Clothing made from wool using the felting technique. Step-by-step wool felting for beginners
Elizaveta Rumyantseva
Nothing is impossible for diligence and art.
Content
Felting (felting, felting) belongs to ancient varieties of needlework. Felted wool products created by craftswomen from all over the country sell like hot cakes in stores. Step-by-step wool felting for beginners allows you to make unique items. Felting is the creation of wool crafts by interlocking and interweaving fibers using several methods. Modern art of felting includes: wet, dry felting, nanofelt.
Features of wool felting
Before you begin step-by-step wool felting for beginners, you need to figure out what you will need for this fun artistic process. The first thing you need to order is any natural wool. The material is available on the shelves of specialized department stores and in online stores. What raw materials and tools are best to purchase?
Crafts are often made from coarse sheep or camel wool. As a base for the product, it is recommended to buy sliver - combed sheep wool without awns. The stuffing, for example, of cat toys or slippers is often flocked, while merino is suitable for decorating objects. Felting cannot be done with a needle. There are special tools different sizes(thin, thick and medium), various cross-sectional shapes (crown, triangular, star-shaped). So, we purchase a wool felting kit for beginners and move on to master classes.
Master classes on felting wool with a step-by-step description of the work
This section is for those beginning craftswomen who want to try their hand at felting. Let's find out what the dry felting technique is, wet felting and felting using washing machine. A detailed study of the master classes will allow you to make products of absolutely any level of complexity: from small decorative parts to clothing items.
Dry felting technique for beginners
For step-by-step felting from wool for beginners using the dry method, you need unspun wool (the best option is carding) and special needles with notches. Dry felting is the entangling of material fibers with each other, as a result of which they are transformed into felt. Felting using this method is carried out using needles with a triangular and star-shaped section. We prepare wool, needles for felting, a thick piece of foam rubber and move on to practice. Further:
- We put the material on the foam rubber and tangle it with a needle. The base of the craft is sometimes made of padding polyester, covered with wool on top.
- When working with needles, you should be as careful as possible because they are sharp. The needle must be held perpendicular to the craft. The process of creating any thing from felt begins with the use of a thick needle, which gradually changes to a thin one.
- Defects in the form of unevenness on an artistic object are smoothed out using additional raw materials.
- Dry felting is voluminous souvenirs (badges, keychains), accessories (wallet, bag, book bindings), coats made of felted wool, hats, felt boots, and so on.
Wet felting
Wet felting of wool on gauze is done using a warm soap solution (some replace it with liquid soap). The material is laid out in pieces on gauze, according to a pre-selected pattern. The mixture is made like this: grind a couple of pieces of soap on a grater, pour two liters of hot water into the shavings, mix well, wait 2 hours until the solution becomes thick. Next step by step:
- We spread the oilcloth on the floor or other convenient flat surface. Place gauze on top.
- Then we lay out the base, the background and the selected pattern on it.
- The threads are applied crosswise, in strips. We make sure that there are no holes left in the canvas, and that the layers of material lie perpendicular. Their thickness should be the same.
- When the material has already been laid out in accordance with the drawing, you need to sprinkle water on the leg, cover it with a nylon cloth and lubricate it with a soap solution. Remove excess liquid with a paper napkin.
- The next stage is felting wool into paintings, panels, toys or jewelry (brooches, beads). Wet felting of any product involves rubbing the fabric by hand in different directions.
Felting in the washing machine
Felting using a washing machine is one of the easiest and most simple method creating things from felted wool. We will need dense forms for deboning, which are wrapped with wool hairs and placed in nylon golf (or part of ordinary nylon tights without holes, arrows). Let's proceed directly to creating felted crafts:
- The workpiece must be placed in a washing bag and placed in washing machine. Pour detergent for washing woolen items into a special recess and set the cycle without soaking and drying. To achieve optimal results, set the temperature to 50 degrees.
- When the machine finishes the washing process, we take out our finished felted item. If you decide to use a form for deboning, it is better to remove it from the workpiece using scissors.
Where to buy and how much do felting kits and wool cost?
