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Choosing wool for wet felting depends on the project outcome you are looking for.
Use this fiber guide to help you choose fibers to use for wet felting.
Fiber choice is a key element in wet felting because the type of fiber used will determine the felting process, the outcome of the project, and what the finished felt looks like.
If you are trying to make a hardy piece like a floor rug that will withstand a lot of wear, then use a coarse, dense fiber.
If you are making a scarf or piece that will be worn next to your skin, you want a fine, soft fiber so that it doesn&#;t chafe your skin.
The first question to ask yourself when choosing a fiber type is what texture you want the finished piece to have &#; rough and durable or soft and delicate.
The form in which you use the fiber is the next thing to consider. Do you want to use a raw fiber that hasn&#;t been washed or a beautifully cleaned roving that neatly lays out in soft tufts?
Rougher pieces that are made for durability (like rugs) can be done with raw fiber or washed uncombed fiber. The finer and more delicate the piece the greater need for clean and well-combed fiber.
Raw fiber is the hair of a sheep or other fiber bearing animal that has not been washed or combed. It is sheared off the animal and has had no other processing done to it. This is often called &#;in the grease&#; because it still has the natural lanolin oils the animal produces.
Raw wool from a Shetland sheep.The raw fleece has been washed, but it is still uncombed, so it may still be clumpy and maintain the locks of fiber that it had when freshly cut from the animal. Most of all of the lanolin oil has been washed from the fiber.
This is the most common way to find processed fiber is at supply stores or online. The fiber has been washed and processed so that it forms a neat and clean rope of fibers that are ready to be hand-spun or felted.
Roving is a term used in referring to a cleaned, combed fiber that is formed into a long skein.Another form of processing cleaned wool is a wool batt. This looks like a sheet of combed wool that is rolled up and looks like a pillow form.
This is great for creating flat felt because the fibers are already brushed to go in the same direction and the sheets can be separated and then layered in alternating fiber directions to create the flat felt.
There is a wide variety of fiber-bearing sheep breeds in the world. The variety means you, as the fiber artist, have a vast array of options to choose from.
Each breed of fiber sheep has a distinct fiber profile or collection of characteristics that determine how it will react to different techniques.
These variables include fiber coarseness or fineness, the length of the fiber, and other factors we will discuss below.
Included are a few other animal fibers that are good for wet felting.
I&#;ve included fibers under the &#;coarse&#; category as examples of fibers that are more rough than smooth, not in describing their micron count or another aspect of the fiber, simply in comparison with other options.
Corriedale is one of the finer wools in the &#;coarse wool&#; category.
While its texture is crisp and durable, it is still soft. The cream hue takes color well when dyeing and receives natural and chemical dyes.
Corriedale Top from The Woolery
Corriedale wool fiber.This wool comes in a variety of natural colors. Every fleece is different, and getting color consistency is difficult.
It felts well and creates beautiful pieces.
It is often used in its natural colors because of the variegation in tones.
Jacob Top from The Woolery
Jacob sheep wool fiber.This fiber has a slightly rough texture; though the fibers are fine, the crimp is loose. The fiber is lustrous and felts into a dense fabric with a slightly fuzzy texture.
Kent Romney Top from The Woolery
Romney sheep wool fiber.The Cheviot breed has a soft, fluffy fiber that is slightly rough in texture.
This fiber sits in the coarser wool category because the fiber ranges from coarse and scratchy to fine and almost smooth.
Because it is often a coarser fiber it is best for items that will not be next to the skin.
This wool takes dyes well, but they come out slightly duller as this fiber does not have much natural luster.
Cheviot Top from The Woolery
Jiatong contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.
With a variegated crimp and high luster, this slippery fiber takes some work to felt, but it creates a nice medium-soft felted fabric.
It takes dye well due to the luster of the fiber.
You may see this breed of fiber referred to as &#;BFL&#;, short for Bluefaced Leicester .
Bluefaced Leicester from The Woolery
Blue-Faced Leicester sheep wool fiber.This fine wool is best for smaller pieces as it is not as durable as some of the coarser wools. It has good bulk and a clear crimp with a slight luster.
Shetland Wool Top from The Woolery
Shetland sheep wool fiber.Merino is commonly available at fiber arts stores and online.
It is a smooth, fine fiber that creates lightweight, smooth products. Great for felting pieces that need to be soft and durable.
Fine Merino Top from The Woolery
This fiber is silkier than many types of wool.
The felting process may take longer with this fiber as you work and agitate it to the felted point you desire.
Alpaca comes in a variety of natural colors, from deep browns and blacks to grays, red browns, heather grays, and others.
The lighter colors can be overdyed if desired.
Alpaca Top from The Woolery
When purchasing fibers online or from a fiber store, read the labeling.
There are wools treated so that the fiber can be spun, knit, and washed without felting.
This is called a &#;superwash&#; fiber and will be labeled as such.
This is great news for spinners and knitters because they can make beautiful sweaters and other pieces, and the item won&#;t accidentally shrink if thrown in the washing machine.
However, for the felter, this is a problem when you want to intentionally cause felt.
Other things to consider when choosing fibers to experiment with is that the shorter the fiber length, the less tendency it has to form a good felt.
There is not enough length in the fiber to cause it to tangle and form the felt desired.
The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook: More than 200 Fibers from Animal to Spun Yarn.
By Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius
One of my favorite places to order fiber online is The Woolery.
The one question I get asked the most is where do I get my wool felt. I thought I&#;d write a post about just that and hopefully get feedback from you guys and then have it all in one spot where I can send everybody. For whatever reason nice wool and wool felt seem to be specialty items and they aren&#;t readily available in most fabric stores (although JoAnn Fabrics does carry a few colors, their site says it&#;s 100% wool but I seem to remember that I&#;ve only found wool/acrylic blends there). The best places for wool felt seem to be quilt shops and sites that cater to doll makers, especially places that sell Waldorf doll supplies like the place I send people to over in my f.a.q., A Child&#;s Dream Come True. I&#;ve bought both the Spanish and the Holland felt from them and they&#;re both really nice. Purl Soho also has beautiful wool felt.
Besides using wool felt for my dolls and toys I also use wool. It is softer and lighter weight than the felt and is just dreamy. I think the first wool I bought was one of these Marcus Brothers wool bundles and it was one of best craft purchases I ever made. Most quilt shops sell wool by the yard and now and then I have the sense to pick up a few colors when I&#;m in the shops. But now with even less time to make the trek to the quilt shops I&#;m trying to buy some online and wishing I&#;d paid more attention to what it was they had at the stores. I&#;m thinking maybe this? Moda Wool? But this site says it&#;s unfelted and I&#;m not sure what that means.
Another wool that bears mentioning is the diy wool. Pick up some 100% wool sweaters from the thrift store and wash them on hot and throw them in the dryer and voila. Thick, fuzzy, awesome wool with the same great no-ravel edges. It makes awesome huggable soft toys.
Then there&#;s wool stuffing. I know many people use it and it sounds wonderful. I still haven&#;t tried it out myself. I use polyfill that comes in little puffs and I find it so easy to work with (and cheap) and I&#;ve just stuck with it. They sell wool stuffing most places they sell materials for Waldorf dolls as well but it&#;s pretty pricey. Mimi was writing about a source for wool stuffing that sounded interesting. Might need to give that a try.
So that&#;s what I know about wool. It&#;s not much, hopefully it&#;s some help. Please, if you have a favorite source you&#;d like to share I&#;d love to hear about it!
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