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How to Felt
What is felting?
Felting is the process of creating a thick fabric - or felt - by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. You can felt different types of fibers, and while wool is specially suited for this, yarns labelled superwash will have a higher tolerance to washing, and will not felt. White (bleached) yarns might also prove difficult to felt, so try always felting a swatch before embarking on a big project.
How does felting work?
When wool is washed in the washing machine in hot water, its fibers expand and stick together = they are felted together, by the combined process of heat, agitation and friction, giving as result a warm and very durable material. Including a detergent in the wash is always recommended, to help fibers slide together more easily.
Felting of garments is best suited for smaller pieces like hats, socks, slippers and bags. The looser the tension, the denser the felting will be. The more friction in the wash, the more the garment will felt.
Keep in mind that garments will felt more vertically than horizontally, so we recommend using patterns specifically designed for felting. Find patterns suitable to felt here.
Important: The result after felting may vary according to:
- Type of washing machine
- Spin/cycle speed
- Knitting tension
- Size of garment
- Quality of wool
How to felt following a pattern
Follow the crochet/knitting pattern – the piece will look big but will shrink when felted.
Place the piece in the washing machine, using a detergent without enzymes or optical bleaches, together with a terry towel of approx. 50 x 70 cm to increase friction and give a more efficient felting.
Wash at 40 degrees with normal centrifuge and without pre-wash. NOTE: Do not use a short programme. After washing, shape the piece while still wet .
If the piece is not felted enough and is too big, you can wash it one more time in the washing machine while still wet.
If the piece has been felted too much and is too small, stretch it to the correct measurements while still wet. If the garment is already dry, re-wet it before stretching it to the correct measurements.
Remember – all subsequent washes are as a normal wool garment.
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With over 40 years in knitting and crochet design, DROPS Design offers one of the most extensive collections of free patterns on the internet - translated to 17 languages. As of today we count 314 catalogues and 11824 patterns translated into English (UK/cm).
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