For every beginning needlewoman who has decided to try herself in the art of felting, information on where to buy everything will always be useful. necessary materials and felting tools. Below are tables showing points of sale of felting kits and wool in Moscow and St. Petersburg. You will find everything you need for felting in the stores presented in the tables.
|
Name of shop |
Cost of goods, rub. |
|
|
"Felt" |
Moscow, Malomoskovskaya street 10 |
From 30 to 800 |
|
"Needle" |
Moscow, Academician Yangelya street, building 6, building 1, shopping center "Kalach"; Varshavskoe highway, house 32; Vernadsky Ave., building 39. St. Petersburg, st. Baikonurskaya, house 14, lit. And the shopping and entertainment complex "Continent". |
From 150 to 750 |
|
"Three Reels" |
Moscow, Dmitrovskoe highway, building 157, building 5 |
From 100 to 700 |
|
m. Lyublino, st. Krasnodarskaya house 57, building 3 |
From 50 to 800 |
Online stores
Video tutorials on felting wool products for beginners
With the help of free felting lessons, everyone will have the chance to learn how to felt unusual, beautiful and useful objects. Try felting wool toys, make flowers or beads as decorations. Find out how to create a bright beret and what felting wool slippers looks like in a master class. Treat yourself to your favorite crafting workshop exclusive bags or a warm scarf.
Ancient crafts have always been of interest to creative people, because of the originality of handmade products, such things, original works, are always relevant. Felting wool and its uniqueness today represents a new direction in fashion. Modern craftswomen create not only clothes and various accessories from wool. In their hands, toys of extraordinary beauty, exclusive sweaters, hats and coats come to life. Felting, felting, stuffing is the felting of woolen items. Clothing that has undergone this treatment is very soft and dense. The technique of creating felted items can be performed using two methods: wet and dry. Needlewomen use one method or another and describe it in detail using examples of the things they have created. Pinterest offers many ideas.
The revival of felting techniques has especially pleased modern fashionistas. Things made from natural wool are not only trendy, they are very warm and pleasant to the body. In addition to clothing items, today's needlewomen can felt anything from wool. Any element of the interior, toys for children, everything is in the hands of craftswomen.
For beginning needlewomen, experts advise choosing wool with obvious qualities of good adhesion of its pile to each other. In addition, the material for work must be unspun. You can purchase such material in specialized stores or using catalogs and offers.
Typically, this purchase option guarantees that the product will:
- Clean;
- Safe;
- Qualitative.
Depending on the purpose, it is necessary to choose coarse or fine wool. For outerwear, bags, slippers or accessories, it is good to take coarse wool. Elements of clothing, sweaters, skirts, dresses, children's toys require the use of semi-fine and fine wool structure. Helps craftswomen master class for beginners with step by step execution products and videos.
Effective felting of clothes: wet method
Wet felting wool involves wetting it with a soap solution and then gently smoothing it in different directions. When making a vest or other product using this technique, it is necessary to increase the pattern by about 40%, because wool shrinks.
To make small three-dimensional objects, the wool ball is kneaded by hand.
A flat fabric comes out when wet felting of wool is used. Clothing and objects that represent the extraordinary imagination of the needlewoman can only be made by prolonged rolling out of the workpiece or smoothing it by hand. Basic material for felting children's jacket or other product – unspun wool. Different types of material are used for work.
Depending on the established plan, you need to take one of several types of fiber:
- The coarsest wool is combed;
- Semi-fine wool;
- Very thin.
To work, you need to prepare a flat surface with certain dimensions, PE film with bubble finishing, a mosquito net, soap solution, water, a spray bottle, and finishing accessories. The force of the craftswoman’s hands is the main tool in wool processing. As a result, the application wet felting, makes it possible to realize the most original ideas. The traditional scheme for performing this technique is simple - laying out the woolen material, the procedure for making the base for felting (prefelt), processing the original material, previously soaked with a soap solution, into a homogeneous needle-punched fabric. Next comes the shrinking of the prefelt, highlighting the texture of the material, and eliminating the wetting component. Folding patterns become a defining feature of the future product range.
Stages of felting wool dresses
Today, the felting process is performed using various techniques. A master class on one of the options for wet felting a dress is presented below. On the oilcloth template with the markings of dress sizes, a thin layer of felt is laid overlapping each other.
It is necessary to lay out the wool in a checkerboard pattern: horizontally, then across.
