What is felting? How is felting done? What are the uses of felt products? Are our felt products made in felt and yarn made in fair working conditions? These are some of the most common that we get asked here at Felt and Yarn.
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Well, one thing we all know is that felting is an old method of creating wool craft items. Felt crafts are a great way to decorate your home with fabric crafts. And there are many other uses for felt crafts made using various methods of felting.
When it comes to felting, there are a lot of questions. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions regarding felting, along with their answers.
Well, this is the most common question that we get asked about felting. Felt is textile material made out of wool by matting, condensing, and pressing the wool fibers together.
Felting is a technique that creates a fabric with a dense, flat surface by matting wool fibers together with moisture and heat. It is the process of making felt crafts using natural fibers like natural sheep wool, animal furs, etc using different techniques. Each felting technique or process will condense the fibers together tightly.
Felting can be used to manufacture a variety of objects ranging from little craft supplies such as balls to larger items such as shoes and bags. Felting can also be used to produce a variety of designs and patterns.
Learn more about the definition of felting here.
Now as we know that the felting process includes matting, condensing, and pressing the wool fiber together, there are multiple methods to perform these processes. There are many felting techniques like wet felting, needle felting, Nuno felting, resist felting, cobweb felting, etc.
While there are many felting techniques and methods, the most common and prominent felting methods are wet felting and needle felting techniques.
Wet felting is the process where wool fibers are bonded together with soap and warm water. The wool fibers are layered on top of each other at an angle of 90 degrees and are pressed together with the felting mat. Once the desired thickness is achieved, the wool fibers are combed together to produce a tight bond.
Needle felting is a dry felting method that uses a small needle to push loops of wool or other animal fibers into one another to add fine details to crafts and to create 3D objects. The process includes a lot of stabbing of wool using felting needles. It can also be a hobby that can be learned by almost anyone and can be done on any budget.
You can learn more about felting techniques in our blog 'A beginner guide to felting: felting technique 101'. You can also learn the difference between needle felting and wet felting techniques here.
Many people wonder why they should use felt products when they can simply get factory-made substitutes. Long-term multiple-use and sustainability are the easy answers to that query.
Felt products are made using 100% natural and organic resources. This already makes it way better than other products made from substances like plastics and others. As these products are made using natural materials, they are easily biodegradable and are sustainable for the environment.
Learn how you can have sustainable living and how you can invest in our planet through felt products here.
Felt products also have multipurpose usage. You can buy felt products for one use and have multiple uses of the product. Your felted cat cave can be a decor item, while you can use felt craft supplies to make a garland or hanging ornament etc.
As these felt products are sustainable, eco-friendly, and have multipurpose use, there is various use of felt products in practical life. For design purposes like interior decors, fashion design, photography backdrops to using them as furniture, office supplies, etc. there are various ways you can use felt products.
Felt products are also used for soundproofing the room and can be used as toys, accessories, etc. Such numerous sustainable use of felt products in our day-to-day life makes it the perfect product to opt for.
There have always been questions about the genuine and originality of handmade products available in the market. We also get questions about the availability of machine-made felt products and such products being cheaper and similar to handmade felt crafts.
People who are fond of original handicrafts find it hard to select the best and most original handicrafts manufacturer. Nepal is one of the top countries when it comes to finding the best handicraft manufacturers and suppliers.
Apart from being the best handicraft manufacturer, most companies also promote and provide support to mostly local women. And Felt and Yarn are one such company providing support to local women of marginalized communities.
Felt and Yarn have been a leading felt manufacturer and supplier in the past decade. The availability of a wide range of products that too at an affordable price has made Felt and Yarn the best choice for most of the clients. Felt and Yarn also emphasize making products in fair working conditions which is why Felt and Yarn has been awarded Goodweave, Sedex and Fair-Trade certified too.
From the availability of a wide range of affordable products to getting your products delivered to your doorstep, Felt and Yarn is the best place to find your felt handicrafts. Find out secrets to selecting the best-felt supplier here.
Poor treatment of the staff and workers and the use of child labor have always been a big issue in companies established in developing countries. We always get asked if our artisans are treated fairly in the workplace and if there is the use of child labor in the production process as we are also based in Nepal, a developing country.
