Felt: A Gift of Fibers
Chris Allen, Governor Mifflin High School
Amy Bloom, Kutztown University
Overview:
In this lesson, students will investigate different kinds of fabrics, compare felted and nonfelted fabrics, and explore the many ways we use felt. During studio time, students will
practice wet felting techniques and create a sample square of felted fabric. Students will
then embellish the fabric with needle felting techniques. Students will reflect on humans’
reliance on animals throughout the investigation and process, culminating in the design of
a hang-tag for the felt piece that credits the animal that provided the fibers.
Background Information:
Popular as a contemporary art form, felt making also has a long history. Felt is still
created by traditional methods in many locations throughout the world. For example, in
Mongolia, nomadic families make their yurts (portable dwellings) from felt. Felt is also
used in many high tech industrial applications for insulating, cushioning, and
soundproofing purposes. Felt is moldable, warm, absorbent, and soft: a beautiful and
practical fabric for many purposes.
Felting relies on animals that provide the fibers necessary for the craft: sheep,
alpacas, llamas, and angora goats (which actually produce mohair–angora fiber comes
from angora rabbits.) The harvesting of these fibers is a sustainable practice that does not
injure the animal. The animals are shorn (given a “haircut”) and continue to provide fiber
as their coats grow again. The fibers of the wool have a scaled surface that, through the
application of heat, pressure, agitation, and moisture become linked and enmeshed
together to form a matted, dense fabric: felt. While the wool sweater accidentally washed
in hot water shrinks in size, the individual fibers do not actually shrink, but become more
densely packed. This packing creates a thickened fabric that can be cut without fraying.
Grade level: 9-12
Time: 2 45-minute periods of research and or 6 45-minute periods to create a felt sample
and then embellish it.
Key Concepts:

Felt is widely used in art making, interior design, medicine, and industry.

Fabric fibers have different qualities, and they come from varied natural and manmade sources.

Animal fibers are necessary for felting.
Essential Questions:

How is felt used in art making, interior design, medicine, and industry?

Where do various fibers come from, and in what ways do the qualities of fibers
vary?

Why are animal fibers necessary for felting?
Objectives:
Students will:

Delineate the ways that felt is used in art making, interior design, medicine, and
industry.

Research the qualities of various fibers, and where the fibers come from.

Create a felted fabric, observing how animal fibers can be manipulated to become
felt.

