Been felting for about a year and a half now, mostly small stuff, needle felted brooches and little animals, but I wanted to move into wet felting proper for functional pieces like bowls and vessels. My first four attempts were all noticeably wonky on one side, thinner in spots, and I couldn't figure out why until I actually paid attention to how I was rubbing the resist.

Turns out I was favoring my dominant hand so much that I'd apply way more pressure and more rubs to the right side of the bowl than the left. Once I started rotating the whole piece every few minutes instead of just working around it in place, the shrinkage evened out dramatically. Sounds obvious typing it out now but it took me embarrassingly long to notice the pattern.

The other thing that helped was switching from a straight bar of olive oil soap to a soap solution in a squeeze bottle. I was using way too little lubrication before, which meant more friction and uneven felting, especially in the corners where the resist curves. Now I soak the wool properly before I even start rubbing and the fibers seem to migrate and lock together much more predictably.

Still working on getting consistent wall thickness on bigger pieces, I think that just comes with reps. Currently have a batting of Corriedale drying on the radiator for my next attempt, going to try a two layer resist for a taller vase shape this time.

Anyone else have a specific technique adjustment that fixed a recurring problem like this? Feels like felting is one of those crafts where the small mechanical details matter way more than I expected going in.

This is my second attempt at felting something! He's a little wonky but grossly incandescent in my eyes 😌 I didn't follow a guide or anything, I just kinda winged it

For this project and my first one, I had issues with putting on very small details like small bumps/balls. I don't know if I need a different sized needle? I'm just using the only one that was available at the craft store. I think this is a craft I'm gonna sink a lot of time into, its very meditative for me. This took me about 5 hours and I got it done in one sitting.

I made this for my partner's birthday, it's the gomu gomu no mi from One Piece. I dry felted onto a washcloth, this was my first time felting a washcloth. I'm still new and learning a lot

Hi. I have a 12lb Chihuahua. She’s healthy, but 8 years old and I have bouts of anxiety over losing her some day. I have felted small items only a couple times. I’ll include a small version of her I made to make my mom laugh. I would like to work on a life size version to help focus my anxiety on something. I’d like to work some of her fur into the details like I did with the small one.
Could I make a body from sheets of felt so I can sew a weighted filling inside and be able to work fuzzy bits in for her fur?
Could it be durable enough to be able to keep on my bed?
Would that much material be expensive?
Has anyone made anything like this and has tips?

Hello, I am a first timer trying to make a fursuit and i currently have a sewing machine and small bit of yarn. I want to start off making paws but im not sure what else I'll need for it. If anyone can just fill me out on what Id need to make calico cat fursuit paws with lining that would be a great help. Thanks very much!

I’m planning on making a felted bathroom mat from Drops Snow (formerly Eskimo) using 2 colour stranded knitting. It felts beautifully and evenly.

Will felting bond the strands on the back to the knitted fabric or am I going to end up with 2 layers of felted fabric?

How many stitches can I get away with for the floats or do I have to catch the spare yarn after every stitch ? The floats are very long and I used ladder back jacquard on the design for an earlier non felted project.

I want the fabric to retain the thickness of the wrong side floats. I know that I could use mosaic knitting to create a reversible fabric. But I hate the technique and the pattern chart is complicated enough (it’s Kaffe Fassett’s big flower chart)

Any advice welcome. I’m cross posting in the felting and knitting subreddits.

I don’t really sell much, but I’m chewing on whether to even bother allowing US customers to buy from me right now. I’m in Canada. I have to collect the tariff from my customers, and prepay it through an app called Zonos to ship it.

Trying to navigate the tariff schedules and codes, I found a code I thought was right that seemed to not hit the new 50% tariffs. What I have in my shop now are 3D wool sculpture/paintings done on a backing of felt in an embroidery hoop.

But Zonos has an automated checker that is (I assume AI unfortunately) that assigns an HS by image —and it puts it in 6307.90 which does get the 50% tariff—on top of two others, which makes the total duty almost 80% of the sale price. After fees, $95 duty on a $125 item. :/

Bigcartel lets me charge a tax to US customers that would add the charges to the cart so I can collect it—but given the contentious way things are right now, I’m feeling like it’s not even worth it. I can’t imagine someone buying something with that much pointless markup.

What are folks doing? Any tips on reading the HS schedules so I don’t have to rely on the AI bot on the app?

I want to felt some pan/plate dividers, and I’m looking for the best tool to help me do this. I already have the carded fiber. Is there an electric felting tool or machine that would make this easier for me?

I've been making little flat pieces for a while now, mostly wet felted wool for phone mats and coasters, and I finally tried layering needle felted details on top of a wet felted background this weekend. Made a small landscape piece, hills wet felted flat and firm, then went back in with a felting needle to add texture like grass tufts, a little tree, some clouds with more dimension than the flat wool could give on its own.

The process took way longer than I expected. Wet felting the base took maybe 40 minutes of rolling and rubbing, but then I spent almost two hours needle felting details on top, mostly because I kept second guessing the placement of the tree and redoing it three times. My fingers were sore by the end from all the poking, even with a multi needle tool.

