Repairing a Wool Coat with Felting

Felting is a fun and pretty easy technique that can be used to repair wool garments that have been nibbled on by critters. Let me show you!
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Music: Elevator Bossa Nova

[@mainlittlerock5422]

Wowzers! You're brilliant. Love your mending techniques for covering up small blemished areas in wool. Great video & thank you for sharing the tools you use & your easy to understand techniques. ❤

[@stacyrobbins]

Oh, I am so happy you found this helpful!

[@SuzanEngler]

Amazing! I would not have thought it was salvageable but looks good as new.

[@stacyrobbins]

I was happy it was so easy and inexpensive.

[@yeppeogeu2828]

thank you so much for this very specific solve, lovely lady! i found this gorgeous wool coat in the thrift store recently and it was such a steal. not until i brought it home that i noticed the edge of the right sleeve have torn and frayed a little. will be doing this so i can wear the coat out on my birthday dinner 🥰

[@stacyrobbins]

Hooray! I love that the coat is getting a new life. Wear it in good health and Happy Birthday! 🎉

[@yeppeogeu2828]

@@stacyrobbins i have a question. when felting, does it make any difference which side touches the foam vs which side is the one that faces your needle? is one side smoother than the other or is there no perceivable difference?

[@stacyrobbins]

I am no expert on felting, but I have felted on both sides when starting. BUT I always finish on the right. So the back of the garment is on the foam. On small holes I only worked from the right side. I hope this helps!

[@bnmce123]

Thank you so much for your video! Someone gave me a beautiful wool blazer that had the same kind of bite out of it. Not a hole that went clear though. I didn't know what to do with it until I saw you do this technique. Great idea!

[@stacyrobbins]

Glad it was helpful! It is sort of soothing to sit and poke away. 😅 I hope the blazer makes a full recovery!

[@MicheleSevier-Sewell-uo5tg]

Hi Stacy you mention in this video that you can use some of the fabric of the coat to repair holes. Can you tell me how to?

[@stacyrobbins]

I make an opening along the lining and near a seam. Harvest some of the fibers from the seam allowance on the inside and sew back up the lining. Depending on how the fabric is constructed you should be able to get quite a bit from the seam allowance without affecting the structure or outside of the garment. Hope this helps!

[@kissmissthis]

I have a vintage felt coat and a skirt that are odd hard to find colors with the same exact damage as your mother’s coat. How can I harvest wool from the garments themselves?

[@stacyrobbins]

If possible you can use the seam allowance and hem inside the lining. Gently pull out the fibers and transplant them to the damaged areas.

[@dimples7334]

NEVER heard of felting! What keeps the yarn from falling out? 🤔

[@stacyrobbins]

Needle felting uses the natural properties of the wool to make fabric. This teqchnique is perfect for repairs as it fills in the void by blending the fibers of old and new. They are teased together with the barbed needle.

[@laurelboyajian1091]

Do you use a particular gauge of needle?

[@stacyrobbins]

I bought a little kit from hobby lobby and it did not specify the needle size. I wish I knew. I have a good kit with different sizes somewhere in a moving box. 😅

[@olgaharrell3176]

I wish you could have brought the camera closer like when you showed us the holes 😔

[@stacyrobbins]

Still learning that part of filming. Someday I hope to have a second camera to help with all the top down closeups that are needed when showing sewing.