3 ways to get your felt going when it’s stuck

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been making big pre-felt sheets for a piece I’m working on. And every single one of them has given me problems felting.

This can happen for several reasons. It either has something to do with the amount of soap or water, or with the temperature. When this happens, something chemical is off. So, the process stops.

But, in the end, it’s not so important to know the exact reason for this to occur. The important thing is to know how to solve it, so that you can go on with the felting.

Along the years, I’ve learnt that the solution is to change something. Depending on what I’m making, and on which stage the piece is in, I can opt for a couple of different strategies.

I’m sure you can resonate with what I’m talking about. See if you can recognize this scenario (or a similar one).

I laid out my wool, added water and soap, and gave it a quick rub. And I started rolling straight away. After rolling for a long time (like over half an hour), nothing seemed to be happening. Even though I only wanted a pre-felt, it didn’t even seem like I could get it to a pre-felt stage.

If this happens when the felt is much more advanced, i.e. when it doesn’t fall apart anymore, my usual strategy is

• I rinse the felt under running water to make sure I remove all the soap.
• I squeeze out the water.
• And I start over again, adding new soap to the fiber.

This is usually enough to solve the problem. If it isn’t, I go on to strategy number two:

• I let the felt rest overnight. If it’s summertime, I may even let it dry completely for a couple of days.
• When I come back to the felt, I add really hot water to it.

This will do the trick for sure.

But, in this case, my wool wasn’t even a pre-felt yet. For wool at the beginning of the process, I use a different strategy. And it’s incredible how fast it works. It’s as simple as changing the felting method:

• I was rolling for over half an hour. So, I stopped and gave the felt a rub.
• Next, I used lateral movements, pushing the felt softly, and even dropping it a little. Watch the video above to better understand the type of movement I mean.

In about 10 minutes my pre-felt was ready.

So, here you are. These are my 3 different ways to get your felt going again. I hope they're useful.

Have you had success with other methods? Send me an email and let me know which they are.

P.S.: If you’re interested in knowing more about the different felting/fulling methods, you can download your guide here.