How I Felt Wool

I view my treasure hunting for wool or as I call

it, woolgathering to be as much fun as making the

projects.  I feel the same way about it as I do about 

antiquing, I never look in the pristine glass cases

filled with antiques, I love the hunt through the

boxes of old junk.  It is the same with wool, I can

(and sometimes do) buy beautiful already felted

wool but I LOVE to find it and felt it myself.  I 

look at thrift stores and garage sales for wool 

garments. I try to buy things for $1 or less unless

the wool is really something special.

I like to buy 100% wool items but will buy

a blend as long as the wool content is at least

80%.  I try to buy coats, jackets or long skirts,

I stay away from pants because generally they

are not the right type of wool.  I don't buy 

worsted wool.  What is worsted wool?  It is called

worsted wool because of the way it is made.  In 

the carding process, only the longest threads are

used to make the yarn and this makes for a much

thinner fabric when woven.  It is often used for 

suits and pants and some skirts, especially pleated

ones since worsted wool holds a pleat well.  For 

my purposes to use wool for applique, worsted wool 

is not a good choice since it ravels even after the

felting process.  The more you feel woolens, the 

better you will be able to feel the difference between 

a regular wool yarn and a worsted yarn used to 

weave the fabric.

When I get my purchases home, I cut it up

outdoors if the weather permits.  To felt wool

it is necessary to remove the seams and all 

sewing threads since the threads can cause

the fabric to not felt correctly.  The photo shows

a skirt, I cut off the waistband and the hem 

including any seam tape.  Then I cut off the 

seams completely, I find it is not necessary to

try to pick open the seams since there are so 

many folds at the seams.  I then open the 

pleats with a seam ripper, then the wool pieces

are ready to be felted.

This photo shows the process a bit more

clearly.  On the right side I am cutting off the 

seam, then I will cut just below the tape on

the hem.  The area that has the interfacing

will differ from garment to garment.  This

interfacing pulled off easily and left no residue

so that area was fine.  If the interfacing would 

not come off easily or if it comes off but leaves

pieces of the adhesive on the wool, then I would

just cut that area off completely.

Jackets are harder to deal with but I do use them 

because they have such gorgeous colors.  First I cut

off the cuff, then I cut the sleeve off at the shoulder.

I pull the wool part away from the jacket, leaving the

lining attached to the bodice.

This photo shows the 2 pieces of the sleeve with

the seams removed.  The interfacing on this came

away easily, if it hadn't I would have cut it off.  Then

I used the same process to cut away the back pieces

and the side piece.

You can see the front piece has a heavy

interfacing and since it did not pull away 

easily, I discarded the front sections.  I 

did cut off the pocket fronts.

So here is the amount of wool I got from a

99 cent wool jacket.  Two pockets, two back

pieces, two side pieces and the four pieces 

from the sleeves.

Divide the wool pieces by color taking care with

reds especially since they can bleed and turn

everything pink.  Then wash in hot water with

a cold rinse with detergent.  Dry at the hottest

setting.  NOTE:  Be sure to clean your lint trap

since cut-up wool will give off a lot of lint.

This is what a wool piece looks like when it 

comes out of the dryer.  I like it to look neat

so I quickly press it and trim the edges.

This is what the wool looks like after

felting, pressing and trimming.

I stack the pieces on top of each other and

then roll it, I find it gets less wrinkles this way.

And there you have it!

This may not be for everyone and if it isn't there 

are many beautiful felted wools for sale.  If this 

is your type of thing ~ then give it a try!