NEEDLE FELTING - Turning Wool Fibers into Felt A Division of LoveToSew.com

What is Needle Felting - Also Known as the Dry Technique - Dry Needle Felting

Felt is a non-woven material made up of fibers that are randomly tangled to each other so that they do not unravel. Some man-made felt fabrics are bind together mixed with glue. This type would be your typical felt fabric found at your local fabric shop or craft store. However there are other natural felts that can be made using wet or dry methods. Wet felting is where soap, water, and agitation cause llama or sheep wool to form into a felt fabric. Moisture and agitation are all that is needed to turn wool into felt.

Dry felting is a much different process. Instead of using moisture and agitation, barbed needles are poked repeatedly into a pile of fibers, thereby entangling them until a flat piece of needle felted material or three-dimensional sculptural piece is achieved. It is an easy needle punch method that even little children can do with supervision.

The felting needle which has a very sharp pointed edge, when poked repeatedly,  forces the fibers down which mixes with other fibers causing it to create the felt into a flat or sculpture piece of art depending on the artist shaping it. As the artist continues to do this she can add other colors to form the artwork. No glue is needed as the pushing of the needle binds everything together. One can even bind fibers with pretty yarns to create things. The technique is the same for each project - simply repeatedly pushing the needle up and down into the felt and wool fibers until they "lock" in the position or shape you want. A block of foam is used as a base to protect your work space and needles.

(left) - Roobi, an Olympic hopeful ice-skater spends her free time sewing and tried her hand at needle felting. It's amazing how she turned cream, black, and brown wool fibers into the beautiful ice-skate ornament by the technique of needle felting (right).

Try your hand at needle felting, the dry technique, and see how easy it is.

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