When I reveal to knitters that I am a felt maker, they frequently tell me of the hat or tote they felted, by first knitting and then laundering or “shrinking” the item in hot soapy water. (At the peril of sounding haughty, these beautiful items are actually fulled, not felted.)
Consider the instant gratification of creating an item directly from wool, without the necessity of first spinning it into yarn and then knitting the yarn into fabric. Indulge in the spontaneity, creative possibilities and painterly approach of working with a rich palette of dyed wool fiber. Create a felt flower to wear on your lapel or hat using this easy and accessible feltmaking technique. Make it realistic or fantastical, embellish it with beads, or not.

finished size: 4” x 4” to 8” x 8”

Ingredients:
merino wool roving in 3 to 5 colors per flower, totaling ¾ to one ounce per flower
(optional bits of yarns and threads to incorporate into the felt)

Equipment:
10 inch square of bubble wrap
10 inch square of high density plastic (veg/market bag that rustles when touched)
retired knee high or pantyhose leg cut into strips
tea towel or dishcloth
10 length of pipe insulation
6 drops of Murphy’s, castile, ivory or other soap in 1 cup of hot water

Notions:
scissors, beading needle, thread that fits into the needle’s eye, assorted seed beads, safety pin, pencil or skewer or knitting needle

Directions:
Place the bubble wrap on your worktable or countertop, smooth side up.
<<To use the wool roving, hold it softly with hands at least 6 inches apart. Pull in opposite directions and the fibers will drift apart. Pulled from the tip of the roving, wispy fluffs of wool, like brush strokes of paint, can be layered to produce a painterly effect. If the colors are of similar value, they appear to blend. If disparate values are layered, a webbed and veined appearance is achieved.>>

1) Layout the flower:
Lay wisps of green wool in a 5 petal design on the smooth side of bubble wrap. This is the calyx. Imagine a circle the size of a dessert plate (8” diameter) on the bubble wrap. Fill in this circle with overlapping wisps of about a ¼ of the wool, with all fibers arranged horizontally.
Place a second layer of wisps on the first, with all these fibers perpendicular to those of the first layer. About ½ of the wool remains.
Use the remaining wool in a painterly fashion. Perhaps wisps will radiate from the center, perhaps the edges will be of a different hue, maybe yellow or black will dominate the center. Use the play of color to mimic your favorite flower or create one from your imagination. (for example, a yellow center with purple petals, veined in navy like pansies, violets and irises; or a red circle with black center like a poppy)
To incorporate bits of yarn, place the yarn in a way that allows the wool beneath to still show. Pull gossamer, thin, spider web-ish wisps to place on top of the yarn inclusions. This way, the wool beneath, felts with the wool on top, capturing the inclusions in the process.

2) Begin the felting:
Place the tea towel beneath and beyond the bubble wrap. Sprinkle the wool with the hot soapy water. Cover it with the high density plastic.
Press down on the plastic with one hand, holding it stationary as you slide your other hand over the plastic’s surface, to spread the water throughout the wool. DO NOT PAT, PEEK BENEATH or MOVE THE PLASTIC or wool beneath it. Your mission is to simply press out the air and wet down every fiber of wool to facilitate felting.
When certain that the water is spread throughout, keep one hand on the plastic, holding it stationary, while softy rubbing with the flat of your hand, in large circles. This causes the wool to felt. The water has lifted the cuticle of the fiber (like scales on a roof), your pressing brings the fibers so close together that they rub on each other. Then, when the cuticle closes again, it will hook onto neighboring fibers … hence, felt. Rub for 5 minutes or so.
Place the pipe insulation on the edge of the bubble wrap/wool/plastic layers. Roll it up tightly and secure the bundle by tying with a knee hi or pantyhose leg. Do not knot. (An easy alternative to a bow is to tie once very tightly, then switch the direction of your grasp and without adding another tie, just pull hard.)
Roll the bundle back and forth using your entire flat hands, gently as not to disturb your beautiful design. Roll back and forth about a hundred times.
Unroll, place pipe insulation of another of the 4 edges, re-roll and tie. Roll this back and forth a hundred times. Increase pressure while repeating this for all 4 edges.

3) Fulling (the second stage of feltmaking that compacts and condense the fibers into a denser fabric through further manipulation and pressure):
Unroll the flower and decide on shape. Decide whether to use as is for a poppy look, cut into 4 or 5 petals, or slash several times for a mum look. Be cautious when cutting.
If you’ve done any cutting, re-roll and tie the bundle again and roll it a hundred times or so to soften and taper the cut edge. Separate the petals if they start to felt together. Reroll and tie and roll it back and forth again….

4)Transforming the flower from 2 to 3 dimensions:
Drape the plastic-topped flower over the pencil, skewer or knitting needle like one of those tiny cocktail umbrellas. Secure the bundle with the tie. Roll this back and forth over the bubble-side-up several times. If the plastic falls out, stop and re-do it immediately or, it may felt shut into a bud (which is very cool only if that is your intention). Use more pressure and gusto now. If a bud is desired, work it extensively while tied like an umbrella.
<<Working the flower this way is shortening each concentric circle of the flower, as though you pulled on rings of tiny basting stitches. It makes the flower begin to cup. More work, deeper the cup.>>
Regard the flower’s shape. Fold it; pull the edges back; turn them under; pull every other petal forward or back; rather than having the center recede, poke it forward like a cone-flower. Does the flower say poppy, daisy, mum, orchid?? Each manipulation provides a new possibility.
Rinse and squeeze it under hot water, if possible. Place within the folds of a bath towel and stand on it to remove the excess water. Re-shape the flower and permit it to dry. It will have memory for the shape.

5)Bead the flower:
Embellish your flower using seed beads to create stamens or add dense spots of light and shine to the matte softness of the felt. Use embroidery stitches, fringe techniques or simply sew one bead on at a time. Carry the thread within the felt rather than allowing it to show on back.

Use the safety pin to wear it on your lapel, hat, or purse. Their use extends beyond wearable. Consider making several for floral arrangements and other decorative purposes. For a wedding at the Conservatory in Pittsburgh, I felted and beaded all the flowers: boutonnieres, centerpiece arrangements for the banquet tables at the reception and the glass and felt flowers for the head table.

For more information about felting, visit: www.carolcypher.com