Design a hang tag for the felt that references the animal that provided the fibers.
Vocabulary: batt, roving, carding, yurt, ger.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
Global Studies or Social Studies:
Students may investigate the culture of felting in Mongolia, and the ways that felt is still
created and used for important aspects of life among the nomadic people that live there.
Students can compare contemporary felting techniques, including the industrial
preparation of felt, to these traditional techniques.
Science:
Students may study fibers through burn tests; an exciting way to determine the content of
unlabeled fabrics. Students may investigate methods of animal husbandry to discover
how are animals bred, raised, and cared for.
National Standards for Visual Arts Education:
Content standard #1: Understanding and applying media, techniques and processes.
Content standard #4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Pennsylvania Academic Standards in the Arts and Humanities:
9.1.12.F: Analyze works of arts influenced by experiences or historical and cultural
events through production, performance or exhibition.
9.1.12.J: Analyze and evaluate the use of traditional and contemporary technologies for
producing, performing and exhibiting works in the arts or the works of others.
9.2.12.A: Explain the historical, cultural and social context of an individual work in the
arts.
9.2.12.D: Analyze a work of art from its historical and cultural perspective.
9.2.12.I: Identify, explain and analyze philosophical beliefs as they relate to works in the
arts
9.2.12.K: Identify, explain and analyze traditions as they relate to works in the arts.
Resources:
The Importance of Textiles: A list of textiles used in industry, medicine, the arts, and
science: http://www.textilefabric.com/site/main/articles.php?id=26
The Sheep to Shawl Competition at The Pennsylvania Farm Show:
This short (3 minute) video from 2010 (and there are many others like it on YouTube)
highlights the annual competition at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, during which teams
compete by shearing a sheep, carding the fiber, spinning the wool into yarn, and weaving
a shawl, all within several hours’ time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfMFfSxoA1w
The Fashioning Felt show at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum The show is covered here by
Martha Stewart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZhk1YdI4qg
The following artists work in felt:
Students may investigate their websites for information and inspiration.
Janice Arnold practices traditional Mongolian felt making, creating installations such as
her 2009 Palace Yurt at the Cooper-Hewitt Fashioning Felt exhibit. She also
designs and creates felt for contemporary interiors: http://www.jafelt.com/
Janice Arnold’s 2009 Palace Yurt installation can be viewed here:
http://www.jafelt.com/palaceyurt.html
Jori Johnson creates fashions from felt that reference contemporary as well as traditional
garment designs: http://www.joirae.com/
Claudy Jongstra creates large felt wall coverings, wrapping walls with designed felt that
features subtle color and texture: http://www.claudyjongstra.com/art
Andrea Zittel designs experimental living ideas such as interior capsule rooms, small
houses, carpets, individualized uniforms. See her clothes and carpets made from
felt here: http://www.zittel.org/
The Story of the Weeping Camel: You may want to share portions of this 2003
docudrama (available free for viewing on Internet Archive) with students. The film
provides a portrait of a Mongolian family living and working in a felted yurt (or ger.) The
family cares for (and depends on) their camels, goats, and sheep, and the interior of the
yurt is filled with embroidered and embellished textiles. The film highlights the intense
connection between the family and their livestock, as the drama focuses on trying to save
a baby camel.
Materials:

Sketchbooks

Fabric samples: woven, knitted, and felted fabric squares in various fabrics and
fibers, including several wool fabrics, silk, rayon, acrylic (craft) felt, cotton, wool,
cashmere, nylon, bamboo, linen, hemp, etc. A thrift shop is a good source of
garments made from different fibers; these can be cut into squares and made into
sample packs for the students.

Wool, alpaca, llama, or mohair roving–roving is the long, soft hank of animal
fibers that may be used to make felt. The fibers are usually gently pulled apart
before felting.

Wool, alpaca, llama or mohair batts–Batts are cleaned and carded sheets of
wool that may be easier for beginners to work with than the roving.

Needle tools–these are barbed tools use for needle felting.

Felting pads provide a padded surface that acts as a base for needle felting; the
soft thick surface cushions the jabbing motion used with the needle tool.

Carders look similar to dog grooming brushes; they are used to stroke and rake
the wool fibers into alignment for use in spinning or felting.

Soap Dawn dish soap or mild shampoo work well.

Hot water

Pitchers or containers for pouring hot water

Pieces of nylon netting for holding the wool in place while spreading the soap
and water over the surface.

Towels for rolling the felt and for absorbing water.

Bubble wrap or blue solar pool cover for rolling the felt. The pool cover is
sturdy and reusable.

Optional: shallow plastic trays to capture water.
Research: Begin by asking students what they know about felt. Have students work in
groups to examine the fabric squares. Have students:

sketch the fabrics in their books, and note the qualities of each fabric.

test which ones are absorbent (dip in water), soft, stretchy, warm, etc., and
determine how each fabric might be used.

separate the fabrics according to animal fibers (wool, alpaca, angora, mohair,
cashmere, silk) and non-animal fibers.

separate the fabrics according to natural (animal fibers as well as cotton, linen,
hemp, bamboo) and man-made fibers.

examine the fabrics to determine how they are made: woven, knitted, felted, or
fused.

Finally, have students sketch what they are wearing, and attempt to determine
what fibers they are wearing.
Within small groups, in the computer lab or by researching on cell phones, have students
investigate the following topics and take notes in their sketchbooks:

How is felt made by traditional methods? By industrial methods?

What animals provide felting fibers? Where do they live?

What parts of the world are known for their felting traditions?

