What is the technique?

  Felting is a non-woven textile that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibres together. Felt can be made of natural fibres such as wool or synthetic fibres such as acrylic. There are many different types of felts for industrial, technical, designer and craft applications. While some types of felt are very sift, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can vary in terms of fibre content, colour, size, thickness, density and more factors depending on the use of the felt.

• Wet felting Felt is made by a process called wet felting where the wool fibres, stimulated by friction and lubricated by moisture (usually soap water). The process takes advantage of the inherent nature of wool and animal hairs. They are made up of unidirectional scales, and they are also naturally kinked. It is the combination which reacts to the friction of the felting process, forcing the hairs to lock together. An artificial felt with a minimum of 30% wool fibres would work as well.
• Needle felting creates felt without the use of water. Special needles are used as a sculpting tool, which have notches along the shaft of the needle that grab the top layer of fibre and tangle them with the inner layers.

  Applique is a sewing technique that involves stitching a small piece of fabric onto a larger one t make a pattern or design. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments. The technique is accomplished either by hand or machine.

 

What are the relevant materials needed for the technique?

• Wet felting: wools of different colours; soap or detergent; hot water
• Needle felting: wools, felting needle, sponge or foam block
• Applique: Sewing needle & thread/sewing machine, larger piece of fabric as base and smaller pieces

 

How to achieve technique?

  Wet felting: Firstly, arrange and add layers of wools as preferred on a sheet that covers the table. When ready, add few drops of detergent or soap water and pour hot water over to soak it. Start to rub the piece and form a denser and tighter piece; Do a pinch test to find out whether it is done fully and then wash it.

  Needle felting: Take the wools and lay them down on the sponge or foam board; slowly pock the fibres together to shape it; Use hand to hold up and help with the form and then pock areas to secure the shape; work around and make sure it is tight and dense at all part.

  Applique: Simply cut out shape of smaller pieces of fabrics and place them on the base piece as desired (pinned down if needed); Hand sew or use a sewing machine to stich the edges of the patterns to secure them onto the base fabric.

 

What are the uses and applications of the technique?

  Felting could be used to make clothing, footwear, rugs and even tents. The end result could be flat or 3 dimensional and it could be soft or has a rather strong structure and rough surface.

  Applique is particularly suitable for work which is to be seen from a distance, such as in banner-making. A famous example of appliqué is the Hastings Embroidery. It is used extensively in quilting (the process of sewing two or more layers of fabric together to make a thicker padded material).

 

Experiment

Prepare materials for felting

  The first one we tried in class was wet felting as shown below. And I turned it into a shell-like form by pocking it with the felting needle, combining the two techniques.

More felting

  I found it very convenient to add some soap water to accelerate the bonding process before using needle. And I also learnt from videos from YouTube that the felt wool can be placed in a freezer bag. After adding soap water, we can roll up the bag and it made the process easier and much less messy.

 

Applique

  I tried and tested different kinds of stitches on scrape fabrics and as shown below, there were many types and the stitch distance was adjustable as well. When I made the stitch distance closer to zero, the machine actually kept getting stuck so I went on testing with wider distances. The difference was clear in the two heart shapes below. (One with straight stitch and the other with ZigZag stitch)

  I knew about the blanket stitch when I was searching for ways to secure edges of batik pieces. It could be done with the sewing machine but I preferred to actually hand sew them as it wasn’t complicated.

  

 

  Besides these, I also wanted to practice using the sewing machine so I decided to make a simple tote bag. I selected and bought the material that I liked and used the MagicTouch sheets to print some designs for the bag. The fabrics were measured and cut out. And then I sew them together and flip it inside out as shown below.

  And just for fun, I also made three felt balls and hand sew them onto the MUJI totebag that I used for transfer printing before. I think the colors matched nicely with the bag and the print.

 

Personal Reflection

  Personally I really like felts not just because of its texture but also the fact that it is non-woven and can be bonded pretty simply. I found wet felting very efficient to create colourful pieces and I liked how the colour blend smoothly on its own. Needle felting allows us to make solid and refined 3 dimensional shape and it also could be used to add more detailed to a wet felting piece. Even though needle felting is quite laborious, I found the process quite therapeutic and I really enjoy the fluffy and warmth of the material.

  Applique is also a very interesting technique and it could certainly create all kinds of patterns with different stiches available. Mixing and matching fabrics with different colours, thickness or patterns allow endless opportunities to be explored.