Needle Felted Celebrities By Kay Petal

Knitted woollen garments which shrink in a hot machine wash can be said to have felted but, more accurately, they have been "fulled". Felting differs from fulling in the sense that fulling is done to fabric whereas felting is done to fibres that are not in fabric form. Modern fulling is an example of how the fibres bond together when combined with the movement of the washing machine, the heat of the water, and the addition of soap.
Cheaper felt is usually artificial. Artificial felt, if made using the wet method, has a minimum of 30% of wool fibres combined with other artificial fibres. This is the minimum required to hold a fabric together with the fibres alone. It would be difficult to achieve a stable fabric by hand at this ratio. All other wholly artificial felts are actually needle-felts. Loden is a type of felt originally worn in the Alpine regions, which has gained worldwide acceptance as a textile for fine and durable clothing. An alternative way of creating felt is to have a steam roller go over the unwoven fabrics in a shallow pool of water with the cloths rotating as the steam roller goes over it. This method is widely used in small towns in India where mass manufacturing of clothing is done.