Felting Fiber

Introduction:

At Tunbridge Woolworks we have a Canadian felting table that allows you (or me) to put together the fiber into 40” by 50” mats of whatever thickness you desire. Patterns and colors work wonderfully. You can even paint onto the wet wool/fiber creating a water-color-like image.

Felt is a non-woven fabric forms when the fibers lock together with water, heat, soap and pressure. This, magically, is now felt. (Ever mistakenly felt socks or a sweater by putting it into the washing machine? Felting is a verb, too!) The fibers can not be unraveled but formed a solid mat. Fiber that has been knit or woven can then be felted as can fibers that have been only washed.

History:

While it was several thousands of years ago, felt was probably the first textile developed. One legend traces the origin to Noah’s Ark (Noah lined the ark with sheep’s wool to make it more comfortable and the constant trampling of the animals turned the wool into felt!) but scholars believe felt-making originated in central Asia with nomadic people, spreading west into what is now Hungary and then into Europe and Scandinavia. Wild sheep had a double coat and the soft, wooly undercoat was shed each spring and, when domesticated 12,000 years ago the sheep traveled with the nomads. There are examples of felt in Turkey from 8,000 years ago and from China 3,000 years ago. Felt provided protection from weather and was [is still] used for boots, halts, cloaks, coats, mittens as well as housing such as yurts.

Over the centuries, felt was largely replaced by woven and knitted clothing but it remains as a fabric of choice for rugs, saddles and inner-soles. The felt hat has never gone out of style even as societies industrialized.

Feltmaking fiber:

While the undercoat of most animals adapts to felt-making, normally sheep’s wool is the best choice. Wool fiber characteristics and textures vary greatly among the different breeds from very fine (Merino – used for baby blankets and clothing; Rambouillet—hats; Lincoln or Navajo-Churro—rugs). Wool from the traditional meat sheep breeds like Suffolk does not felt easily because the springy quality or the wool prevents the individual fibers from lying close together.

Adapted from The Art of Feltmaking written by Anne Einset Vickrey in 1997 and published by Watson-Guptill Publications, NY