Felt and Yarn are operated under the company's core values and philosophy of fair working conditions, transparency, and sustainability. Under the company value, Felt and Yarn produce crafts under safe conditions by well-trained adult artisans. The company is strictly against child labor and encourage fair working condition thus has been certified by fair trade and Goodweave certification.
Felt and Yarn also provides free training to the artisans frequently and emphasize providing a diverse and transparent working environment. Thus artists from any background are treated equally with common decency and are provided with equal opportunities.
Learn how our artisans are coping with harsh reality and breaking the barrier by working with Felt and Yarn here.
We all know wool fiber is obtained from sheep which mostly comes in white, black, and brown hues. Thus, we're frequently asked how we dye our wool and how many color options wool do we have? In addition, we are also frequently asked if the items are colored using natural compounds and if they have any adverse effects.
Felt and Yarn use natural compound dyes to color the wool. Felt and Yarn provide more than 90 varieties of color option and all of these colors are made with azo-free dyes. These dyes are free from harmful chemicals and toxic substances like bleach and others.
With over 99 different color options, you can choose to customize your crafts in any color you want. Moreover, you can even customize the design of your crafts the way you like. And the best part, you don't have to pay a huge amount to customize your products. You can do it at a very nominal cost.
Felt products are a great substitute for your plastic products and toys. With varieties of products available at Felt and Yarn, you sure can find products for your kids and your pets too. From interactive children's educational toys and products to pet toys and pet beds, you can find a good alternative to plastic toys and products.
However, with the use of various dyes and procedures to manufacture these crafts, we all have one question: is the use of such goods safe for your children and pets? The simple answer is that they are ideal for both children and dogs.
First of all, felt products are made using all-natural substances like wool and are dyed using azo-free dyes that we mentioned in the above point. Learn more about 9 of such kids' safe interactive pet toys as well from our previous blog.
Also, find the ultimate guide to pet-friendly felt products that are perfect for your fur babies and find out why felt products are best for your pets.
We all look for products that last for the long term. We all want our investment to be worthy so we look for products that are strong and durable.
Felt products in Felt and Yarn are made from carefully handpicked 100% natural wool sourced ethically from New Zealand. Along with making crafts from the best wool, the crafts and products are lovingly handmade by local women artisans.
This makes our felt products worth investing in compared to other products. The durability of wool felt products has made them the choice for many in recent years. And the best part is that these products are renewable and biodegradable, so you won't have to worry about the planet when you dispose of these products.
While these felt goods can resist heavy wear and tear, they can be easily ruined if they are not maintained. Cleaning felt item is a simple process. A simple dusting will do for quick restoration, however, certain tough stains would require the use of soapy water to remove them. Learn how to clean felt products as well as all of the cleaning tips and methods from our previous blog.
This is one of our clients' and customers' most often asked questions. We all wish to express ourselves via art and crafts in some way, and felting is one of them.
Making a felt product isn't as difficult as you might assume. With some basic materials and your imagination, anyone can make felt crafts on their own. Making felt at home, on the other hand, may not give you the perfect result you desire, but all you need to do is discover a simple and basic instruction to take you through the process.
Basic wet felting and needle felting techniques are covered in the previous few tutorials. You may simply learn to construct a few basic crafts by using your imagination and following our step-by-step instructions.
You can also get quick help by watching our tutorial video on our YouTube channel.
Here you go, here's a summary of some of the most common questions we receive in our . We're confident that these FAQ responses have answered your questions.
Do you have any questions concerning felting or our business? You can contact us via or through our social media platforms. All of your questions will be gladly answered. Also, find varieties of felt crafts from our website and Etsy shop.
A question I often get asked when creating my needle felted animals is 'what type of wool did you use for your core wool?' or 'what wool is the dog's long fur made of?'
When you first start needle felting the variety of fibres out there and knowing what to start with can seem really confusing and somewhat daunting. There are not only different animal fibres you can choose from (e.g. sheep, alpaca, baby llama, camel, even dog fur etc) but there are also vegan options such as viscose, acrylic, bamboo, hemp, soybean, nettle, pineapple or banana fibres.
