How to Make a Piece of Felt ★ A Simple Wet Felting Tutorial for Beginners

In this video you will learn the basics of wet felting and the tools needed to get started. This is an in depth tutorial on the basics for all sorts of wet-felting projects including nuno-felting. You will learn how to: Layout the fibre, felt it, full and finish your fabric.
Learn how to Make Felted Slippers Video:
• Make a Pair of Wet Fel...
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♥ Hi, my name is Lori and my goal is to teach, inspire and live off the land in style by knitting my own clothes, creating essential survival items and living luxuriously warm, dyeing fibre using bright acid colours and occasionally plants, fungi, muck and mud.
When I began wet felting 10 years ago, there were only a few basic tutorials. On this channel, I want to share everything I know so so that you can easily begin upgrading your craft by creating remarkable fibre art more quickly. From illustrative conceptual ideas into beautiful creative work that is ready to repeat quickly using minimal tools and resources.
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✿ FIBRE TOOLS & SUPPLIES ✿
Basic Tools: Pool Noodle, Wooden Dowel, Spray Bottle, Bubblewrap, Towels
Resist Material: Flat foam, Eva Craft Foam, bubblewrap
○ The best bulk wool roving: tallyhowoolcarding.webs.com
○ The most amazing fibre: www.annagratton.co.nz
○ Free shipping for small fibre orders: ashfordcraftshop.co.nz
○ Wet Felting Water Sprinkler: sallyridgway.com.au/collectio...
○ Digital Precision Weigh Scale: www.unicornfibres.com.au/prod...
○ Micro-Tip Scissors: www.warehousestationery.co.nz...
○ Decent Cheap Scissors: Coming Soon... Not sure where I got them yet.
Getting Started? Watch How to Make a Piece of Felt: • How to Make a Piece of...

[@sassyanne88]

You started with 30 cm and it ended about 15cm. Does it always shrink about half when felting? What's the largest piece you've felted?

[@muffsmerino]

Shrinkage is very important in felting, I will make a video on this at some point! Most times for Merino wool (which I am using in the video) shrinks 15cm. Shrinkage depends on the amount of fibre used, how many layers, which direction and if there are other fibres blended into the wool. Most often from my experience the fibre shrinks based on layers of any type of wool. This also varies depending on how thick you lay them out. One layer in one direction shrinks the most. Two perpendicular layers shrink approximately 15-20cm (delicate drape) Four perpendicular layers shrink approximately 8-10cm (soft, durable, stiff) Six perpendicular layers shrink approximately 5-6cm (firm, sculptural, holds shape well) I found these results with both Merino (fine 22 micron), as well as Corriedale (medium coarse wool 30 micron). This also depends on how felted you want the finished piece to be. The amounts above are my idea/opinion of how felted I prefer my finished piece.

[@sassyanne88]

@@muffsmerino thank you. I love your videos

[@elizabethbarton3047]

I've been wet felting for years. It's great to keep kids occupied in the summer and stay cool by rolling using their feet. I swear they love it and have so much fun while creating art. All of my kids friends were always in awe of me and everyone wanted to come over in the summer lol

[@muffsmerino]

I have not yet tried the foot method!

[@GenXDesigns]

I like this method because your piece stayed square all around - the color lay out looks professional too. Thank you for sharing your method.

[@muffsmerino]

Thank you for the lovely comments and happy to hear you found it helpful! Thanks for watching :)

[@KimClark-1]

Hi- thanks for doing this great video. I followed these instructions and just finished my first felt project. Very happy with the way it turned out.

[@muffsmerino]

Oh, thank you for sharing and commenting. It's so good to hear it turned out following the instructions. So encouraging.

[@AustinZachary02]

Fantastic video, thank you!

[@JC-ig4xy]

Beautifully done! Thank you for the video!

[@muffsmerino]

Thank you for commenting. Always encouraging.

[@sugarbunss1145]

This is so helpful! I make these at 3am out of boredom, and don’t rlly know how so this helped!

[@muffsmerino]

Awesome! Thanks glad it was helpful :)

[@eanschaan9392]

I might try scaling up a wee bit with this at some point. I would love to felt my own hats and like the idea of making my own felt for that.

[@muffsmerino]

Awesome! You can definitely make wonderful felted hats! I will have a video for hats out soon :)

[@beverlychamberlain7348]

Well a massive thank you. I have been doing it all wrong thinking the rolling was to get the water and soap out so I thought how clever I am....put it through my big shot which is like a mangle and hey ho it all fell appart. You are a star.x

[@muffsmerino]

Glad I could help!

[@hennahannnah]

Me too! I jumped into felting after watching only one video. While it had good info, I totally missed the point about shifting wet fibers around to get them to blend together. I didn’t realize how wet the piece needed to be either. Your video helped so much!

[@marushka123]

❤️ Thank you again

[@Christyj62011]

Great video! Thank you

[@muffsmerino]

😃

[@Manda11.11]

Thankyou for this Great video!

[@muffsmerino]

Glad it was helpful!

[@branni6538]

Man I didn't know it can shrink so much. Nice work!

[@muffsmerino]

Thanks!

[@southernamerican5027]

Very informative!

[@muffsmerino]

Thanks! Hope it helps 😃

[@kharlesceegan8626]

great vid

[@muffsmerino]

Thanks!!