It is necessary to control the thickness of the canvas, it must be uniform. The canvas must be moistened with water from a spray bottle.
Stages:
- The wetted workpiece must be covered with a net. It is convenient to use a mosquito net.
- The layout must be carefully moistened with a soap solution through a net so that the pattern does not move.
- Carefully press the product onto the oilcloth with your hands so that the base is well saturated with the soap solution.
- Excess solution must be removed with a towel.
- Begin the felting process by thoroughly smoothing and rubbing each area. Felting should be done gradually, removing the mesh and turning the product over.
- The canvas is considered ready if, when stretched upward, the entire layer can be removed without separating the strips.
The resulting felt must be rinsed in hot water until the foam is completely eliminated. Dry the canvas unfolded horizontally. The construction of the cut dress can be done on silk or other material. When the cutting is done, the details need to be sewn and the dress can be considered ready. The craftswomen's fair provides a detailed felting course. The patterns are offered by Lisa Houghton, the book is very colorful and features fashion collections.
Details for felting a jacket
Making voluminous items, for example, a jacket, will require a detailed study of a technique such as dry felting. It is very important to prepare the work area and material before starting felting.
Before felting, you need to make sketches or patterns for the future jacket or cardigan.
The wool, laid out according to the prepared template, needs to be poked often and a lot with a serrated felting needle so that the fabric becomes dense. The canvas needs to be rotated all the time, so the density will be uniform. Each area must be pricked frequently.
Additional decorations:
- Lace;
- Ruffles;
- Tapes;
- Ribbon;
- Busin;
- Sequins;
- Beads, etc.
While working, it is possible to add new pieces of mohair and wool, creating the composition that is planned and ensuring that it matches the pattern.
Every handmade wool product has some aspects that require improvement and correction. During wear, sometimes things may require repairs, so experienced needlewomen give some advice. A number of rules must be applied to products that combine two technologies: the semi-finished product must be well dried.
This will make it possible to avoid:
- Deformation;
- Gap;
- Breaking.
It is better to start dry technique with large-thick fiber blanks: carding, combed tape. The finest wool should be used for final finishing. A thin needle needs to be pricked very often, to a shallow depth. If you prick deeply, there will be an unaesthetic mark on the surface, and if you prick rarely, tubercles will appear.
A replacement for hands in the wet method is a bamboo mat on which the workpiece must be laid.
The rug is rolled into a roll and rolled into different directions, achieving dense felting. Among the prepared tools there should be towels to collect excess soap solution. PE bags are needed for additional protection of the workplace, as well as for use as spacers between parts. This measure makes it possible to avoid adhesion of elements to each other.
Felting wool clothes: master class (video)
Felting is a fascinating type of needlework, which is very popular among creative people today. Exclusive, warm, comfortable clothes wear well and are easy to care for, because they hardly get dirty. To clean it, you can use a standard clothes brush. And the most severe stains can be removed by rinsing the item under water.
Felting wool, or felting, is a very interesting, fascinating type of needlework that is popular today. Modern craftswomen use this technique to make clothes, shoes, all kinds of accessories and jewelry. “They come to life” in their hands unique toys. With the help of felting, drawings are made on fabric and felt, paintings and even entire panels are created.
Felting painting
So, what is this type of needlework? Let's figure it out.
Wool felting (from the English felt - felt, felt, stuffing) is a technique in which dense felt is obtained from lush, airy wool. Only natural wool has the ability to mat: the fibers adhere to each other due to their scaly structure.
Do you think felting is a hobby of modern needlewomen that appeared relatively recently? You are deeply mistaken. Felting from wool is one of the oldest types of needlework: people made things from felt already about 8 thousand years ago. Currently, technology is acquiring more and more artistic features; with its help you can create truly amazing things.
Wool beads and bracelet. Photo: inhomes.ru
Felt squirrel. Photo: madeheart.com
Stole with tulips. Photo: livemaster.ru
Felted children's vest. Photo: mbuzgorpolbk.ru
Felted handbag with a cat. Photo: livemaster.ru
Wool slippers. Photo: livemaster.ru
Types of felting
There are two main types of felting - dry and wet. Using the dry felting technique, carried out by piercing wool with special needles, three-dimensional products are most often created: toys, souvenir figurines, jewelry. The wet felting technique, carried out using soapy water and friction of fibers, is suitable for making clothes, panels, canvases, bags - in other words, flat products.
