How to Felt Wool

After felting a few hundred sweaters, jackets, blankets, ties and scarves, there are a few things I’ve learned.

*  It’s better to select 100% wool or 100% cashmere items to felt rather than something that contains a blend of acrylic or merino wool.  You may be able to get these blended item to felt, but it takes more than one attempt, and I’ve found that the end result can be disappointing.  I’ve stopped using Merino wool since it has a coating over the wool and it can be resistant to the felting process.

*  Remove all labels, buttons, snaps, zippers and decorations before you attempt to felt the item. This takes time and effort, but you’ll be glad you did.  The finished felted item will be less wrinkled, bulky and puckered. Besides, you can keep the buttons and other findings for use in other projects.

*  Place like colors in the same load.  Don’t take the chance that a red cashmere sweater “may not” bleed onto a white cashmere item.  When you think it won’t…. it will.

*  Use the very hottest water setting on your washing machine.  Some people have said that top loading machines work best.  However, I’ve used my high energy efficient front loader on the “sanitize” cycle with a double hot wash and a little bit of liquid detergent and I’ve had excellent results.

*  Place an old pair of blue jeans in the washer with the items you are felting.  This will increase the agitation and cause the items to shrink more quickly.  You may try putting smaller or less bulky sweaters in a lingerie type wash bag that zips shut.  I usually felt more than one item in a load, so the agitation increases with more items.

*  Once the hot cycle is over, open the washing machine and check the garments.  If you have some that have felted satisfactorily, take it out and put it in a bucket of very cold water.  Rinse thoroughly in cold water.  That stops the heat and shrinking action of the wool.  If all of the items in my load are felted properly, I will manually program the cold rinse cycle a few times.  Remember, the cold water stops the shrinking.

*  Be sure to clean out the filter on your washing machine periodically.  The little bits of wool will collect and keep your machine from draining properly.

*  If the item has not shrunk/felted enough for your satisfaction, place it in the dryer.  I always hang my items to dry in the air making sure I’ve shaken the wrinkles out first.  Also, try to gently stretch or block the item so that it will dry flat.

*  Once your items are dry, go ahead and cut off the sleeves, flatten them out and cut the backs from the fronts on the sweaters and jackets.  When felting 100% woolen ties and scarves, I will use a steam iron to open up the seams and flatten the fabric.  Then it’s ready when I’m ready to cut it for a project.

*  Store completely dry woolen items in plastic storage bags or bins to keep the moths away.

HAPPY FELTING!!!