FELT MAKING

In february the Weston Craft Group had great fun making pre-felt it was something that anyone could do using equipment found around the home. The only material that you need to purchase is the wool tops. There are various sites on the web www.gilliangladraq.co.uk who specialises in felt making and Rainbow Silks.

Equipment required.

Old towels                               Newspapers

j cloths                                  Large plastic bowl for rinsing felt in.

empty squeezy bottle or spray        Bubblewrap

Piece of cotton net (old lace curtain) size should be a bit bigger than the size of felt to be made.

Wool tops  and bits of thread or materials that you may wish to incorporate in the felt.

Lay newspaper and towel on table to protect surface. Have a towel beside you to dry your hands.

Put bubble wrap, bubbles upwards, on top of towel. Should be big enough to fold over and cover the felt

With dry hands, pull out small sections of the 'tops' (3-4 in lengths) and place in a line across the bubble wrap. Place a second line overlapping the first by about a third. Continue until it is the size that you require.

Lay the second layer of fibres at right angles to the first.

Build up 4 or 5 layers.  Add threads etc if wished, but they must be covered by at least one layer of 'tops'. Place the net carefully over the top.

Make up a soapy solution in squeezy or spray bottle with hot water (not too much soap or you will have bubbles everywhere).

Sprinkle this over the netting. Gently rub the fibres with a circular motion, for a couple of minutes, adding more soapy solution if needed, until the layers are wet through.

Remove the netting, turn fibres over carefully, pull into shape if necessary and repeat.

Remove netting, fold over other part of bubblewrap. Roll forward and back, gently to start with, then pressing harder (they say for 10 minutes) open up turn the felt and repeat. A dowel or rolling pin to roll round can make this easier.

Have a look to see if fibres have bonded, if not keep going.

Put fibres into hot clean water, squeeze to get soap out. Hand wash. Lay on a Jcloth and pull into shape. Dry in a warm place, then iron under a cloth.

If all the layers haven't quite bonded, embellish with machine embroidery, hand embroidery, couched threads, ribbon etc.

Can be used in applique, hand made buttons, felt toys ornaments. Cut into strips machine together with a fancy stitch, as in crazy patchwork for cushion, bag or whatever.

Strengthen felt by bondawebbing or sewing onto bought felt,Vilene, material, then use to make a bookcover, picture frame, bag etc.