When felting with sheep wool there are different breeds of sheep that produce different textures. Some are delicate and soft with straight fine fibres, some are more thick, fibrous and harsher to the touch. Some are easy and quick to use as a core wool and some are better to use as a top coat. You can get natural undyed wools which come in some lovely whites, creams, greys and browns depending on the breed or you can opt for wool that is dyed (or dye it yourself) and there are numerous amazing colours to choose from.
In this guide I mention some sheep breeds that I love but my main aim is to help you understand the different preparations of wool like knowing the difference between a batt and a top. It is so useful when learning to needle felt to know what these terms mean, to save time and money and to know practically how you might use each of the different wool types at the different stages of making your needle felted animal.
I give some suggestions from my own needle felting journey that will hopefully provide some insight into the types of wool available but I'd encourage you to test different fibres for yourself. It's very much part of the fun when learning and no doubt you will find some amazing discoveries along the way.
I have also included links in this guide for where to source the different types of needle felting wool ' please see my links disclaimer in the right side panel for more details. These are all from Heidifeathers shop on Amazon. They sell a wonderful range of wool and the biggest range of barbed needles in the UK. They have excellent customer reviews and postage is usually free. If you would like to just browse all their products rather than using the links below then here is the shop link.
What is carded wool/carding?
The process of carding wool can be achieved with a machine (usually a drum carder) or by hand using two handheld carders (some people use dog brushes). Traditionally the wool is first of all washed, removing most of its lanolin and then passed through differentially moving surfaces so that the fibres are further cleaned of vegetable matter and are rid of any tangles or clumps. The result is a continuous mesh of mixed up fibres. They come as carded batts or slivers.
What is the difference between a batt and a sliver?
Carded wool can be bought as a carded batt ' which is simply a big thick sheet of mixed up wool fibres or it can be bought as a carded sliver which is the same as a batt but it comes as a very long strip.
Both are great for most needle felting projects as you can easily pull off small pieces or long sections and start making shapes. As the fibres are short and go in various directions rather than laying in the same way, this wool type is super quick to felt with.
Here is a carded wool batts bundle of 4 natural wool shades; white, grey, dark brown and mid brown.
Jiatong contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.
What would I use carded wool for?
I find carded wool is great to use as a core wool for my medium to large needle felted animals. I like using natural undyed carded corriedale, Jacob, or mixed breed wool for this.
Here is the white Jacob wool batt which is great for the core shape of your animals. It also comes in other natural shades.
Core wool is often cheaper to buy (especially in bulk) saving the more luxurious softer wools such as merino wool for the coloured top coat. You don't see the core wool which makes up the inside of your felted animal so it doesn't matter if the finish looks good or if there's a tiny bit of vegetable matter in the wool. The important thing is that you have made a good firm shape on which to attach your outer wool.
I prefer the carded batts of wool for sculpting the basic head and body shapes and for making flat features such as ears. See below for my hare.
For animals which have a wire armature I find it more practical to use the carded slivers for wrapping lengths of wool over the wire, then I use either batts or slivers to build up the shape and musculature.
Here
is one of my favourites ' the white corriedale wool sliver.Batts and slivers come in a variety of colours and if you are making a small animal and not using the long fur technique you can skip the need for a core wool and just start sculpting your animal in the colour it is.
If you have started off with core wool, you can add the carded wool colours as a top coat. They are great for layering different shades of colour and blending them. You can also use the long fur technique with the coloured batts to replicate a wavy/rough coat appearance. Batts work well too if using a reverse needle to pull out fibres to achieve a fluffy coat / hairy look or for blending colours.
This 'Creature Mix
' has six wonderful animal shades of needle felting carded wool slivers.What are tops/roving?
Tops and roving mean more or less the same thing when it comes to needle felting. After the wool has been washed and carded it can then be combed so that all the fibres end up going in one direction to form long lengths that can be wrapped up into a ball. They come in all sorts of sheep breeds and most often you'll see them in merino wool in a vast array of colours to choose from.
What would I use tops/roving wool for?
As it stands this type of wool is not so easy to felt together as the carded wool due to the fibres all laying in the same direction, however it is brilliant for adding pieces of wool to your needle felted animal to resemble long fur. The merino wool tops in particular are fine, straight and soft and so I will mostly use them for straight fur. Your animals can look really realistic with a bit of patience and some beautiful merino wool tops.
When you look at a real animal its coat is rarely all one colour but different tones of light and dark so by using a number of tones of wool you can get your animal fur to look as realistic as possible.
