presents Guide to Felting: Fiber Preparation and Inspiration for Making Felt ©F+W Media, Inc. ■ All rights reserved ■ F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this issue to be copied for personal use Spin.Off ■ spinningdaily.com ■ 1 elt is probably one of the most ancient of techniques used to make cloth from animal fibers. With surpris- Fingly simple circumstances, loose fibers can be per- manently fused into a warm nonwoven cloth. Making felt has evolved into a fun, creative process that is quick and easy, too. All you need are a bit of wool, warm water, wool- safe soap, and some towels—or some simple barbed needles and a safe work surface—and you’re ready to start making cloth and fiber objects in one of the fastest, most creative ways you can imagine. Since 1977, Spin.Off has been inspiring spinners new and old to choose interesting fiber and find enchanting ways to use it. 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Happy spinning, Anne Merrow [email protected] ©F+W Media, Inc. ■ All rights reserved ■ F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this issue to be copied for personal use Spin.Off ■ spinningdaily.com ■ 2 Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the 2007 Special Issue of Inter- How It Felts weave Felt (available elec- tronically in the Interweave R OBIN R USSO Store, interweavestore.com). hen I was a new spinner, I saw a piece of fl at felt someone had made from the same wool that WI was using for spinning. I was appalled that she had used such a beautiful fl eece to do that, when the wool could have been made into gorgeous yarn. That was in the 1970s when I could not see beyond my spinning wheel and knitting needles. My closets were overfl owing with the leftover fl eeces from my various spinning projects when I met Beth Beede in the 1980s. Seeing her three-dimensional felt made such an impression on me that suddenly I could see the possibilities in all of those leftover fl eeces. To this day, I buy spinning fl eeces that work well for felt as well as for yarn, and that combination has successfully kept my closets free of fi ber buildup. FULLING VERSUS FELTING Felt is made when the scales on the individual wool fi bers are permanently interlocked through the application of heat and ag- itation. A little bit of soap helps the scales move closer together. The result is a fi nished fabric; the process is not reversible. Fulling is the process of tightening the fi bers in an al- ready created fabric and making them more compact— you help the fi bers in the handknitted or woven cloth bloom through the fulling process. Aging in a cold climate has made me Alpaca fiber and mittens.ittens. appreciate having warm feet, hands, and head. Since exotic fi bers tend to have less elasticity than wool, products made from these fi bers have a tendency to sag and stretch whenw wet. To prevent this from hap- pening,p I full many of the garments that I handspin and knit. When I full items that have been knitted, I do this gen- tltlyy on a washboard wiwithth a little warm wa- ter and sosoap.a By using the 3 washboard, I ccan control the 1) Merino top andand 2) angora fiber withwith 3) angora hat Down fiber withwith design. (qiviut) and 2 mittens. 1 f n m ©F+W Media, Inc. ■ All rights reserved ■ F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this issue to be copied for personal use Spin.Off ■ spinningdaily.com ■ 3 1) Angora fiber, 2) Merino top, 3) silk fiber, and 4) Norwegian helmet. 3 2 1 4 1) Angora fiber, 2) mittens, and 3 3) beret. 2 1 amount offh shrinkage k and dhd the direction es and making them tight. My of the shrinkage. I do not knit oversize fabric remains fl exible. If I put in order to be able to do this. I mere- it in the washing machine, it ly use a knitting needle that is one or would render the garment un- two sizes larger than it should be, mak- usable because the fabric would ing my fabric fairly loose. When I full, feel like armor. I am just closing up those open spac- FIBER PREPARATION short wire teeth to open and separate Since I prefer to do my own fi ber Fiber preparation is key to produc- the fi bers into a uniform mass. This can preparation for handspinning, I buy ing good felt. The three most common be accomplished with handcards, a ta- my fl eeces directly from the farms that types of preparations available to those bletop drumcarder, or a large industrial raise the animals. I separate the areas carding machine. Tabletop drumcarders working with wool are combed top, to be used in my handspinning projects make small batts that are useful for carded batts, and roving. and send the remainder to the Zeilinger Combing removes the short fi bers small felting projects but that are chal- Wool Company for processing into felt- and impurities, leaving the longer re- lenging to put together to create larger maining fi bers lying parallel to one an- pieces of felt. The batts that come from ing batts. other. The result of this process is called the mills with large carding machines 1) Border Leicester roving, 2) Merino rov- top, and you cannot felt directly from are wonderfully consistent, and they ing, 3) Merino top, and 4) Finn carded batt. it. The fi bers must be mixed up in such are queen-size, making them useful for a way that they meet each oth- large projects. ANN SABIN SWANSON er in different directions. This Roving (as it is sold for hand- gives the scales on the sur- spinning) is a long, even, narrow strand face of the fi ber an opportu- of carded fi bers. Fine wools are usu- nity to fi nd other scales to lock ally made into a fi ne strand of carded with. You can feed combed top fi ber, and longer luster wools are made 1 into your drumcarder to make a into a heavier strand. Because they are carded preparation, or you can pull carded, they do felt well. The prob- wisps from the end of the top and lem is that the lengths of roving must stagger the wisps in different directions be placed together to get a piece wide as you lay out your project. enough to make anything. Roving can 2 Carding is the process of brush- be put quickly through a drumcarder 4 ing clean fi bers over opposing sets of to get a batt large enough to felt with. 3 ©F+W Media, Inc. ■ All rights reserved ■ F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this issue to be copied for personal use Spin.Off ■ spinningdaily.com ■ 4 Romney 1) locks and 2) navy slippers with 2 wool embroidery. 1 1 Corriedale 1) locks and 2 2) silk embroidered boots. WOOL BREEDS rectangular, the tips Romney I have chosen six of the breeds are fl at, and the crimp The Romney that I use most often for felting to il- (the regular wave sheep evolved in Kent, lustrate how the different properties of present in a staple) is England, where it devel- the wool affect the fi nal appearance and very well defi ned. The felt oped a hardy constitution. It is a durability of the felted project. Fine, produced from Merino is fi ne and com- medium-size sheep with a dense fl eece soft wool makes fi ne, soft, compact pact. It is readily available in many col- that has good body, luster, a well-de- felt. Coarse wool makes thicker, hairi- ors in the form of top (combed fi ber) fi ned crimp the full length of the staple, er, more durable felt. The shrinkage for and in batts (carded fi ber). and pointed tips. Sixty percent of all each of these wools varies tremendously Romney wool is used in the carpet in- and needs to be understood as you plan Corriedale dustry, and New Zealand is the world’s your projects. The Corriedale breed was developed largest producer. The breed was intro- in New Zealand by crossing Lincoln duced to the United States in the early Border Leicester with Merino. The result is a hardy, dual- 1700s. Romney fl eeces vary tremen- Border Leicester sheep originated purpose sheep. They were fi rst brought dously, and you may need to do some on the border between England and to the United States in the early 1900s. experimenting before devoting your Scotland and are the result of an English They are a medium-size sheep and pro- particular fl eece to felting. It is not a Leicester crossed with a Cheviot. The duce a fairly fi ne, well-crimped, rect- fast-felting wool. The samples are white fl eece is long and lustrous and has a angular staple with fl at tips.