Often, dry and wet felting are used in the manufacture of one product. For example, when making toys, some flat elements are made using the wet felting technique: ears, paws.
Let's take a closer look at dry felting, which is the most fashionable today.
For a person who has not previously encountered felting, we recommend starting to get acquainted with this technique with a felting kit: fortunately, modern manufacturers provide a fairly wide selection. In the future, you can move on to bringing your ideas to life.
Anna Rybalchenko
felt toy maker
Materials and tools
Whatever items you decide to make from wool by dry felting, you will need the same materials and tools.
Unspun wool
For dry felting, coarse or semi-fine dyed unspun wool is used. It is not advisable to choose wool that is too thin (merino), as it is quickly destroyed by the needle - and this can lead to the product becoming oversize, which is almost impossible to correct.
Semi-fine wool for felting. Photo: realtex-yug.ru
Felting wool is sold in the form of combed strip and carded wool. Combed sliver is wool fibers neatly arranged into a long ribbon. To make the felting process more effective, such wool must be thoroughly tangled before working with it. Carding looks like cotton wool, only wool. Such a mass, consisting of tangled fibers, does not require preliminary preparation and quickly falls off.
Remember that wool shrinks by about a third - so stock up on plenty.
“Some people use undyed wool called sliver (cheaper) as the base of toys, then roll it with warp wool. I would not recommend using a sliver for the base, as it falls very poorly and the toy inside will turn out soft, which will make it worse to keep its shape. If you want to save money, then for the base it is better to use semi-fine Russian wool in a combed strip.
In general, the coarser the wool and the greater the fineness (fiber thickness), the faster it mats, which greatly speeds up the process of creating a product. If you are planning to make a toy with the effect of fluffy wool, then put the same wool in the base as on the surface, because when fluffing the product, the needles will pull up the wool fibers located in the middle of the base.”
Anna Rybalchenko
Needles for felting
Felting needles are special needles with small notches at the bottom. When the needles are inserted into the wool, the fibers catch on the notches and become tangled with each other.
Needles for felting. Photo: saleslook.ru
Needles of different thicknesses are used for work: usually the felting process begins with thicker needles, which are then replaced with thin ones. Thick needles are used for direct felting, that is, compaction of the material, medium needles are used to give the product an outline, and thin needles are used to form the final touches. Thick needles (nos. 30, 32, 36) contribute to rapid matting, but after their use, clear puncture marks remain on the product. It is in order to “retouch” them that thinner needles are used (Nos. 38-42).
Needles come not only in different thicknesses, but also in different cross-sectional shapes: triangular (three-beam) and star-shaped (four-beam). For initial work, triangular needles are usually used; for the final ones - in the shape of an asterisk: the punctures from them are more accurate and invisible.
In order to make your work process easier, purchase high-quality needles, preferably imported ones (made in England, Germany, USA).
“Despite the variety of types and shapes of needles, for felting you most often need needles No. 36 (“triangle” or “star”) for working on the base and needle No. 38 “star” for finer work, sanding and decorating the face of a toy. I would recommend having at least five needles of both types in stock, because even the best quality needles break at first for beginners.
In addition, there is another type of needle that helps create a fluffy fur effect on felt toys - these are the so-called reverse needles. These needles easily enter the product and pull the fur out of it to the surface. To create the fur effect, I advise you to use needles No. 40 reverse: they carefully pull out the fur without tearing the toy.”
Anna Rybalchenko
Felting brush
A special brush for felting will protect the working surface and your hands from needle pricks, which, by the way, are sharper than a regular sewing needle. The brush can be replaced with a dishwashing sponge.
Felting brush. Photo: 9.paraalisveris.me
A piece of wool is placed on a brush or sponge and pierced with needles until it becomes felted.
“If it is not possible to use a brush or mat for felting, then when choosing a sponge, pay attention to the fact that it is hard and does not sag under pressure, otherwise you will not be able to felt on it.
