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Felt is created by agitating wool fibres until they mat together
to form a non-woven fabric. The fibres can be laid flat on
a surface or molded around a former such as a hatshaper, cardboard
or even a ball.
On a bad day use the feltmaking process to relieve the tensions,
it usually makes a very good felt. Making the felt is simple,
it requires only a little time and effort to achieve a pleasing
result. However if time is of the essence, here’s a
faster but less controlled method:
Felt Balls
 The
'lazy' way to make balls, but with less control over the final
surface decoration (see
how to felt balls
by hand) is to make them in a washing machine.
- Start a ball with approximately 50gm of wool
fibre using a little soapy water. Place it in
the toe of a 'pop sock', or the cut off foot end of a pair
of tights. Push the ball in tight and knot the sock as close
to the ball as possible. If required, add further balls
to the length of the sock.
- Put it in the washing machine with the next wash. If the
cycle is very gentle, it may require more than one wash.
- Dry out the finished ball in the airing cupboard or on
a radiator.
Alternatively, Andrea Bruek has emailed us with her own method:
'Make a dry or slightly wet ball, two or three times
bigger than you want your final size to be, place it in the
corner of a plastic bag, tie it with string to keep it from
moving too much, place your next ball inside and again tie
then string to secure the second one in place, ensuring that
each ball is encased in plastic and not able to touch another
ball's surface. Depending on the size of the bag, you can
make many balls in this fashion and then prick the plastic
many times to allow water to get inside. Place the bag or
bags into the washing machine at 60 degrees on a full cycle.
When finished, the balls are round, firm and excellent for
making other articles like necklaces. If you create the balls
in layers, you can cut them in half with sharp scissors and
see the lovely patterns inside. This process is also great
with the children as it is a surprise to find the balls and
see how they turned out'
Figures/Toys
 This
Santa was felted entirely in a washing machine. The head,
body, hands and nose were created from balls while the limbs
were made by shaping the fibres before rolling them and tack
stitching them into J-cloth. The 'body parts' were then stuffed
into tights and then into a mesh wash bag along with the balls.
After two 40°C cycles, the pieces had felted well enough
to be sewn together. To make Santa’s fur trim, the fine
white wool was lightly felted before being cut into strips
and needle felted into place. His beard and moustache were
made from unfelted fibres which were also needle felted into
place.
It will be easier to decide how much wool fibre is needed
for projects as you do more and more feltmaking. The overall
amount will be determined by the thickness of the felt and
density to which it is felted. Trial, error and note taking
are recommended!
Browse for: fibres
or feltmaking
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