Tutorial - How To Make Flat Felt (Wet Felting)

In this tutorial we'll show you how easy it is to make your first piece of felt.  You can either make a plain piece or use scraps of yarn and fabric to make a patterned piece.

You will need:

A large, round-stick sushi mat
A piece of small-bubble, bubble wrap, slightly larger than the sushi mat
A piece of tutu net, slightly larger than the sushi mat
Merino wool top in your choice of colours, approx 25-30 gms (1 oz)
A water spray bottle
Washing-up liquid – any kind will do for this project
Scraps of wool yarn and open weave fabric (optional)

Now that you've gathered what you need, this is what you do:

Choose a suitable work surface that can tolerate water and place an old towel on it.  Spread the sushi mat out on the towel and put a piece of bubble wrap, bubbles up, over the sushi mat.

Take a piece of merino wool top, about 45cms long then split it down the middle, lengthwise, to make two easy-to-use lengths.  From one of these lengths, pull a fine tuft of wool and place it on the bubble wrap, as shown in the photo. 

To pull off a tuft of wool, hold a length 8-10cms from the end, and with your other hand, grip the end of the length between your fingertips and your palm, then pull gently – if you pull too hard the wool will resist you. 

First tuft of wool laid - fibres running horizontally

Continue placing tufts of wool on the bubble wrap, with the fibres all running in the same direction, until you have completed a row, then start again from the left, making another row, and another until you have a rectangle of wool, as shown in the photo.

Slightly overlap the tufts to get a fairly even coverage of wool.  The layer should be fine and you will still be able to see the bamboo mat through the wool layer at this stage.

Second tuft of wool laid in the first row

First layer of wool complete

Make a second layer, but this time the wool fibres should run in the opposite direction.  On the first layer the fibres ran west to east, but on the second layer the fibres will run north to south.

Use whatever colours you like and mix them up a bit or you can just use a plain colour.

Second layer of wool complete

Make a third layer of wool, with the fibres running west to east, in whatever colours you choose.

Third layer of wool complete

For the fourth and final layer, lay merino wool down with the fibres running the same way as you did the second layer. 

You can stop at that if you want a plain piece of felt, or you can then randomly place scraps of wool yarn, open weave fabric or wisps of different colours of merino wool on top to embellish it.

Fourth layer of wool complete - embellishments added

Close-up look at embellishments

Put some warm water in a spray bottle and add a squirt of washing-up liquid (don’t shake the bottle - you don’t want too many suds).

Place the tutu net over the wool and spray it with the soapy water until you think it’s saturated (but not swimming!).  Push down with your fingers until it’s flat.  If you’ve over-watered, mop it up with a small sponge - push it down onto the wool, through the net, and lift it straight up again so that you don’t disturb the fibres.   

Flattening the wool and encouraging it to take up the water

When the wool is flat, scrunch up a scrap of bubble wrap and rub it over a wet bar of soap, then rub the soapy scrunched up bubble wrap all over the surface of the wool, through the net, using a gentle circular motion.  After a couple of minutes, slowly lift the net in a peeling motion, releasing any trapped fibres with a flick of your fingers.  Replace the net and rub for another couple of minutes.

Gently agitating the wool, through the net, with soapy scrunched up bubble wrap

Pull the sushi mat out from under the bubble-wrap and place it on top of the wool – leave the net in place on the patterned side of the wool.  Gripping the bubble wrap and sushi mat, flip them over then remove the bubble wrap. 

Roll up the wool and net, firmly, in the sushi mat as shown, until it’s completely rolled up like a Swiss roll. Grip it firmly in the middle, and tip it over a bowl to let any excess water drain away.

Place it on an old towel and roll the whole thing back and forth for about 30 seconds.  

If you find that the bamboo mat loosens during rolling, you can secure it with a rubber band at each end or tie it up using the legs of old tights.

Rolling up the wool in the bamboo mat

Carefully unroll the sushi mat, releasing any trapped fibres, then turn the wool through 90 degrees clockwise (leaving the net in place to prevent the embellishments becoming entangled in the bamboo).  Roll it all up again - the wool will hang out both sides of the mat, but don’t worry about that.

As before, roll for about 30 seconds.

The wool in the bamboo mat after the first turn

Carefully unroll the sushi mat, releasing any trapped fibres, and again turn the wool through 90 degrees clockwise.  Gently smooth any creases. 

