COLOURED PREFELTS
Prefelt is industrially needled wool into an even bed and its looks
like soft fabric. Coloured prefelts have 150 grams of merino fibres per
sq. meter. This is just the suitable thickness when you make e.g.
scarves, mitten, decorations like flowers or accessories.
If you need thinner prefelt, you can brush or card it thinner or strech it when damp. Prefelt is the base material which needs to be felted into finished product. Bear in mind that coloured prefelts shrink when felted about 30 %.
The width of coloured prefelts is 150 cms and the material is cut by metres (minimum order is ! metre = 1,5 sq.m)
The cost per metre is 20 €.
The colour selction changes each season. At the moment we have:BURNT ORANGE, RED, LILAC ( not purple but bright lilac), LIGHT BLUE, WILLOW (beautifully tinted green, in-between lime and linden), FOREST GREEN, BLACK AND COFFEE BEAN (the newest!)
The most simple scarf to make of prefelt is to cut the scarf and felt it ready. When felting use a lot of soap (Marseille, pine soap) and really warm water. First work through the scarf by rubbing it by “one hand under one over” –technique. Then roll it e.g. inside a towel. By rolling it from all four directions makes the scarf felt evenly. Between each rolling, work with your hand using the “one hand under one over” –technique. At the end you can roll the scarf double inside a towel. Remember to felt the work all the way to the finish! You may jerk the scarf, jump on it, beat it with a club etc. The most important thing is that your scarf can take wear and tear and looks like you.
The more excitement you have in your scarf, the more work it requires. Always start to felt from the projecting parts and joints/seams using “one hand under one over” –technique. You learn by making.
Prefelts are excellent for making NUNO-felt, for modernizing something old and using to coat the thick JYTKY –prefelt.
A ready-made nuno-felt has an interesting surface texture and it is an extremely pleasant material suitable for all kinds of accessories. Nuno felt is also very durable.
Modernized berets are the simpliest garments to make. 100% wool berets can be transformed to strikingly gorgeous hats by needling extra parts of prefelt (such as scarf like earflaps, fringes, tails, decorations, craters etc) The beret can be narrowed by cutting parts off and by sewing the incisions together. In the same way it can be enlargened.
The next stage: you felt carefully and to the very end. Remember to pay attention to the shrinkage.
When the beret has been felted first between hands (special attention to the projecting parts and joints/seams), you can roll it between towels.
Old clothes can be modernized also (even those, which are not wool). A blouse can be a splendid jacket; a top can be a dress – but it takes time to modernize them, because the garment is built and felted part by part. When modernizing ready-made garments it is important to know how to make nuno-felt, and especially when the garment you are working with is not wool.
COLOURED PREFELTS can be felted by hand or fulled in a washing machine. If you use washing machine, make sure that you have gone through the whole piece by felting it first lightly by hand. This way you avoid the parts attaching to each other. Start by choosing a gentle washing program in your machine (you can always repeat the program; a too effective program might suprise you and you get hard, steel-like felt). You can try first using rinse and spin with 0 degrees.
Some garments look much nicer when hand-felted (more beautiful and smooth finish and shape). Some feltmakers do with fulling in the machine.
The width of coloured prefelts is 150 cms and the material is cut by metres (minimum order is ! metre = 1,5 sq.m)
The cost per metre is 20 €.
The colour selction changes each season. At the moment we have:BURNT ORANGE, RED, LILAC ( not purple but bright lilac), LIGHT BLUE, WILLOW (beautifully tinted green, in-between lime and linden), FOREST GREEN, BLACK AND COFFEE BEAN (the newest!)
The most simple scarf to make of prefelt is to cut the scarf and felt it ready. When felting use a lot of soap (Marseille, pine soap) and really warm water. First work through the scarf by rubbing it by “one hand under one over” –technique. Then roll it e.g. inside a towel. By rolling it from all four directions makes the scarf felt evenly. Between each rolling, work with your hand using the “one hand under one over” –technique. At the end you can roll the scarf double inside a towel. Remember to felt the work all the way to the finish! You may jerk the scarf, jump on it, beat it with a club etc. The most important thing is that your scarf can take wear and tear and looks like you.
Hand-dyed prefelts
The next scarf you could make, can be a decorated one (by needling wool or different colour prefelt) or 3-dimentional, when you needle all extra bits and pieces of your prefelts to the ends of your scarf ( the pieces are needled from one end only, the other end is left loose).The more excitement you have in your scarf, the more work it requires. Always start to felt from the projecting parts and joints/seams using “one hand under one over” –technique. You learn by making.
Prefelts are excellent for making NUNO-felt, for modernizing something old and using to coat the thick JYTKY –prefelt.
NUNO FELT
When you combine prefelt and fabrics by felting them together – that is NUNO felt. You do not use felt needles; the materials truly felt together. All silk fabrics, silk organza, chiffon and cotton gauze are good materials for making nuno. The fabrics must be light-weight, see-through and veil-like, in order to combine with wool fibers. Sometimes even “organzas” and other synthetics materials can attach well.A ready-made nuno-felt has an interesting surface texture and it is an extremely pleasant material suitable for all kinds of accessories. Nuno felt is also very durable.
MODERNISING GARMENTS BY FELTING
Modernizing is dreadfully funny and at the same time very laborious. You can use all kinds of old woolen garments as base for modernizing; in other words you combine old and new in an appropriate proportion.Modernized berets are the simpliest garments to make. 100% wool berets can be transformed to strikingly gorgeous hats by needling extra parts of prefelt (such as scarf like earflaps, fringes, tails, decorations, craters etc) The beret can be narrowed by cutting parts off and by sewing the incisions together. In the same way it can be enlargened.
The next stage: you felt carefully and to the very end. Remember to pay attention to the shrinkage.
When the beret has been felted first between hands (special attention to the projecting parts and joints/seams), you can roll it between towels.
Old clothes can be modernized also (even those, which are not wool). A blouse can be a splendid jacket; a top can be a dress – but it takes time to modernize them, because the garment is built and felted part by part. When modernizing ready-made garments it is important to know how to make nuno-felt, and especially when the garment you are working with is not wool.
COLOURED PREFELTS can be felted by hand or fulled in a washing machine. If you use washing machine, make sure that you have gone through the whole piece by felting it first lightly by hand. This way you avoid the parts attaching to each other. Start by choosing a gentle washing program in your machine (you can always repeat the program; a too effective program might suprise you and you get hard, steel-like felt). You can try first using rinse and spin with 0 degrees.
Some garments look much nicer when hand-felted (more beautiful and smooth finish and shape). Some feltmakers do with fulling in the machine.