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Useful books for felting techniques

by Catherine Dowling

This post will focus on books on felting techniques that our members have found useful.

Amazon is a great source of books on how to felt and develop your techniques.  Also the Knit and Stitch Show in the RDS every Autumn usually has book vendors with sections on felting and all fibre related material.

A good starter book is “Complete Feltmaking: Easy Techniques and 25 Great Projects”, by Gillian Harris.

Another beginners book is “Quick and Clever Felting” by Ellen Kharade.

For those wishing to develop their portfolio of felt creations the following books might be helpful:

  • “Felt Fashion” by Jenne Giles.  This shows how to make and customise garments.
  • “Felting Fashion” by Lizzie Houghton.  This book is about making simple corsages, hats and scarves to jackets and full-length coats.  Not really a book for beginners.
  • “Felt to Stitch” by Sheila Smith.  This book uses felt and stitch techniques to produce finished articles.  It combines beginner and advanced techniques.  It is beautifully illustrated and a good source of ideas.
  • “500 Felt Objects (Felt as Art)” by Lark Crafts.  This is a great book to inspire you to produce some wonderful creative pieces.  It is not, a how to felt book.  The photographs are beautiful and the inspiration endless

Resources for feltmaking materials

Welcome back after the summer break.  We had a very successful exhibition in Carlow as part of the Eigse Carlow Arts Festival.  One of the highlights was introducing people to the wonders of felt and stitching. Read the exhibition review here

 Now that there is a chill in the air and the evenings are drawing in its time to drag out the wool and find the sewing needles again.  This post will highlight some useful resources for people starting to learn about wet felting.  The following video link is an introduction to wet felting and shows the making of a simple square piece of felt,  video link here 
One of the big questions people new to felting ask is where to get wool and equipment.  Below are some useful shops and websites:
  • Craftspun Yarns, Crafstpun Yarns Ltd, The Mill, Johnstown, Naas, Co. Kildare  LINK
  • The Constant Knitter, 88 Francis St., Dublin 8. link here
  •  Wingham Wools in Yorkshire.   LINK
  •  DHG in Italy.   LINK
 Woodies DIY stores are great for getting some of the hardware for felting such as bubble wrap and pipe insulation (grey hollow tubes used for rolling felt).  A pool noodle can also be used.
Your local health food shop will usually have a supply of olive oil soap which is used to mix with hot water to start felting.
You will also need a supply of old towels, old net curtains or synthetic tulle.
 A flower mister for spreading water on wool or recycle bottles which have a spray nozzle.
Another useful piece of equipment is a bamboo mat for rolling pieces of felt.  IKEA did have some last year.  Buy a few as wider pieces of felt will need 2 or more.

Feltmakers Ireland ( www.feltmakersireland.com) run many workshops and tutorials on making felt and are a great source of advice on all things felt.