Continue with the rolling and turning until the wool has been rolled from all four sides, then turn it over.  Keep the net against the patterned side all the time.

Lifting the net occasionally to release any trapped fibres, repeat the rolling and turning until it's been rolled from all four sides.  

Keep rolling and turning until the wool turns into felt.  It should feel firm and it will shrink by 25-30% from the original size.

Note:  Leaving the net in place on top of the embellishments prevents loose ends snagging between the bamboo sticks.

Finished piece of felt

Gently rinse the finished felt in tepid water until the soap clears - add a dash of white vinegar to the final rinse.

Do not wring the water from the felt – roll it up and squeeze it gently then spread it out on the sushi mat (rinse the soap from the sushi mat first) and roll it slowly and gently for 10 rolls in each direction to smooth it out.

Felt will keep the shape in which it dries, so place the piece of felt on a rack (e.g. a cake cooling rack) and put it in a warm place to dry.

Comments

[joe]

thanks so much this helped me in my art project tonnes

[Jane]

The e book must be one of the best I have ever purchased, absolutely brilliant. Pure inspiration.

[Annie and Lyn]

Hello Maddy,
Thank you for the kind compliments on our tutorials, much appreciated.

Handmade felt will never be the same as commercial felt - thank goodness - it has a fluffiness that is charming.
However, if you want a felted item to look smoother, you can run a disposable razor over the surface (carefully and with very little pressure) or use a sweater shaver gadget.

How much rolling? Your felt should be as fulled (shrunk and hardened) as it needs to be for whatever you are making. So, if you are making a picture to hang on a wall then it doesn't need to be hard-wearing so you can stop the fulling process as soon as you are happy with the appearance of the felt. But if you are making slippers that need to be hard-wearing, then they must be fulled to the maximum (i.e. until they won't shrink any further). Your cobweb scarf will not get harsh treatment, so if you are happy with the feel of it, then you've rolled it enough.

To set your mind at rest about how felted your felt should be, it's a good idea to make a piece of plain, flat felt to experiment with. Lay out four layers of fibres to about 12" square, then follow the instructions on the tutorial 'how to make flat felt'. Full it by rolling until the felt won't shrink anymore. At regular intervals during the fulling, measure your piece of shrinking felt and look to see the changes in the surface appearance. Make notes and if you can, take photos.

[Maddy]

Really love your tutorials, they're straight forward and easy to follow. I've just started experimenting with wet felting, have made a couple of pods for my cats, a few flat mats and today I finished my first cobweb scarf. Overall I'm happy with all of them, especially the scarf, but I wonder how 'felted' the pieces should be and if I'm doing the rolling long enough. Each piece is a little fuzzy, not smoothly, flat like commercial felt. Is that normal? There are no loose fibres and they are holding together.

[Annie and Lyn]

Hello Rachel and thank you for your kind comment and we hope that you find the book fun to use.

Throwing the felt to full it is very useful when making nuno fabric (scarves etc) or when making felt that needs to be hard-wearing (slippers etc) but when we make felt for artwork it doesn't need to be hard-wearing because it's just going to be hung on a wall. Also, if we want a smooth finish to our felt, we full it slowly by rolling because throwing the felt can sometimes result in a 'pebbly' or 'lumpy' look. You can successfully full the felt completely just by rolling, although it does take longer doing it that way than if you throw it.

When you've made a few pieces, you'll find that you get an instinctive feel for what's happening to the wool and you can try different processes and find out what suits you. Start with small pieces and experiment a bit.

[Rachel]

Wow- I love your work and your tutorials are so clear. Thank you SO much for your generosity - can't wait to look through the book. Just one question- in other tutorials they talk about the fulling process of throwing the felt against a hard surface repeatedly- do you not find it neccesary to do this?

[Annie and Lyn]

Hello Sarah, you can buy wool from many suppliers including 'World of Wool', 'Wingham Wool Work', 'Sara's Texture Crafts', 'George Weil', and from Etsy and Ebay.

[sarah]

Can you please tell me where you get the merino wool?

[lorraine(qiviut-queen)]

Thanks for posting this.....you make it look so easy, got to buy your ebook !

[Kerry]

Hello Annie and Lyn!

I just wanted to thank you for getting me well on my way to learning to felt. Your tutorials are nothing short of wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

I've featured you on my new blog. http://cdakidscrafting.web44.net/?p=214

[Caoilfhionn Geraghty]

I love your tutorials they are so helpful, I have bought your e book and am hoping there will be a number two