Part of the process
Flat work and fabric
Wool can be needle felted onto most fabric a needle will pass through. Wool felt is the easiest base; thin quilting cotton puckers. Flat shapes are made inside a mold or cookie cutter on the pad.
- Easiest base
- wool felt, 1 mm or thicker
- Also work well
- linen, cotton muslin, denim
Flat felting is drawing with wool. Lay the fabric on the pad, place thin wisps of wool on it and stab straight down so the barbs carry fibers through the cloth. Wool felt at least 1 mm thick is the easiest base, because it takes a lot of wool without puckering. Linen, cotton muslin and denim also hold wool well. The fabric chart lists each fabric.
A pen-style tool with one to three needles is made for this kind of work, and a multi-needle holder covers backgrounds faster. Lift the fabric off the pad now and then, so the wool does not felt into the pad. For clean flat shapes such as hearts and stars, fill a mold or cookie cutter with wool and felt inside it, turning the piece over as you go.
The same needle does small jobs outside the craft. Crocheters use it to felt faces onto amigurumi and to lock yarn ends in place, which works on wool and other animal fiber yarn and not on acrylic: see needle felting on crochet. It also pushes pulled loops back into woven upholstery after a cat has been at it: felting needle couch repair.
Common mistakes at this stage
- Leaving the fabric on the pad until the wool has felted into it.
- Laying wool on thick, which puckers thin fabric.
- Expecting felting to hold on acrylic or cotton yarn.