Felting

[mrsflibble]

I am either not in a good brain day mood, or I just can't find it. either way, can anyone help me with felting please? I've sort of tried a washing machine method but all that's done is turn a jumper into a straggly bobbly thing rather than felting it like I'd hoped.
it is 100% wool, but am I making a mistake by using lambs wool?!

[Annpan]

As far as my felting exploits have taken me it is the agitation, not the temperature that matters... works for me if I put the thing in with half a load of towels to wash... or just chuck it is a few normal washes. I don't see why lambswool would work much differently

[mrsflibble]

thanks Ann. It's been through one wash and one dry and it's come out the same size, but bobbly grrr!!!

it went in a hot white wash with two spin cycles (in with the nappies lol!)

[ina]

Most wool that's used to make garments nowadays has been treated so that it doesn't felt. Best to look for natural wool.

[snapdragon]

A lot of wool is treated to be 'superwash' these days - so designed to be washing machine friendly

Soap and agitation - try washboarding it (on the draining board)?

[mrsflibble]

thanks, will try that.

[Bonniegirl]

As already mention, it must be 100% wool anything else won't felt.

Probably best to felt your items on their own, use a hot wash and low fill.

Sometimes it takes a couple of attempts.

[snapdragon]

oops i forgot - thats 'Soap' soap, not detergent, alkalinity opens the wool cuticles up so that they cling together. I know soap flakes say for wool but according to the fleece peeps it's good for felting.

Acid based detergent (washing up liquid) is used to wash fleece and avoid felting.

[Annpan]

eejit features (or my dear OH as he is otherwise known) managed to felt a jumper of his - lambswool, in a 40oC wash with a load of regular clothes...

MrsF what is your garment like, maybe we could do a swap

Bonnie girl, I always felt in a normal wash (or 2)... sometimes 40oC sometimes 60oC but always with other things, otherwise I don't know how you would get good agitation I use cheap bog standard biological washing powder... maybe that also helps?

[mrsflibble]

I've got asda smartprice detergent, it's now been through 3 washes and I'm ready to give up and cut it into strips to plait it instead lol!!!
Ann, I am seriously considering your offer lol!!!

[Esther.R]

My o/h has also just felted his favourite pure Shetland wool jumper in a 40 degree wash

It must either not be 100% wool or be treated to resist it if your jumper hasn't shrunk by now. If I am machine felting I usually just bung the material in on an ordinary hot wash and it felts.

[Ratty]

Got to agree that it can't be 100% wool (the label lies!) or has indeed been treated. I have a couple of felted jumpers which I've not yet used for a project. More than happy to post them to you if you're interested MrsFlibble? PM me if you like.

Ratty

[buzzybee]

have to say that washing up liquid would actually fine if you were felting with fleece by hand, I saw 3 years of college with that working, but I wouldn't chuck fairy in my machine. Its good to chuck a towel in with whatever you're felting to simulate the agitation your hands would provide otherwise if it were going to felt you may end up with an arm felted to the chest or something similar. good for making warm straitjackets, if thats your cup of tea. but I have to agree with everyone else, its more than likely treated if its not worked by now.
one of my friends at college was using a pure merino yarn to machine knit all of her final project for our degree, and the company she and I and the college bought off didnt think to tell us that they had started coating it half way through the year. she wasted quite a bit of money and nearly didnt have a project. apparently lots of knitters started complaining that their new handmade jumpers were felting in the wash, so they coated the yarn.

[Rosendula]

Excuse me Can I ask a really stupid question? I don't know what felting is. Is it when you wash something made of wool in order to make it more like felt? That's the idea I'm getting from reading this thread. I assume the garments in question shrink quite a lot. How much so? What sort of things do you shrink?
Sorry to be a numb-skull, but I've never been craft-minded, yet just recently I've had an urge to do things that were always a bit foreign to me, like crochet a tea cosy and get my mother's old sewing machine out (don't know what for, I just feel like I should be making something). I think the craft-world is calling me.

[Annpan]

Yes, felting is when you turn a piece of wool (usually knitted or crocheted) into felt.

When you wash a real wool item in the washing machine (in a regular wash rather than the special wool setting) it often felts. It is the agitation that makes it felt. There are ways of felting by hand too.
The felting process can shrink the material by around 1/3 - 1/2 Depending on the wool, the tension, and the level of agitation.

The felt is sturdier than the original wool item.

You might do this with a tea-cosy, if you make it about 50% bigger that you want it, then felt it.