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Close-up of felted wool in red, orange and cream beside the warp of a loom

Felting

Fabric without the Loom

Most textile processes begin with yarn. Felting begins with fibre.

By combining wool fibres with moisture, friction or specialised needles, it is possible to create fabric, art form and even sculpture. The process is tactile and surprisingly versatile.

From lightweight textiles and garments to sculptural forms and surface embellishments, felting opens up a different way of thinking about fibre and material.

THREE APPROACHES TO FELTING

  • Wet Felting

    One of the oldest textile-making techniques, wet felting uses moisture, soap and friction to encourage wool fibres to interlock and form a cohesive fabric.

    The process can be used to create flat textiles, seamless bags, vases, wall pieces and three-dimensional forms too. The resulting fabric can be dense and structural or soft and flowing depending on the techniques used.

    Wet-felted pieces: a vase, a drawstring bag, a bag and a leaf-shaped wall piece

  • Needle Felting

    Needle felting uses specially profiled needles to repeatedly entangle fibres and gradually build form.
    From small decorative objects and figurative work to highly detailed sculptures, needle felting allows fibre to be shaped much like clay. The technique is widely used for artistic and decorative applications like surface embellishments.

    Hands needle felting a small wool dog on a foam block

  • Nuno Felting

    Developed by fibre artist Polly Stirling in the early 1990s, nuno felting combines wool fibres with lightweight fabrics, most commonly silk.
    The fibres migrate through the fabric during the felting process, creating textiles that are lightweight, flexible and richly textured. Nuno felting is particularly popular for garments, scarves, stoles and contemporary textile art.

    A white nuno-felted shawl with colourful leaf shapes on a dress form

EXPLORING FELT AT THE STUDIO

Hands shaping a needle-felted dog with a felting tool

Felting forms an important part of the studio’s engagement with fibre.
The studio works across wet felting, needle felting and nuno felting through workshops, design explorations, internships and student projects. Recent work has included sculptural forms, wearable textiles, lamp shades, jewellery, Rugs and material investigation studies.

Felting is often explored alongside spinning, weaving and dyeing, creating opportunities to understand fibre through multiple processes rather than a single technique.

RELATED RESOURCES

Needle Felting Projects

  • A young weaver at a loom
  • Hands weaving on a floor loom
  • A handwoven blanket on autumn leaves
  • Striped handwoven textiles hanging outdoors

Nuno Felting Projects

  • A young weaver at a loom
  • Hands weaving on a floor loom
  • A handwoven blanket on autumn leaves
  • Striped handwoven textiles hanging outdoors
  • Laying wool fibres onto silk for nuno felting

    Nuno Felting

    • 1 day
    • 5,900
    • Shuttles & Needles studio, Chennai
    View Details
    • Limited batch size to allow focused engagement
    • All materials are provided

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