Leicester Longwool Sheep - Having a go at making a fleece rug by wet felting

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

We've been asked a couple of times where we got the roving from to back the fleece. Jane has just ordered a kilo for our next rug from www.worldofwool.co.uk/collections/56s-english?sort_by=title-ascending

[@suejonmeyers8362]

lol just the right amount of snark about Jane. I like a playful friendship relationship

[@janeellenhollis]

Try living with him 🙄🤣

[@suejonmeyers8362]

@@janeellenhollis lol, I'm loving you guys more and more.. 😉

[@monstersmomma8594]

Definitely going to try this!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

You should! Straight forward and rewarding. Good luck 👍

[@viscache1]

We have almost 20 of these lovely sheep. Our first new Ram born this Spring is named ‘Endeavor’. Thanks for sharing! Thanks for helping bring back this wonderful breed of sheep! We had to delay shearing because of lambing and now our fleeces are over 25cm long! We have them sheared twice per year.

[@dr.dawnkingston1803]

I fancy having a go! (I am Canadian - always wanted to say that!!). We raise cotswolds :) Thank you for such a clear video - and for taking the fear out of the process!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Hope all goes well

[@gyongyilingg6171]

Super idea

[@janecarroll4944]

Hello Jane and Dave..Very informative..Thanks❤

[@AmandaIsAwesome]

Wow!! I’m going to do this!! We have 26 Icelandic sheep to be sheared any time now!! Can’t wait to make a bunch of these!!!

[@thinkingabouttrainingadog2768]

Good luck and enjoy

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Your sheep's fleece should make an excellent rug

[@chandlermountainfarm2622]

Thanks this was super helpful. Made my first rug today pleased with how it turned out!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Excellent

[@augustwestusa]

Amazing and beautiful!

[@thinkingabouttrainingadog2768]

Thank you 😊

[@janetsutton2399]

I have Devon and Cornwall Longwools and Blacknose Swiss Valais whose fleece I don't spin. I have made loom rugs but would love to have a go at this. Thanks for the video

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

You're very welcome. Hope it encourages you to have a go

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

We're shearing in a couple of weeks and have some beautiful Blue Faced Leicester, Leicester Longwool and L Longwool Cross Herdwick fleeces to work with. The L Longwool x Herdwicks are really lending themselves to us making some full sized rugs this summer

[@janeellenhollis]

I've got three LLW herdwick crosses being sheared on Saturday and am planning to make rugs too. Good luck 👍🏻

[@SherryONeill]

THANK YOU!! I Bought 13 Fleeces From A Friend Who Isnt Using Them I Will Start With This Process!! How WonderFull Imagining my Feet Steeping OnTo This In The Morning,.. and In The Comfort Room😊 Peace To you!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

There's nothing quite like your own home made wool rug

[@tammyschilling5362]

This looks so fun and I totally fancy having a go. Next sheep and wool festival, I'm getting a longwool just for this!

[@nathalieschlosser1622]

beautiful fleece! thanks for sharing!

[@billburgmeijer3541]

Really cool i give it a try with my long wold sheep 🐏

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Hope all goes well

[@lindajansen5718]

beautifull curley wool, great video! thanks

[@jacquelinegreen9157]

Excellent video, thank you for sharing and making the instructions clear and precise. Will definitely have a go with the wool from my three woolly ladies, Alice, Madeline and Florence who have all just been shorn.

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thank you. It's very rewarding

[@fancyfree8228]

This is really gorgeous!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

@fancyfree8228 thank you

[@LordBooo1]

Thanks! When i am finally able to have sheep's, i would give it a go.

[@cerberusk9uk]

Excellent video 👌👍👍👍

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Cheers matey 👍

[@dabfootdab3151]

Great video. Going to give it ago with Jacobs shearling.

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Brilliant, hope all goes well. We hope to have a go with a Jacobs fleece next year.

[@SherryONeill]

Do you Have Jacobs Sheep? I am In America We Are Planning On Having Jacobs

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

@@SherryONeill hi, no we don't have any Jacob sheep at the moment, but we hope to get a couple at the sheep sales in September

[@amber6133]

Thanks for sharing, very clear! Going to have a try with the fleece from my Klövsjö sheep, an old Swedish breed.

[@annarayner7783]

Will definitely be having a go I’ve got some Hebridian fleeces coming

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Good luck it's fairly straightforward and definitely worth the effort

[@moniquelachniet4693]

beautiful wool

[@happyjuicegirl]

This is brilliant! Thank you for posting 😊 My coloured LLs are being sheared tomorrow. I might have a go! ❤️👍

[@christavernier4755]

Great video, definitely gonna give this a try

[@7hilladelphia]

I am definitely going to start. Will make something small, and enjoy it thanks to your lovely video 🙂👍🏽😁

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thanks you

[@goldensolitude]

I am going to try it. I have a Romney fleece that is washed that I could felt for a rug by my bed. What a joy to wiggle my feet in a Romney fleece in winter! Thanks for the idea!

