Tutorial - Wet Felt Making for Beginners

This tutorial will show you how to make a basic piece of flat felt.

Anyone can make felt – it’s easy.  To start, all you need is some inexpensive equipment:

a sushi mat, some merino wool top/roving, soap (the purer the better and we find that olive oil soap is the best), some small-bubble wrap, a piece of tutu netting or old net curtain and a clean milk container (with holes punched in the lid) containing tepid water and a dash of eco-friendly washing up liquid.

The following steps will show you how to make a piece of flat felt and from there you can then make a lot of things -for ease, this tutorial will show you how to make drinks coasters.

1. From your merino wool, pull off a tuft as shown in the photo.  Never cut the wool as the blunt edge will not felt well.  Keep your hands about 6” apart to gently pull the tuft of wool off.

2. You can make felt just using one colour, but if you want a bit of interest, try using 3 colours at the same time.  A quick way to blend the colours is to pull off 3 tufts,

   

then lay them one on top of the other, grasp the ends and pull gently apart.  Lay the 2 tufts one on top of the other and repeat until you get the colour mix you want – stop before it gets muddy.

3. Spread a piece of bubble wrap (bubble side down) on your work surface and lay out some tufts of wool on it, as shown, horizontally.  (The size to be a rough 12” square.)

   

4. Lay more tufts to cover the first layer, but this time lay them vertically.

 
5. The third layer should be horizontal, the same as the first layer.

 

6. Carefully place a piece of netting over the wool.

 

7.Sprinkle water over the wool through the net – don’t over wet.

 

8. Push down all over the wool, through the net, with flat hands until you feel the water being taken up by the wool.  At this stage you will be able to determine if you need more water.

 

9. Without disturbing the wool, gently rub soap across the net.  This is easier if you hold the net with one hand while soaping with the other.

10. Gently rub the wool, using a circular motion across the top of the net, for a few minutes.

 

11. Carefully peel back and remove the net, releasing any trapped fibres, as the wool should be just about holding together now.  Carefully lift it off the bubble wrap and onto the sushi mat.

 

12. Roll the sushi mat up tightly and drain off any surplus water.

 

13. Roll the sushi mat backwards and forwards for about a minute – if you put the sushi mat on an old towel, it will be easier to roll as it won’t slide about.

 

14. Carefully unroll the mat and turn the felt through 90 degrees. 
Roll the mat up and repeat the rolling process for about a minute.
Repeat steps 13 & 14 after turning the felt over.
Repeat all steps, until the felt is ‘felted’.  You will know when it’s ready by doing the ‘pinch test’.  Pinch your thumb and forefinger into the felt and if you can pull the layers apart then it’s not felted – keep rolling until it’s ready.

15. Rinse the felt to remove the soap (add a small dash of white vinegar to the final rinsing water) then pat it dry between two layers of old towel or kitchen paper.
Roll it again in the mat for a few seconds to flatten it.

16. Get a cookie cutter the size you want your coaster to be then press the cookie cutter firmly into the felt.  You will get an impression left in the felt that will give you a guide to cut around. 
Alternatively, you could cut around a template or cut freehand.

   
Don’t throw your scraps away – dry them and keep for a needle felting base or card topping decoration or for incorporating into a new piece of felt or using for altered art.

17. Put your coasters onto the sushi mat.

 

18. Roll up the mat and roll the felt 10 times.
Unroll the mat and turn the coasters through 90 degrees.
Roll up the mat and roll the felt 10 times.
Repeat this process until the coasters have been rolled 4 times.
Turn the coasters over, turn them through 45 degrees then repeat the 4 times rolling process.
After this, the edges should be nicely felted in – if not, repeat until you’re satisfied.

19. Put the coasters in a warm place to dry – then enjoy them!

Comments

[Annie & Lyn]

Hello Ann
Thank you for your kind comments about our blog and we hope that lots of people are inspired to try felting as it's a great hobby and so easy to learn.
With regard to your question, we hope this makes sense:

Wool fibres entangle when you agitate them and that's how felt is made - felt is a non-woven fabric.

Needle Felting is a dry form of felting. The wool fibres are entangled together by using a barbed needle. As the needle is pushed in and pulled out of wool fibres, they tangle together i.e. felt.
You can use just one needle or buy holders so that you can use several needles at once or you can use an embellishing machine (it's like a sewing machine but has felting needles in the place of a sewing needle).

Needle felting is mostly used to decorate or make small items, but it's possible to make a sheet of felt with a needle (if you have enough patience!).

If you look at our penguin, it's a wet-felted background with the penguin needle-felted onto it once it was dry.

Commercial felt is made by needle felting but of course it's done by huge machines with needle beds.

If you look on youtube, you can see people needle-felting - here's just one example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkdGCiu7Tzk

Happy Felting!

[Ann Avedian]

Love your blog - really inspirational for a beginner felter like me! Not sure what needle felting is tho - can you explain?
Ann Avedian

[Carole Wynn-Jones]

Hi. I love your beautiful felted items and would love to have a go myself. What exactly is merino wool'top roving?'
Carole
ps I just bought some coloured scrim from you and can't wait to get going with that as well.

[june edwards]

Oh thankyou so much what a brilliant tutorial it was so easy to follow, i've just bought an embellisher machine so any advice is greatly apprieciated.
june edwards