[@matthewdenty8470]

Can wool sweaters be made into felting material? ... practice a few hats before ruining good material 🤔

[@muffsmerino]

Hi Matthew, yes you can definitely felt wool sweaters. It might be a good idea to practice felting small items first. It's really fun to knit and felt bags, because it doesn't matter so much the size it ends up. The only wool that can't be felted is superwash wool sweaters or knits. If it is labeled super wash, the yarn used was preshrunk before it was knitted :)

[@abittwisted]

I want to do a blanket size piece. Any suggestions? Is the shrinkage like 60% from original?

[@muffsmerino]

Hi there, I do have a few suggestions for making a large piece of felt. Making a large piece of felt can be quite the endeavour but doable with the right tools. Merino wool can shrink a lot, it can be surprising how much it shrinks. The more surface space there is, the more space there will be for shrinkage to occur, so I can imagine a wool blanket will shrink even more than a small felt piece. Also something to take into consideration is your layers. More layers will result in thicker felt and thick felt shrinks less. If you lay out say two thin layers, it will shrink much more and take much more time. I prefer thick layers for large projects because it takes much less time. But thin layers offers a beautiful drape. You may want to use netting fabric instead of bubblewrap to cover your wool layers. Unless you can source a very large size bubblewrap. I have taped bubble wrap before but I warn the tape had come off several times mid rolling and it ended up not being a fun project. If you can find large netting fabric to cover your entire piece, that would be helpful. Overall I have not made many large projects such as a blanket so I can't say for sure. Personally I feel that I would make a few, or four, or six smaller pieces and then attach them. But, there are also so many cool techniques you can do by making it in one piece... definitely something you've got me thinking about and now would like to try! Optional: You could use a large peice of woven silk fabric or cotton fabric as your base (called Nuno felting) and lay your wool on top of that to keep everything together.. It adds beautiful texture and many techniques can be achieved this way as well. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYWwqaOhiLKrZ6s

[@jacquehranica2150]

Do you ever use an electric sander ?

[@muffsmerino]

I have tested it once. My sander was so heavy and exhausting to use. It worked quite quickly, although I feel I had less control over the shaping.

[@joannelane4791]

Is it possible to do a larger thicker piece? Say 1m x 1m roughly 12mm thick? If so could it be done in a washing machine?

[@muffsmerino]

Hi Joanne, you can go as thick as you like! The thicker, the more labour intensive. You will want to put it in the washing machine. It will felt quickly. For the first time, try cold wash first for 15 min, take it out to check the size and continue that until it’s how you like it. You will have to felt it a bit first so the fibres have attached at least. Then it can go in the machine.

[@sandytighe4854]

When you roll it 30 times do you unroll it or just agitate it? I've seen other videos that unroll it and roll it back up.

[@muffsmerino]

Yes definitely roll 30 times, unroll it and roll it back up, roll 30 times.. etc

[@sandytighe4854]

Muffs Merino Thanks for answering my question.

[@dreadthedreads]

Do you put soap directly on the whool?

[@muffsmerino]

Yes you do! Just one or a few drops will help the fibres stick together and fuse more easily while rolling. Too much soap will cause the project to slip and slide, and not agitate, which is necessary.

[@nyasia8283]

Can i sew the finished product with other pieces of felt?

[@muffsmerino]

Definitely! Sewing finished felt fabrics together is a very popular technique. Felt is often cut into shapes and then blanket stitched into all kinds of cute 3D figurines, kids toys and badges. But it could also be sewn together to make a fabric quilt and remarkable felted sculptures. The ideas out there seem endless. Stitching the edge of felt work can give it a professional looking finish.

[@Liessssssssssss]

Is there also soap disolved in your spray bottle?

[@muffsmerino]

I don’t put soap in my spray bottle because it’s an eco brand and dissolves quickly in water. I dab drops of soap right into the wool as I need.

[@juliejelaco5208]

What are you laying your wool on? Is it bubble wrap?

[@muffsmerino]

Yes 🙌 bubblewrap I found works great! And can reuse it. Alternatively you can use a bamboo sushi mat, bamboo blinds or cotton netting, synthetic netting, although I find the wool fibre sticks to it. Bubble wrap gets the job done.

[@maggiemojica1057]

What do you make with the felt

[@muffsmerino]

Hi 👋 so many things! Personally I make nuno-felted scarves, felted handbags, felted slippers and boots, felted jewellery, no-sew pillow covers (video coming soon) and cat toys (also videos coming soon). You can make amazing things: Felted clothing, Felt hats, Felted accessories, soft no scratch pads for pots etc.., phone cases, laptop covers, wallets, sacks, slippers, fabrics and even more robust items like cat beds, cat caves, yurts 🛖, carpets, insulation and the list goes on and on and on!

[@funkitala]

How do you remove the soap?

[@muffsmerino]

As I get closer to finishing the piece of felt, I dip it in the water without soap, continue felting it until the soap is out. It comes out as I finish felting it. I add less and less soap throughout the process. I use a biodegradable soap and it seems to dissipate quite quickly :)

[@kitt7477]

It sure has shrunk quite a bit.

[@muffsmerino]

Yes Merino wool only two layers will shrink about half its original size. Add two more layers and it will shrink less :)

[@Jo-fs5]

Can you not just put it in the washing machine because that is what happened with my new woolen sweater😭

[@muffsmerino]

So sorry to hear! You can..Once it’s partly felted you can put it in the washing machine and many do to complete a project. It felts quickly and there won’t be as much control in the direction the shrinkage occurs.

[@karenrose3210]

If only your camera was zoomed in….

[@muffsmerino]

Yes it is a bit far away isn’t it…Now that you mention it, I could do a new felt video since it’s popular, but a close up version!

[@ronmtz4622]

And better volume. I can barely hear you.