[@suejonmeyers8362]

how did it go? I have Romney as well

[@janeycooper940]

Brilliant thankyou, really informative and now I want to have a go!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Pleased you enjoyed it. Definitely have a go its straight forward and it's almost magic how the felted wool binds it all together.

[@mandiquinton7067]

Hey guys good video, I have my own sheep and have been collecting the fleece for a couple of years. I have just salted up 4 skins for learning to tan and now I want to do some felted fleece for chair pads and a couple of rugs... you make it look achievable. I have fleece in cleaning by suint method and when it's done I will card it and make my roving.... thanks for posting

[@majar.8231]

Very nice video, thank you so much.

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it

[@sveaworley6052]

Fabulous!!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thank you

[@dimension1to7allmine]

thank you for this easy to follow video and the descriptions. I had some unsatisfying attempts with German Heath Sheep ... and now I am super inspired to try again

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Excellent

[@juliadean2473]

Thank you i might try having a go now!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

It's fairly straight forward, not as daunting as you first imagine, good luck

[@lisawinter7089]

That is wonderful! Absolutely fascinating xx

[@charlottewheeler7383]

This was really helpful - thank you! Looks great

[@ThePikeywayne]

Good stuff ✌️

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thanks

[@lindacalver773]

Brilliant.. often wondered how this was done . Will definitely try it .

[@christinefairburn2286]

Thanks for sharing your experience of felting, I'm just about to felt a black shetland fleece !

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

You're welcome. Hope it goes OK.

[@inezmichielsen9950]

So beautiful 😍

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thank you

[@helengriffiths9122]

Some one asked why the roving wasn't felting to the fleece, one thing is that not all sheep breeds wet felt. Down breeds e.g Cheviot and Down like breeds- Clun do not readily wet felt so would not be a good choice.

[@AnnaMoimoi]

Fantastic video, thanks very much for sharing. I got a lot of good info for the rug I want to make :)

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Glad you found it of some use. Thanks for leaving a comment

[@cykratzer3463]

Thank you for showing how to do that

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

You are very welcome 🙏

[@archrussell822]

I will try these with some Jacob wool, thank you for the great video

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thank you

[@ravenpen-orthyn9172]

love it. one point.. vegans think shearing sheep is very, very wrong

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

They may well do, but the fact is, not shearing the sheep is very detrimental to their health

[@diannejames9213]

Great video thank you!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thanks

[@thewoolista8691]

That was such a nice video!!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thank you

[@olgakougija2901]

Спасибо за интересную информацию Ольга Таллинн

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

You are welcome.

[@grandaflett4131]

Thanks; s really interesting and informative video. Definitely going to give this a try with my zwartbles.

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thank you. Let us know how you get on.

[@annemariedennis2003]

love love love

[@shelly4985]

Great video and looks really easy to follow , I’ve picked up some lovely raw fleece but it’s in bits, they sheered too late does this matter?

[@janeellenhollis]

I'm honestly not too sure. The piece I used was a 'chunk' off a complete fleece. I made sure all the butt ends (cut side) of the fleece were close together, face up, before I added the roving for the backing. If you have lots of loose locks then it would be more difficult to get all the butt ends together I think. If youre using a longwool fleece the first shear tends to be in locks rather than a complete fleece, so perhaps avoiding lamb fleece would be easier.. I hope that makes sense?

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Hopefully not. It should all felt together but we haven't tried it. Please let us know how it turns out.

[@iceberg232323]

I enjoyed your commentary :p

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

You're too kind

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Got our first commission lol to make a full size rug from the LLW after their next shear

[@SherryONeill]

Woo Hooo!! That Is WonderFull!

[@noukiie92]

Tonight I have got 2 garbage bags full of sheepwool and want to try this to. May i ask why not cleaning/ rinsing the wool first before making?

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

You could try washing first but the integrity of the fleece may be too compromised so when you try and make a rug it will fall apart. Give it a go and let us know how it goes... it may work and be better. Keep us informed 👍

[@Hermytwin027]

Great video! Do you mind me asking about the roving? Did you make it yourselves, or buy it? Looking to have a go at this as there are a lot of fleeces going spare in my local area at the moment and it would be fantastic to create a rug. A little unsure about what volume of roving I would need though... can you advise a rough guide re. how much is needed per sq.ft? Thanks 🙂

[@janeellenhollis]

I bought the roving. I think I used about 200g, so nowhere near what I thought.. it was a British blend.. I'll see if I can find a link. Link below:

[@janeellenhollis]

www.worldofwool.co.uk/products/natural-wool-top-white-56s-english-top

[@callumglass]

Hey guys, great video. Easy tol follow and we'll put together. Where do you purchase your roving from? Many thanks

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Hi thank you. Jane got the roving from www.worldofwool.co.uk/products/white-56s-english-top

[@callumglass]

@@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream many thanks, just recieved mine from there!

[@Moonlight-kp7lu]

Do you sell the leicester wool ?🇳🇱👍I would buy!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Yes we would sell some but it really depends on how much you want.

