporting the work of the RSA.
Address: For delivery instructions, please contact our exhibition organiser, Teri Berry, using her contact form: teriberry.com/contact
Make this a group effort! Do you know other feltmakers or belong to a crafting group? Please consider combining your poppies in one parcel to save on postage.
Thank you so much for being involved in this project and helping to raise awareness and funds for a worthy not-for-profit.
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