When using a brush for felting, I’ll tell you one secret: to prevent the product from being injured by the bristles in the place where it lies, I put a viscose rag folded in two layers (it is sold in any hardware store as for wiping off dust). Thanks to this, the product does not suffer from contact with the brush, and the needles easily pass through the cloth.
In any case, periodically separate the part from the brush or sponge so that it does not stick to it.”
Anna Rybalchenko
In order to protect your fingers from needle pricks, novice felters are recommended to use special rubber or leather thimbles.
Decorative elements
Ribbons, braid, lace, beads and glass beads, glass eyes and other elements are used as decoration for the product.
“Sometimes when making a three-dimensional product, padding polyester is used: it serves as a base on which wool is applied. I don’t recommend using it, as it practically doesn’t fall off - the toy inside will be soft and easily dented.”
Anna Rybalchenko
Anna's works
When working, the needle should be inserted perpendicular to the product or at an angle, depending on the purpose. Anna Rybalchenko talks about this rule: at what angle the needle is inserted, at this angle it is pulled out. Quick and sharp blows with a needle will speed up the process at the initial stage - this way the product will fall off much more efficiently. However, speed and strength must be combined with attentiveness.
“It is important to constantly move and twist the product so that it falls evenly from different sides. This way, the needle will not be exposed to the wool for a long time in the same place, and the wool fibers will not be damaged. Otherwise, you risk getting wool dust instead of a dense base.”
Anna Rybalchenko
When the needle enters the felted part, a crunching sound should be heard. If the toy starts to “crunch” - continue, you are on the right track!
When creating the base, try to felt the middle of the product well. To begin with, take no a large number of wool and gradually increase the volume by adding wool little by little.
“You don’t need to take a large amount of wool at once and give it a shape - you either won’t get what you planned, or the inside of the toy will be under-filled, which will then affect the quality of the finished product. If the product is dense inside, it will be much easier to shape and polish it.”
Anna Rybalchenko
When finishing, punctures should be made as much as possible closer friend to friend. Work at this stage takes place on the surface, the needle is inserted onto a pair of notches. Use a needle to carefully remove all irregularities - ideally, there should not be a single bump on the finished product. If in some places the strands are not aligned, you can apply small pieces of tangled wool fibers and thus sand the product with them.
“Remember: when grinding, the size of the product will further decrease, so you need to start this stage when the product is already hard and cannot be squashed with your fingers.”
Anna Rybalchenko
If you squeeze the finished product with force, but it does not change shape at all, then the shrinkage is sufficient. Tap the table with your finger and then with the toy - the sound should be the same.
To connect parts, which occurs by pressing them against each other, it is necessary to leave the joint “loose”. Loose fibers from one part are threaded into another using a needle. The joint is strengthened: it is laid with a piece of wool, rolled up and sanded.
For paired parts (for example, ears, paws), it is recommended to immediately prepare the same amount of wool. It is difficult to measure wool for the second piece if the first one has already been felted.
If the product is made according to your idea, before you start felting, make a sketch of the future product. Do not forget that preliminary preparation is the basis of any work.
Anna Rybalchenko shares her experience in creating toys:
- Felting the base is a long and painstaking process. Therefore, in order to speed up this stage at least a little, I advise using not one, but two or three needles at the same time when working on the base. You can combine two needles No. 36 and one No. 38, for example. This will significantly speed up the felting process.I also fluff the toy with two or three needles at once. If you do this with one needle, the fur on the toy turns out to be sparse, which looks unsightly. The photo below shows how I roughly hold the needles. When the needles are exactly at this distance from each other, they shed the wool best and fastest. The photo also shows how and what kind of cloth I use to cover the bristles of the brush.
- To make the base of the toy dense, I start with a small skein (strand) of wool, twist it into a roller (as in the photo below) and carefully roll it, and only then, step by step, add new wool. Thanks to this method of felting, you will not overdo it with the volume of the base. When working with wool, it is easier to add volume than to remove it.
- Two or even three different colors of wool can be mixed together using two combing brushes, and then a completely new interesting shade can appear that will add zest to your product.
- If you are passionate about the idea of creating toys from wool, but do not have artistic skills and knowledge, a detailed study of animal anatomy from photographs can come to your aid. By understanding the basic structure of an animal's body, you will much more easily achieve similarity to the original.
