About Felt

About Felt

Many of us have accidentally discovered felt by putting a wool jumper

in a hot wash then retrieving a very much smaller version!

In the craft of felt making we use an array of beautiul dyed or natural

wool fibres, perhaps adding texture from silk or a variety of man made fibres

together with templates and moulds to create stunning individual wearable felt

items such as scraves, wrapss, jewellery and bags plus home accessories

including table runners, cushions, wall art and even vessels such as 'oddpots'

and lots more besides!!

Felt is the oldest of textiles and was probably discovered when wool was used

as a padding on the soles of feet for protection. Wool plus warm feet, moisture

and friction made the first felt!

All wool is made up from microscopic 'scales' along the length of its fibres

and it is when these scales rub against each other and interlock that they

pull the individual fibres together making felt.

In felt making we use:

Soap - this acts as a lubricator and a wetting agent

Heat - using warm / hot water which helps the fibres to swell

Moisture - the warm water also helps the fibres to swell and attach to each other

Friction - we press, rub and roll the wool fibres together to help them to bond to

each other and make felt.

To make felt we lay out layers of fibres on top of one another, each layer in the

opposite direction, dampen the wool fibres in hot soapy water and laying

bubble wrap or a piece of net / polythene on top and rub well to begin

the felting process.

The fibres matt together and produce a dense fabric with more rubbing

and rolling the felt fabric shrinks by some 10-20%

This final stage is called fulling, vigorous rolling in a bamboo mat

makes robust and durable felt.

The felt needs to be rinsed and dried - hand rolled felt is natuarally

water repellenat, insulating, warm, durable and beautiful.

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Tel: 07886 193 624. or via email by clicking here Linda Keith

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Linda at work