Results turned out decent though. The wet felted base gave a nice sturdy surface that held up to the needle work without stretching or distorting, which I was worried about going in. I used a coarser wool for the base and saved my softer merino for the detail work, which seemed to help things blend together instead of looking like two separate techniques slapped on top of each other.

Curious if anyone else combines the two regularly. Do you wet felt your base first and let it dry completely before needle felting, or work while it's still a bit damp? I did mine dry and it seemed fine but I've seen people mention doing it damp for better fiber grab.

Is it necessary to make a wire frame for large toys? I can't figure out how to do it 😭

I have this Coroplast piece and I need to wrap it entirely with felt. One side was easy, but wrap both side, while covering edges without exposed plastic sheet and wrinkle free is something I consent figure it out!
I’m looking for a help or a technic how to make it without showing any sims!
—-
P.S. please, ignore that extra piece glued on the back. It was an experiment with the glue :)

[THIS PROMOTIONAL IMAGE WAS USED ON THEIR SITE BY MISTAKE. PLEASE READ THE EDIT AND TL;DR BELOW FOR CONTEXT BEFORE RESPONDING TO THIS POST.]

I was about to fill up a cart when this promo banner caught my eye, and not for the right reasons. It's AI-generated. The wool is weirdly uniform and the "mohair" curls are unrealistically even. The acorns are the most obvious AI tell, since they're equally fucked up. One is sideways, and another has two butts and one cap.

LivingFelt has scads of listings that feature actual human artists' work, so this feels like a huge let-down. It hurts even more since I've been using the site as my main wool supplier.

It's just so sad, especially when they've given me handwritten thank-you notes on my receipts before. Where did that human touch go?

[EDIT] - I did get a response, which I am posting below:

"Thank you for pointing that out, we all agree. This was one of a few AI generated images from a new offsite graphics designer - using our own creations as models. Marie and Rodney were both unhappy when they saw them and had them removed immediately. This one managed to slip by. We love our artists and have been supporting and showcasing their work since the first day of business! We appreciate the dialogue and for [being] the person who pointed this out!"

TL;DR - An offsite designer made the AI banner and it was mistakenly in rotation on the website. The banner has since been removed.

Felting Fairies do listen!!!

I had always wanted to try needle felting, so I gave it a go with my friends character. I enjoyed it as much as i thought i would, so now im making one for me!

They have a metal wire core, so they are poseable! Clothes made by me. Shoes are real leather!

I'm planning to be Emily from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride for Halloween. One accessory down, now just the rest of the costume to go!

looking for good deals on bulk felt, i keep seeing 50 3 inch pieces for £10 on amazon and i just feel like that isn't a good deal. please recommend places i can bulk buy felt 🫶

Mostly all of my other textile crafts groups are super active on reddit and beyond. I find that felting seems to be more of a lowkey craft community and social media wise, compared to other fiber arts like knitting, cross stitch, and crochet.

I would love to join a group discord if we have one for this subreddit? Or if not, would anyone be interested in joining if I started one?

I really want to connect with more felt makers, and have a space where we can readily seek knowledge and inspiration from one another.
Also to have a place to hopefully inspire more people to get into felt!

Just finished this little handmade sparrow 🐦✨

I wanted to make the feather pattern detailed without losing the soft handmade wool texture, so I built up the markings on the wings and tail in lots of tiny layers. The chest spots and miniature feet were probably the fiddliest parts.

Seeing the finished bird sitting in my hand after spending so long staring at all those little details is always strangely satisfying. 🤎

I’ve made a few one off samples before, but this is my first time using a professional shoe lasts to complete a pair!

I’ve realized that the left shoe is a bit bulkier than the right, so I’m going to go back in and full it a little more in hopes of shrinking/felting the wool some more.

Overall, making felt shoes is a pretty fun and relatively beginner project!

Quite pleased with my first attempt. This was a felting kit. The instructions were easy enough, but I got better at manipulating the felt as I went along. The eyes were particularly hard. Trying to get them the same and level. I think looking back, I would have been better to use plastic eyes. I've now got the bug. What next?

Hello all! I’ve recently started needle felting on embroidery hoops as nursery art for myself and friends/family. I just totally winged it to start with a cheap Amazon kit, but I really like it so I’m wondering if anyone has any advice or suggestions for me?

Specifically I’m wondering the following:
does this type of felting have a specific name?
What kind of roving is best for non 3D felting?
Does it need to be ‘brushed’ out after completing to make it look less poked?

Open to any and all comments, suggestions, feedback, links, info etc!! Thank you ❤️

(I hope fulling is okay here as a type of felting!)

My dad’s building a sauna so I thought I’d make him a sauna hat for his birthday. It’s my first go at fulling/felting and I very dutifully made my swatch and calculated shrinkage and measured everything twice…

But occasionally you can do everything right and the wool just disagrees. I’ve chucked it back in for a second hot wash in the hopes it will felt even a little bit more… Is that likely?

I will just give it to him with a rolled up brim if it doesn’t and he can be a gnome.