What is a yurt, and how is it made?

How is felt used?

Traditional wool felt relies on animals to provide the fiber. List all the other ways
that we are connected with animals: what do they provide for us in terms of food,
products, service, and companionship? What do humans provide for animals?
Have students investigate the artist’s websites listed. They can examine portions of the
film The Story of the Weeping Camel and view a sheep being sheared in the Sheep to
Shawl video. When students are finished investigating all of these, have them create a
summative sketch of what they have learned, in some form of visual depiction: By
mapping, a visual graph, a graphic novel format, or on a grid, have students depict their
connections to animals (including pets, food sources, etc.), and their connections to
fabrics, felt, and other textiles.
Production: (Note: While the techniques they show vary, the following videos are
helpful in seeing how felting works.)

Felting using a bamboo mat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNMs2LSXq70

Felting with alpaca wool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWgtiM8q0kY
Arrange the wool: Lay a sheet of bubble wrap or pool cover, about 12-inches wide by
20 -inches long, bubble side up on a work surface. (Note: the area will get very wet.)
Gently separate the layers of the batt, or the fibers of the roving. Tear the batt into 8-inch
squares; or tear 8-inch lengths of roving. If working with roving, lay very thin lengths of
roving, slightly overlapping, to fill in an 8-inch square shape on the wrap. Whether using
a batt or roving, add a second layer at a 90 degree angle to the first. Repeat this with two
more layers of wool, alternating the direction of the fibers with each layer.
Add soap and water: Sprinkle the surface of the wool with soap, and then with very hot
water. The amounts to use will become more obvious with some practice: not too much
and not too little soap and water. Lay the nylon netting on top of the wet wool. Gently pat
the surface, and spread the soap and water without rearranging or dislodging the wool, so
that the soap and water are absorbed by and spread throughout the surface. Remove the
netting.
Roll the wet wool: Roll the bubble wrap or pool cover from one end and roll the entire
bundle with the wet wool inside. Fasten the wrap with a tied elastic hairband, and roll the
bundle back and forth under the forearms to a count of fifty, counting forward as one and
back as 2, etc. Unroll and re-roll the felt: turn the wool 90 degrees so that it will roll in a
different direction, and roll again to a count of fifty. Repeat two more times. When the
wool sticks together securely in fabric form, it can be peeled from the bubble wrap or
pool cover and rolled in the towel for two or more rolling sessions. This absorbs some of
the moisture and continues the felting process.
Rinse: When the felt is very securely formed, it can be rinsed in warm water. Rinse well
to remove all soap; the felt fabric will continue to shrink in size and become thicker.
Absorb water by rolling and patting with dry towels or spin the piece in a salad spinner.
Let dry completely. When dry, the felt can be embellished with colored roving applied by
the needle felting technique. Lay the felt on the wool pad. Take a small wisp of colored
roving and arrange it on the surface of the felt. Using a needle tool, poke through the
roving and the felt to interlock the fibers. The more you poke the fibers with the tool, the
more securely they will attach to the backing felt. (Note: needle tools are sharp, and it is
easy to poke yourself during over-enthusiastic needle felting.)
Reflection: Students should create a designed label (a hang tag) for their felt piece. Have
students consider the animal that the fibers came from, and then craft a statement
expressing that connection in some way: from a literal, metaphorical, spiritual, or other
standpoint of the students’ choice. For example, a card can be designed in the shape of a
sheep, with an artist’s statement about the felt and the animal that provided the fibers.
Allow the students to design a display featuring their projects, with information about
felting and the felting process.
Assessment: By examining the notes, sketches, and especially the summative sketch in
the student’s sketchbook, and by examining the studio felt production and tag, it should
be evident that the student:

Delineated the ways that felt is used in art making, interior design, medicine, and
industry.

Understands the qualities of various fibers, and where the fibers come from.

Created a felted fabric, demonstrating how animal fibers are manipulated to
become felt.

Communicates understanding of his or her interdependence with animals.