Bridging Cultures Through Design: Class Day 3 - Felting

Needle felting! Needle felting is a dry felting technique that uses special felting needles to create a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woolen fibers.

Examples that the day's instructor, Kate, brought into class:



My classmate Jessie's needle felted eyeballs:
My needle felted rose. And notice the light grey-colored hair in the center? That's Bunny's hair ... I needle felted that too!

I've been wanting to learn how to make hats ... particularly, mini hats (for me, not my dog). So my instructor Mimi taught me how to make a hat using a wet felting technique.

Cover ball with 3 layers of clean fleece. Then cover with the tops of control-top pantyhose. Wet in hot soapy water, and then bounce the ball about 300 times. This is what it looks like after the bouncing:

Shape the hat by continuing to massage the fleece in warm soapy water, focusing on areas that you want a tighter felt and in turn a smaller fit:
Mini hat!: