Felt fabric is believed to be amongst the oldest forms of fabric in existence. It&#;s unique in its construction, texture, and its numerous uses &#; ranging from clothing such as hats, coats, and boots, to crafting materials and, yes, even rug pads.
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But what is felt really? We're glad you asked.
Felt is a fabric made from natural or synthetic fibers that are interlocked or matted together. It&#;s mostly made from wool but it can also be made from synthetic fibers, such as acrylic and rayon (think yarn fibers).
In general, you&#;ve got three main categories of felt: natural fiber, synthetic fiber, and combined.
Natural fiber felt can come from cotton, animal fur, or wool. To create combined felt &#; you guessed it &#; you combine the natural with synthetic such as acrylic, nylon, or polyester.
However, felt is a bit more unique than you might think. Unlike most fabrics that are woven or knitted together, felt is made from a process that combines heat, moisture, and pressure to form an interlocked, durable fabric.
We don&#;t have much consensus on the origins of felt fabric &#; it&#;s THAT old. Most likely it originated in Asia several thousand years ago, where they used it to make tents and clothing.
Regardless of where felt came from, one thing is clear: felt has withstood the test of time. Basically, it was damn good back then, and it&#;s still damn good now.
Felt is made by applying heat, moisture, and pressure to fibers to interlock them into a durable fabric. The general method of making felt has remained unchanged over the years, but some differences do exist.
Here&#;s how people get it done these days (with wool). This is a kind of long process, so buckle in.
For combined felt, the natural and synthetic fibers go into big open cylinders that have steel nails inside to help with combining the different fibers.
Afterward, they are carded and the rest of the process is similar to what we outlined for wool felting.
As we mentioned, there are three main types of felt: natural, synthetic, and combined.
But! There&#;s also different types within that too. Let&#;s dive into a few of those here.
Alright, this is probably the type of felt you know the best. The felt you&#;d find in a kid&#;s project or what you&#;d find at Michael&#;s.
These are synthetic felt fibers that use interlocking acrylic. Why is this the OG crafting felt? A few reasons.
First, they&#;re stiffer than natural fiber felt, yet easier to cut. Two, they&#;re cheaper than other types of felt. And three, they can take on different pigments really well so you can dye them all different types of fun colors.
Made from recycled plastics, these are similar to acrylic felts (made by interlocking plastics), but more eco-friendly (surprise surprise). This type of felt also makes excellent craft material because it's stiff, coarse, and waterproof.
Eco-friendly felts can be made from recycled felt, yarn fibers, or leftover carpet fibers. Considering the &#;eco-friendly&#; in the name, it makes sense that this felt doesn&#;t use any chemicals, glues, or adhesives so they&#;re non-toxic &#; great for kiddos.
The Eco-Plush rug pad is one such example of this. (So I mean, we&#;re not biased or anything, but it&#;s basically the best kind of felt fabric. &#;)
This material is made from mixing wool with synthetic fibers, such as acrylic. The two most common ratios that exist for this combination are:
These are good for crafts, but you&#;ll also see this felt in accessories like pillows or plush toys because they have a firm yet soft texture.
100% wool felt is made by interlocking wool fibers together to create a fabric that doesn&#;t wear down easily. (That whole process we explained earlier.)
Under a microscope, the surface of wool appears to have scales. The felting process interlocks these scales, creating a durable, water-resistant material. This would be the type of felt that people used way back when for clothing, especially in rainy climates like England and Scotland (think kilts).
It&#;s non-flammable, too &#; wool singes and the flames simply go out. This makes it ideal for lining fire-fighter uniforms because while it&#;s non-flammable, it&#;s also lightweight so it doesn&#;t slow the firefighters down or impede their movement.
Felt, unlike most other fabrics, is not woven or knit, meaning it doesn&#;t have warp and weft threads (the vertical and horizontal threads in weaving). This means that it doesn&#;t easily fray at the edges, and also makes it easy to cut and work with (since cutting it will not destroy the integrity of the entire fabric).
Felt is also durable because many layers are interlocked in its construction. It&#;s water-resistant and non-toxic.
What&#;s so good about felt? Everything.
Okay not everything, but felt does have a lot of benefits. Specifically, it&#;s durable, warm, lightweight, protective, insulating, and soundproofing. Let&#;s dig into those a bit more.
Due to the interlocking process used in manufacturing, felt is strong and durable. Seriously, felt can take a beating and be just fine.
In terms of rug pads, this makes your pads durable and long-lasting.
The fibers in felt are lightweight, but you&#;ve got a TON of them all interlocked together so they&#;re also warm. Interlocking creates the lightweight quality of the fabric, as it&#;s compressed through pressure being applied when matting the fibers.
Keep in mind, because of the density, felt isn&#;t going to be your ultra-lightweight performance clothing. But unless you&#;re clocking crazy miles, you probably wouldn&#;t notice the weight so for the amount of warmth it provides it&#;s pretty damn good.
Plus, when used in rug pads, that weight and density can actually be nice &#; it can help keep the pad flat and adds more cushion to your rug. However, since the pad is still fairly low profile (the whole density thing) the felt is unlikely to raise your area rug too high up, so the rugs aren&#;t a tripping hazard.
Felt is used for lining clothing such as boots and coats for the winter season because it&#;s warm, lightweight, and water-resistant. That doesn&#;t mean waterproof, it&#;s just that wool fibers naturally have some water resistance, especially when tightly woven together like with felt (have you seen where sheep live?? They need some water resistance).
Because it&#;s water-resistant, felt is also good for rug pads. Any liquid will take a moment before starting to soak in. And even then the recycled felt we use is pretty great at absorbing liquid too. This gives you time to clean any spills before they can damage your floors.
Plus, since the felt is only water-resistant and not non-porous waterproof, it means the material is also breathable. What&#;s the benefit to that? It means you&#;ll have airflow between the rug and floor. So, even if liquid were to get under the pad, it wouldn&#;t get trapped there&#;it could simply evaporate up through the pad.
Because many layers of felt layers are interlocked together during felting, the resulting fabric is excellent for insulation and soundproofing. They have premium cushioning and are able to absorb sound.
What is this quality good for? You guessed it&#;rug pads.
Especially in a multi-storied house or apartment complex, the extra soundproofing can be a massive benefit to keep the peace between neighbors.
(P.S. The Eco-Plush rug pads we carry have excellent soundproofing. &#;)
Nothing&#;s perfect and felt certainly isn&#;t an exception here. We want to make sure you really know felt &#; the good, and the bad.
Even though felt is a strong, durable material, it can be destroyed by moths. The whole natural thing? Moths are a big fan of that too, unfortunately. Specific species of moths actually feed on animal fibers like wool, so your wool clothing is an all-you-can eat buffet to them.
(Note: our rug pads use recycled synthetic felt, so you shouldn&#;t have to worry about the whole moth issue if you&#;re thinking of getting a felt rug pad.)
Felt is not a grippy fabric. This is great for socks when you want to go sliding around on wood floors.
(source)
Not so great when your small area rugs go slipping out from under you (or under your dog). For this reason, some manufacturers use adhesives to ensure that rug pads stick to the floor (which in itself can be damaging to the floor).
Instead, we design our non slip rug pads to grip the floor by adding rubber backing.
The Contour-Lock and Superior-Lock rug pads both use felt with a natural rubber backing.
The manufacturing process of felt can often make the surface a bit coarse and rough, so it can be a bit scratchy on the skin (especially synthetic felt). It&#;s still a soft enough surface that it won&#;t scratch floors or even be that uncomfortable on the skin, it&#;s just not going to compare to something like fleece or alpaca wool when it comes to softness.
Still have questions? We&#;ve got you covered. Check out these other commonly asked questions about felt that we&#;ve answered here for you.
Melton is similar to felt and is often mistaken for it.
Melton is a woven fabric, but the finishing of melton makes it shrink and appear matted like felt.
Felt can be bought by the yard or in pre-cut felt sheets. Michael&#;s or similar crafting stores are good places to buy felt. Most crafting or fabric store should carry some felt.
(Though keep in mind, this is just felt, not made for anything specific &#; if you want something specific for say, rug pads, we&#;ve got you covered with our 100% felt rug pad.)
Yes, felt can be washed. We recommend washing it by hand using cold water to avoid shrinking though.
Felt fabric is water-resistant &#; not fully waterproof. Think of it like a thick fuzzy jacket in the rain that isn&#;t necessarily a rain jacket; it&#;ll keep you dry for a while, but eventually you&#;ll get wet.
Yes, it&#;s a non-woven fabric made from interlocking fibers.
Yes, it&#;s a strong material. However, it&#;s not like steel metal-level strong &#; it&#;s still a fabric and if you push it too hard, those interlocking fibers can come apart.
100% wool felt has the best quality for water resistance, comfort, and durability &#; but it can also get eaten by moths.
No, they&#;re not the same. Felt is made from natural wool or synthetic fibers and is non-woven. Fleece, on the other hand, is woven and made entirely from plastic.
No, it is better to air dry it as putting it in dryers can misshape it and mess with the interlocking fibers.
Yes, it's fine to iron felt. No need to use steam for it either.
Dusty felt can be cleaned using a clothes brush to remove dust and lint. If it&#;s on your floor like a rug pad, you can also use a vacuum cleaner on a low setting.
Natural fiber felt does not naturally stick to felt unless glue or adhesive is applied. However, you will see those acrylic felt boards that do stick together &#; that&#;s because the fibers interlock with each other like a weaker version of velcro.
No, felt does not unravel &#; it&#;s non-woven, so there&#;s really nothing to unravel.
Yes, felt makes a good insulator because it&#;s matted and dense with all the fibers pushed together.
Flic Flac felt is a felt fabric that is ideal for art and crafts use. It is packaged in assorted colors and already cut into manageable craft squares.
Wool felt is more supple and softer to touch than acrylic felt. Acrylic felt is stiff and coarse.
It depends on the type. Wool felt is generally a sustainable material because it&#;s renewable and biodegradable. It doesn't cause unnecessary environmental pollution and it&#;s economically sustainable.
Recycled fiber felt is also fairly sustainable since it uses recycled materials and can be re-recycled. On the other hand, brand new acrylic fiber felt can push the envelope on the whole sustainable thing since it uses polyesters and plastics. It can still be recycled and doesn&#;t have to use harsh or toxic chemicals, so it&#;s certainly not the worst.
Are you interested in learning more about Wholesale Wool Felt? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
If you&#;ve realized that felt doesn&#;t suit your fancy when it comes to rug pads, that&#;s totally fine! We have other rug pad materials too.
The Anchor Grip uses felt and EVA while the Eco Plush rug pads use 100% felt. The RugPro, Contour-Lock, and Superior-Lock pads use a combination of felt and rubber.
The Anchor Grip pad is a felt and EVA rug pad made in the United States. It has great grip and doesn&#;t stick to your floors, discolor them, or dry them &#; making it an ideal rug pad material for vinyl and luxury vinyl plank flooring.
Natural rubber is a naturally occurring polymer that comes from the rubber tree.
It&#;s an ideal material to use in rug pads because it grips floors, ensuring your rugs stay in place, without damaging the floor or your rug. Plus, it&#;s non-toxic and doesn&#;t have a strong smell.
We use natural rubber in our non-slip rug pads, such as Nature&#;s Grip and Super-Lock Natural, for its gripping properties.
Start with something simple and inexpensive, gradually increasing the quality and investment as you get better and more precise with your projects.
Choosing wool for wet felting depends on the project outcome you are looking for.
Use this fiber guide to help you choose fibers to use for wet felting.
Fiber choice is a key element in wet felting because the type of fiber used will determine the felting process, the outcome of the project, and what the finished felt looks like.
If you are trying to make a hardy piece like a floor rug that will withstand a lot of wear, then use a coarse, dense fiber.
If you are making a scarf or piece that will be worn next to your skin, you want a fine, soft fiber so that it doesn&#;t chafe your skin.
The first question to ask yourself when choosing a fiber type is what texture you want the finished piece to have &#; rough and durable or soft and delicate.
The form in which you use the fiber is the next thing to consider. Do you want to use a raw fiber that hasn&#;t been washed or a beautifully cleaned roving that neatly lays out in soft tufts?
Rougher pieces that are made for durability (like rugs) can be done with raw fiber or washed uncombed fiber. The finer and more delicate the piece the greater need for clean and well-combed fiber.
Raw fiber is the hair of a sheep or other fiber bearing animal that has not been washed or combed. It is sheared off the animal and has had no other processing done to it. This is often called &#;in the grease&#; because it still has the natural lanolin oils the animal produces.
Raw wool from a Shetland sheep.The raw fleece has been washed, but it is still uncombed, so it may still be clumpy and maintain the locks of fiber that it had when freshly cut from the animal. Most of all of the lanolin oil has been washed from the fiber.
This is the most common way to find processed fiber is at supply stores or online. The fiber has been washed and processed so that it forms a neat and clean rope of fibers that are ready to be hand-spun or felted.
Roving is a term used in referring to a cleaned, combed fiber that is formed into a long skein.Another form of processing cleaned wool is a wool batt. This looks like a sheet of combed wool that is rolled up and looks like a pillow form.
This is great for creating flat felt because the fibers are already brushed to go in the same direction and the sheets can be separated and then layered in alternating fiber directions to create the flat felt.
There is a wide variety of fiber-bearing sheep breeds in the world. The variety means you, as the fiber artist, have a vast array of options to choose from.
Each breed of fiber sheep has a distinct fiber profile or collection of characteristics that determine how it will react to different techniques.
These variables include fiber coarseness or fineness, the length of the fiber, and other factors we will discuss below.
Included are a few other animal fibers that are good for wet felting.
I&#;ve included fibers under the &#;coarse&#; category as examples of fibers that are more rough than smooth, not in describing their micron count or another aspect of the fiber, simply in comparison with other options.
Corriedale is one of the finer wools in the &#;coarse wool&#; category.
While its texture is crisp and durable, it is still soft. The cream hue takes color well when dyeing and receives natural and chemical dyes.
Corriedale Top from The Woolery
Corriedale wool fiber.This wool comes in a variety of natural colors. Every fleece is different, and getting color consistency is difficult.
It felts well and creates beautiful pieces.
It is often used in its natural colors because of the variegation in tones.
Jacob Top from The Woolery
Jacob sheep wool fiber.This fiber has a slightly rough texture; though the fibers are fine, the crimp is loose. The fiber is lustrous and felts into a dense fabric with a slightly fuzzy texture.
Kent Romney Top from The Woolery
Romney sheep wool fiber.The Cheviot breed has a soft, fluffy fiber that is slightly rough in texture.
This fiber sits in the coarser wool category because the fiber ranges from coarse and scratchy to fine and almost smooth.
Because it is often a coarser fiber it is best for items that will not be next to the skin.
This wool takes dyes well, but they come out slightly duller as this fiber does not have much natural luster.
Cheviot Top from The Woolery
With a variegated crimp and high luster, this slippery fiber takes some work to felt, but it creates a nice medium-soft felted fabric.
It takes dye well due to the luster of the fiber.
You may see this breed of fiber referred to as &#;BFL&#;, short for Bluefaced Leicester.
Bluefaced Leicester from The Woolery
Blue-Faced Leicester sheep wool fiber.This fine wool is best for smaller pieces as it is not as durable as some of the coarser wools. It has good bulk and a clear crimp with a slight luster.
Shetland Wool Top from The Woolery
Shetland sheep wool fiber.Merino is commonly available at fiber arts stores and online.
It is a smooth, fine fiber that creates lightweight, smooth products. Great for felting pieces that need to be soft and durable.
Fine Merino Top from The Woolery
This fiber is silkier than many types of wool.
The felting process may take longer with this fiber as you work and agitate it to the felted point you desire.
Alpaca comes in a variety of natural colors, from deep browns and blacks to grays, red browns, heather grays, and others.
The lighter colors can be overdyed if desired.
Alpaca Top from The Woolery
When purchasing fibers online or from a fiber store, read the labeling.
There are wools treated so that the fiber can be spun, knit, and washed without felting.
This is called a &#;superwash&#; fiber and will be labeled as such.
This is great news for spinners and knitters because they can make beautiful sweaters and other pieces, and the item won&#;t accidentally shrink if thrown in the washing machine.
However, for the felter, this is a problem when you want to intentionally cause felt.
Other things to consider when choosing fibers to experiment with is that the shorter the fiber length, the less tendency it has to form a good felt.
There is not enough length in the fiber to cause it to tangle and form the felt desired.
The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook: More than 200 Fibers from Animal to Spun Yarn.
By Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius
One of my favorite places to order fiber online is The Woolery.