How to Felt a Scarf over Silk
To do felting into fabric, you need to use a natural fiber such as silk or cotton. The more open the weave, the better, because that allows the wool fibers to fuse into the fabric. For this scarf I used a piece of silk cut on a bias (on a 45 degree to the weave) to make it more supple and stretchy. The steps are super easy:
1. Lay a piece of bubble wrap down and cover it with wisps of wool roving (fibers). Be creative with your colors. You can add pieces of silk thread (I pulled some right out of the silk fabric), yarn, lace, cut pieces of felt, etc.
2. Lay the silk over the wool fibers.
3. Lay another layer of wool fibers on top of the silk scarf.
4. Wet the scarf with lukewarm soapy water.
5. Put another layer of bubble wrap on top of the silk. If you don’t have enough bubble wrap to stretch the length of the scarf, put a layer of wax paper over the felt project, fold it in half, and place bubble wrap on top (as I do in the video below).
6. Agitate the scarf-bubble-sandwich with a car buffer (see video). This is where my method is different from the normal nuno felting. In regular nuno felting you would NOT put another layer of bubble wrap on top, but roll up the scarf into the bottom layer of bubble wrap and then roll, roll, roll.
7. Open the scarf up and check if the wool has fused into the silk after a minute or two. If it hasn’t, keep agitating with the buffer.
8. When the wool has fused with the silk, take the scarf out of the wrapping and toss it on a counter or in a sink a few times. This makes the wool shrink and is called “fulling.” You can full a little or a lot. It’s up to you.
9. Rinse with lukewarm water.
10. Towel dry.
11. Press lightly with a hot iron just enough to flatten the scarf.
12. Allow to dry completely.
13. Bedazzle your neck or your sweetheart’s neck with it!
Hint: If you don’t like the raw edges, you can needle felt more wool roving around the outer edge (or sew a border before you begin the project).
Don’t stop with one scarf! Felt, felt, felt! You can even use hair from your dog for nuno or needle felting.
I have purchased a car buffer and bubble wrap and am very anxious to try this method. I wish I could understand the directions for your other projects. I am new to felting and love this method!!! Thank you for sharing.
I tried this and it was terrible. The polisher just spun around and gathered everything up in a bunch! How do you get it to slide over the top?
Ah, yes. You should but a big damp towel under your whole project to keep it from slipping out from under you. Mine spun out the firs time I did it too. It takes a bit of “learning” to not let it do that. But the towel helps a whole bunch.
Simplesmente fantástico.
Adorei. Grata por compartilhar.
Meu prazer!
Marty,
I had no idea you could felt with a car buffer. The project and the results are just amazing. This should be on Etsy!