Felting Whole Fleeces into Rugs......Part 1

A slightly more cost-effective alternative to sheepskin rugs, which quite often fetch £90 + nowadays!

Today I have been experimenting with felting whole fleeces from their raw state, into floor rugs.  I am blogging the instructions pretty quickly as a number of people want to try this now so I am sharing what I have learned so far to help them.

Before you start!!!!

Pick a fleece that has good felting qualities, from my previous attempt with a herdwick fleece I'm assuming more kemp = not so good at felting, so avoid herdwick, welsh mountain etc...that are coarse and don't have soft enough fibres to felt together.  It probably CAN be done with these types, but I gave up on the last one and chucked it out as it just wouldn't go!

THIS IS GOING TO BE MESSY! MAKE SURE YOU WORK OUTDOORS IN OLD CLOTHES!

Step 1:  Lay your skirted and roughly picked fleece out tips facing DOWN on 2or 3 beach mats (you want to felt the BACK, not the locks) make sure you remove any major vegetation and poo etc FIRST!.  You can use bubblewrap, but I find the squeaking gets on my nerves and beachmats are easier to work with as they have friction against the surface you roll on, instead of slipping and sliding around everywhere.

(my fleece was REALLY clean and very well sheared!)

Look for weak spots and push the fleece together to cover up any holes.  * Put some combed top in a similar colour over the holey areas* - I did not do this but I can see now that it is necessary to avoid holes in your finished piece.

Step 2:

COVER EVENLY with washing up liquid - I used tescos brand antibacterial stuff (because I thought that would help better with cleaning the raw fleece at the same time)

Next use a watering can to sprinkle BOILING WATER (careful kids!) all over the fleece until it is completely sodden.

(beachmats came from a charity shop, 50p each- bargain!)

Step 3: 

 Roll up the beachmats and fleece tightly and give it a lot of squishing as a roll to lather up the soap. 

(I stomped on mine barefoot repeatedly for about 5 mins)

Count 100 rolls of the mat..concentrating on the middle for 30, the left for 30 and the right for 30 with the last 10 all over.  (this could be easier with 2 people, one each end)

Step 4: 

Open up the mat, reshape any bits that have moved, turn the fleece 90 degrees on the mats, add more soap and boiling water and roll up and repeat step 3 (this way you are felting the fleece from both directions).

PERFORM THE PINCH TEST on your piece and if it is felting down well you are on the right track, if not, more water, rolling and soap until it starts to matt enough on the back of the fleece.  This one I used only took 300 x rolls and a fair bit of stomping, it felted really quickly, and took just over an hour from start to finish.

To 'SHOCK' the wool into felting more, I used boiling water from the watering can, then sprayed the cold hose over it immediately after...hot, cold, hot, cold, shocks the fibres into contracting and matting quickly.

Step 5 (or 50, depending on how many times you have to repeat steps 3 and 4)

Open up the rolls and add more soap and lukewarm water (or boiling then cold to cool it enough to stomp on) stomp all over the back, concentrating on any areas that have not felted thoroughly yet.  You can get on your hands and knees and use your hands to rub the back in circular motions as well to help the felting.

When you are happy with it, wash it off with a cold hosepipe until most of the soap has run out (and the dirt/lanolin etc) and then wring out as much water as you can before leaving it to drip-dry (this bit is HEAVY!!!)

(drip-drying over the veggie patch so that my plants get watered as well!)

Inspect any holes and stitch them up from the back (will add a photo of this stage once mine has dried enough to sew)

I have some short videos to add to the tutorial but they are loading now, will add a 'Part 2' to this blog once I am finished.

Now, I'm off to put DRY clothes on!!!!