Felting can be a great family activity. Wool is completely safe unless there are allergic reactions to it. This means that even children can be involved in such an activity, instilling in them hard work, perseverance and a sense of beauty.
“Children will find it easy to work with wool using the wet felting technique (felt beads, scarves and other simple things) - this is really a fairly safe type of needlework. I would recommend trying dry felting with a child over 10 years old, because by this time the child’s skills are already well developed. fine motor skills, and the child will cope with sharp needles. 70
You will need
- - plain unspun wool;
- - colored wool for decoration;
- - corrugated mat or bubble wrap;
- - hot water;
- - liquid soap;
- - spray bottle;
- - terry towel.
Instructions
Prepare quality material for felting. Only 100% unspun wool will suit you - it has scales on the surface, without which the process of creating felt is impossible. Under the influence of water and soap solution, the fibers will intertwine with each other, forming strong bonds.
Buying wool for felting today is not a problem - various creative kits are sold in stores, they can be ordered online or obtained from private sellers. Before purchasing raw materials, consult a specialist.
Craftsmen use different fibers for certain purposes. Thus, coarse guard wool is used for products that will not come into contact with the skin; combed (sliver") - for the base of the product; small hairs (“toil”) – for soft fabrics. To make toys, combed camel hair is recommended, and for decoration - semi-fine and thin (from 19 to 29 microns in diameter) material.
Prepare your work area. You should have a container of water and liquid soap on hand. Cover the table with a rubber mat or a piece of packaging bubble wrap (the corrugated surface is on top!). Pour hot water into the soap and stir in the liquid.
Try felting a piece of canvas - for example, wall panel. To do this, lay the wool in layers on the mat, stretching the raw material into flat strands. Place adjacent bundles slightly overlapping. In the first layer, all the fibers should be laid in one direction, in the second - in the other direction.
Make the required number of layers of wool, depending on the required thickness of the future product. Please note: the finished felt will decrease in size, so the volume of laid out raw materials should be larger than the future product. So, to obtain felt 1.5 cm thick, a layer of fibers 2 cm is needed.
Wet the wool with soapy water and begin the felting process. To ensure that the villi adhere to each other properly, make circular massaging movements. Gradually apply more and more effort, adding new hot soapy water if necessary. It is believed that for a high-quality result, at least a hundred rubbing movements in different directions are needed on each section of the canvas.
When the wool has set a little, turn the workpiece over and felt the other side. After that you can post beautiful composition on the front side of the future panel.
Use decorative tufts of wool dyed in different colors. There are many decorative options: small balls, “” made of natural sheep wool, spirals twisted from bright bunches. For example, fold a bouquet: thin long bunches(stems), teardrop-shaped spirals (leaves) and round spirals (flowers).
Felting from wool.
Felting or felting -interesting technique handicrafts, gaining momentum. Using the dry felting technique, you can create unusual figurines, souvenirs, jewelry, decorative items and accessories. Felting is an original blend of sculpture and needlework that allows you to make the most of your creative imagination masters
(Master Kristina Mayorova)
Dry felting tools
Let's look at what we need for dry felting for beginners.
- Needles
For dry felting you will need special serrated needles. Because when such a needle is inserted into wool, pieces of wool fibers get caught in the notches and become tangled with each other. For various types There are several different needles for stalling and work stages:
The cross-sectional shape of the needle is triangular, three-beam and four-beam (stars)
If you noticed, then on each edge of the blade of a felting needle there are special serrations, and thus, the more edges, the more serifs, and the faster the felting process occurs. It is worth adding that the accuracy of the holes left by it depends on the cross-section of the needle.
According to the direction of the serifs, there are straight and reverse felting needles
Forward felting needles push the fiber inside the product, and reverse felting needles pull the wool fiber out of the product, this serves to make a felted product and correct it.
Felting needles also vary in number. For example, the higher the needle number, the thinner it is. So felting needles numbered 30,32,36 are coarse, these needles are used at the initial stage of felting. Thick needles for felting have a thicker blade, due to which they cover a slightly larger area, and quickly pull wool fibers into the depths of the product, thereby quickly matting the dense base of felting, however, they leave behind distinct, large puncture marks, which are unacceptable on the finished product. Therefore, to avoid traces of punctures when felting, use thin needles numbered 38 - 42. Also, for finishing sanding the product, you need to use star-shaped needles, because the punctures after them look neater and less noticeable.