[@sii6531]

Looks great, but without skin or string involved and only the felt giving holding strength, how long will it last please? Does it not soon begin to fall apart?

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

@sii6531 our first one is going strong after three years with moderate traffic. They are reasonably sturdy once felted

[@sii6531]

@@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream Thank you Dave or Jane ✨

[@shawnray6018]

Let’s go

[@janinelawrence8543]

I love your video and tried this today. I have a problem. The batting on the back is felting nicely but not felting with the fleece. Any suggestions to help would be great

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

I would suggest as a first thought do it more. More agitation more rolling, press harder. If you think that you've spent a long time agitating rolling etc and it's still not working then I would be struggling to make any suggestions as to why its not binding but we had a similar issue but agitated some more and it all started to bind. Just a thought... the fleece needs to be the cut end up. that may be an issue if it isn't. Glad you liked the video, sorry couldn't be of more help.

[@janinelawrence8543]

@@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream Thank you for your reply. The fleece was cut end up. I will try again maybe in smaller size and patchwork them together if it works. I did wonder if the lanolin was an issue but the very hot water should have sorted that.

[@janeellenhollis]

Yes, the hot water and oodles of soap should have sorted the lanolin. I have to admit anticipating more difficulties than we encountered. I am still learning too as I saw a felted rug yesterday with a much thinner felt layer than mine which I'm going to try next time. Good luck 👍🏻 💓

[@FinnAir07]

Very cool!! Does it need any sort of preservation process to help it last or is that it?

[@janeellenhollis]

That's pretty much it. It won't have the strength of a skin but the felting will only increase with use.

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Don't drop red wine on it or let Bobby eat it or Finners pour ice cream on it

[@FinnAir07]

@@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream i should probably not buy one then! 🤣 looks great though, very impressed

[@janeellenhollis]

@@FinnAir07 I think the Herdwicks' fleece will be tougher 👍🏻

[@tallcedars2310]

@@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream 😂

[@cathystisser1257]

I tried your method, with mixed results. One section of the felting did not adhere to the longer wool. Can I repeat the felting process?

[@susannetaylor9668]

How do you keep the outside ends from felting together? Do you wash the fleece first or leave the lanolin in the wool?

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

HI simple answer is we don't do anything. Sometimes we wash the fleece first sometimes not. What ever happens during the process of making the rug, stops the outside from felting. I could make stuff up or have a guess but simple answer is we have no idea, but it just seems to work. The roving on the underside felts, the fleece on the top side doesn't... Sorry can't be more help than that

[@countryhorseluvr]

Is that cold water rinse?

[@deborahcorcoran5517]

How much wool roving (even approx) did you use for this project ?

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

When we made this small rug, we used about 200g of roving in quite a thick layer. When we made the larger one, we used slightly more but didn't layer it quite as much.

[@instinctiveforestwalkers7114]

hello I have tried to do one recently but did not roll it enough, so it felt but with big gaps, do you know if i can redo the process with new wool on top of the existing rug? thxs for your advise. BR

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Quite possibly. Would certainly give it a go.

[@georginacooper6504]

where do you get the wool rolling for under the fleece?

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

We got our roving for this project from www.worldofwool.co.uk/

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Jane's just ordered a kilo of this www.worldofwool.co.uk/products/white-56s-english-top for our next rug.

[@georginacooper6504]

@@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream thank you!

[@sueb-t2183]

would this work with border leicester?

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

I would think so, yes, the principle is sound for wool in general. We've not tried Border Leicester fleece but I see no reason why not. Perhaps if you give it a go, you could let us know please how it went.

[@emmajudson5945]

You really need to roll harder than that, start on the palms, roll as far along your forearms as you can, then back 100 times one way, 100 times the other way, re wrap it now go sideways each direction, really lean on it. Putting a towel on your table to absorb water and stop it slipping will also help. If you aren't knackered after wet felting you aren't rolling hard enough!

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Thanks for that we'll bare it in mind next go

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKmueKtsbNiEl5o choosing a potential new rug fleece

[@martinasaenberg1180]

😢wie viele Vögelchen Ihr dasein so fristen müssen..

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

Not sure I understand correctly. No birds were harmed in the making of this rug

[@sheddie55]

Wow what a brilliantly video, thank you so much ….. l’m going to have a go 🤍✨🤍

[@callumglass]

I can not for the life of me. To get my zwartble wool, to stick to the roving 😭🤦‍♂️. Tried 4 methods. The roving felts pretty well...to itself but the fleece just pulls off it. I will keep going 7 th time lucky...😅🥲

[@DaveandJaneLivingTheDream]

In my limited understanding of it, I would suggest that perhaps your staple length on your fleece isn't long enough for rug making. I'm not familiar with zwartble fleece but the ones we use are herdwick cross Leicester longwool fleeces. Also as a thought if your fleece is from a lamb ie it's first shearing it may not hold together as well as the fleece from older sheep. I hope you next try gives better results 🤞