This scarf is my first attempt at nuno felting, or felting into fabric. I’m showing it off and telling you how to felt a scarf like this one because I think it’s simple enough for an auto detailer to do. In fact, this kind of felting is especially suited for an auto detailer because the felting itself is done with a car buffer. I wasn’t kidding when I said this website shows “how everything you do in the house and in the yard can be integrated.” Here we are integrating the garage with the fashion closet.

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.