The following packs (each containing 6 colours) are ideal for when you need a variety of tones of the same/similar colours. I have given examples of animals you might use these packs for as inspiration, many of which I have made myself in the past.
'Beautiful Browns'
'Grand Greys'
'Outstanding Oranges and Yellows'
Gleeful Greens'
On some of my animals I add in tops of another sheep breed (such as corriedale/ Shetland) to the merino tops where I would like to have a more wiry/ textured looking coat for more realism. I find that the sections I add have a bit more thickness and robustness to them than just the soft merino.
If you would like to stock up on and try out some tops in a variety of sheep breeds then this 'Animal Mix' is a wonderful collection of soft natural mixed wool tops from 10 different breeds including blueface leicester, manx and merino.
For a very tiny animal such as a needle felted bee where I want to reverse felt the colours, I don't use a core wool but make it from the merino tops I already have to hand rather than necessarily buying new wool but I will hand shred/blend the fibres first to make it easier to felt with. My bumble bee tutorial here shows you how to make a bee from merino wool over a pipe cleaner armature.
When you need specific individual colours and types of wool, Heidifeathers also sell a variety of single colour slivers, natural sheep or alpaca wool tops in a variety of animal colours and bright colours too. Take a look here.
This photo shows the rabbit coloured carded sliver. I love this one.
You can find lovely natural curly locks in the cleaned but uncarded wool of some breeds of sheep (such as Teesdale) or from the angora goat ' mohair. These can be attached to your needle felted animal to resemble curly fur / wool / hair for example when making a mane or for curly haired dog breeds or making a sheep/goat.
Heidifeathers sell these really soft curly mohair locks in a variety of colours.
This photo shows the brown mix.
I have personally found that if I need to add curls all over my animal rather than just adding a small numbers of locks e.g. to a mane or tail, then it is far cheaper and fun (though time consuming) to curl some wool tops by hand either by winding the wool round knitting needles or plaiting it, then wetting with a little water before leaving to dry. This technique also ensures every part of the wool is fully curly as some of the locks you buy may not be a perfectly formed curl or there may be matted/frizzy parts.
I have mentioned some sheep breeds above that I love so here I have included some more information about the breeds and their wool.
Corriedale
The corriedale sheep is a cross breed from New Zealand (merino crossed with Lincoln and Leicester) and now bred internationally.
It's a very cute sheep to look at with its super thick wool more or less covering its entire body and over its head like a hoodie.
Corriedale wool is fairly soft to feel and great to felt with and I love its natural creamy white colour. This is the wool I started out using as a beginner and though I love the other breeds too this is one I often stock up on. I use carded and tops for my animals.
Merino
The merino is a worldwide bred sheep but originating from Spain, this is very popular across Australia and New Zealand.
Similar in looks to the corriedale sheep with its wool over its head but the wool is extremely soft and fine.
I always choose a non-mulesed merino wool as unfortunately the painful practice of mulesing still exists on some farms where some skin is also removed along with the merino wool in some places. Merino tops are brilliant for adding pieces to my animals to resemble long fur and merino batts are wonderful to reverse felt for a soft fluffy coat.
Norwegian
There are many sheep breeds in Norway but the one most often used for wool nowadays is a cross breed of the Cheviot and the Dala and Steigar.
These sheep look slightly more slender looking than the above breeds as their fleece is longer and not so springy.
The wool is really easy to felt, feels soft and comes in a lovely natural creamy white colour. I particularly love using carded Norwegian batts.
Jacob
Jacob sheep are so interesting to look at. They have some great markings, usually spots or patches of black or dark brown against a white background. They are also polycerate which means that both the ewes and rams have 2, 4 or even 6 horns.
Jacob wool comes in brown, black and white, and is quite soft and silky to feel though still quite coarse. I like the carded batts in this wool.
Shetland
This breed is the smallest of the British breeds and predominantly found on the Shetland Islands. It's origin is not confirmed but is likely to have originated from Scandinavia.
Their wool comes in shades of white, brown grey and black making it really versatile in its natural form. It is fairly soft and fine with a more silky kind of feel than the corriedale. I love using Shetland tops as long fur for my animals.
Which sheep breeds and wool types do you love to use the most?
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