Felt Making for the Young

Have you ever tried making felt? You know, the stuff you buy in the craft shops. Well last year at Majura Womens Group we spent a term learning how to make felt. Feeling enthusiastic about felting I went and equipped myself with the rovings necessary to make felt pictures. I was convinced that at any moment I was going to come up with a design that would instantly transform me into an artist.

I cleared the kitchen bench during quiet time while the kids were resting, put my box of colourful rovings on one side and set up an area to lay out my picture. And then I sat down to think...

and I thought...

and thought some more...

until I realised I had only thought about collecting everything I needed rather than having an idea of what I wanted to do with it.

It wasn't until the boys came out and asked what I was doing and if they could help that I thought we could work together on a design. So I asked both of them for an idea. The eldest wanted to make a nativity scene. The youngest wanted some spring flowers. I showed them how to layout the background and let them loose.

Here is James's flower scene. I did help with getting the pink balls of roving to stick to the picture.

Christopher's nativity was more of a solo effort. 

Once the pictures were laid out on a large piece of bubble wrap, it was a matter of covering with netting and sprinkling with warm soapy water, rolling it tightly up around a plastic tube and rolling, rolling, rolling in all different directions until the felt comes together. The warm soapy water causes shrinkage and wobbly edges, but this makes it authentically home made. 

The netting should be removed once the felt has started to stay together. Then the felt is simply rolled up again around the tube and rolled firmly to and fro 50 times in each direction. It is easiest to unroll the plastic and carefully lift the felt and turn 90 degrees. By doing this you are preventing the felt distorting and ensuring that the fibres are meshed together. 

The pinch test tells you if the felt is done - if you pinch a section of the felt between your fingers and you can feel movement in it then it still needs more rolling. If it sticks together then you can rinse in warm water, press it between a towel to remove excess water and leave it to dry. Do now wring the felt out or it distorts.

These are our finished products. If we feel inspired we may attempt some hand sewing to embellish them...but I think they look good just as they are!