Felting support
Needles for dry felting are very sharp and quite long; during felting, they can easily pierce a felt product through and through, and accordingly, the work surface, for example, a table, will be scratched. Therefore, in order not to injure yourself or break the needle on the hard surface of the furniture, use a special felting backing or felting mat.
Most often, an ordinary thick foam sponge is used as a felting mat. The disadvantage of using a washcloth: during the felting process, the notches at the end of the felting needle pull pieces of foam rubber out of the washcloth, which later get stuck between the felted wool fibers. This, as you understand, causes significant damage to the wool product.
Often in work you can find felting mats, or so-called “felt mats”, which are made of polyethylene foam. Such felting mats are much more durable and of higher quality than the washcloths described above. A big plus: each side of such a felting mat has a surface intended for felting wool of different types.
For beginner needlewomen using the felting technique, we recommend using polyethylene foam film, in which ordinary household appliances. If your passion for the dry felting technique grows into something more, change the felting support to a more professional one.
Another option for a substrate for dry felting is a brush mat. It is quite expensive, but the felting brush mat is the most convenient for use as a backing for dry felting, because the special synthetic fiber bristles do not interfere with the movements of the needle and at the same time prevent the felting needle from coming into contact with the hard surface of the work table , thereby preventing damage to the needle.
An inexpensive alternative to a professional mat brush is a regular bristle brush. This brush option is quite suitable for beginners to experience dry felting.
Rule: Before using the mat brush again, carefully remove any wool fibers that remain between the bristles, otherwise there will be wool mixed in the next product.
Thimbles for felting
To protect your fingers from punctures when felting wool, use leather or rubber thimbles
Wool for felting
For dry felting, natural felting wool is used. Felting wool varies in thickness - the lower the number of microns, the finer the wool. Wool can be fine, semi-fine and coarse . Semi-fine dyed wool is best suited for dry felting; you should not take merino wool that is too thin, it will quickly be destroyed by a needle, leading to a distortion of the product, which is almost impossible to correct.
For the basis of toys, in order to save money, they often use cheaper undyed wool of low quality, this wool is called Sliver. Then it is rolled with the main wool.
Comb tape
Combed tape is straight, elongated wool fibers neatly laid into a long strip in one direction for felting.
The wool must be thoroughly tangled before felting. The better the fibers are mixed up, the more efficient and accurate the felting process will be, this can be done using an animal brush or by repeatedly pulling and placing the fibers “cross to cross”.
Carding (wool wool)
Carding is a ready-made mass of wool for felting, consisting of tangled fibers, due to which the carding quickly falls and saves the master’s time due to the absence of the need for preliminary preparation of wool for felting. Great for beginner needlewomen.
Here are a few useful tips and rules from felting master Kristina Mayorova.
- Use quality needles.
- Insert the needle perpendicular to the surface to be felted
- Take your time when working
- Remember that the needle goes much deeper than you think
- Quick and sharp blows with a needle do not speed up the process. This causes the needle to break and damage the wool fibers.
- Insert the needle deep into the center, try to pull the wool fibers inward, then first it will create density inside the wool craft, and the outer layers of the product will gradually become denser.
- When the needle enters a wool product, you should hear a sound similar to a crunch.
- A product is considered sufficiently felted when it does not change shape at all when pressed. To do this, knock on the table with your fingers, and then with the product, if the knocking sound is the same, then the knocking was a success.
- When sanding the product, use a thin star-shaped needle, the punctures should be close to each other
- Remove all uneven areas where you cannot drop the strands, apply small pieces of tangled wool and sand the product.
- When processing with a reverse needle, you should also carefully make punctures close to each other
- The parts of a wool product are joined by rolling them together; to do this, it is necessary to leave the joint fluffed up, then we tuck the loose fibers of one part into another part using a needle. After this, we strengthen the junction of the parts - lay it with a tuft of wool, fill it up and sand it
- When working, take into account that the wool falls by about a third
- For paired parts, immediately prepare the same amount of wool for felting
Master class on wool felting for beginners video
Text prepared by: Veronica
