I work with felt a lot, for my garlands, cushions, decorations, seasonal products, properly about 80% of what I make has some felt on it somewhere. And while I love the feel of 100% wool felt, it is just not always a practical choice depending on the sewing project.
I have made a few projects with 100% wool felt, it is very soft to work with, and lovely quality. But with that quality comes the price tag, so I only buy 100% wool felt for very special projects or gifts.
The main type of felt that I use is a wool blend of 30% wool, 70% synthetic. You still get a very soft feeling felt, but with a reasonable price tag. I use this type of felt for all my garlands as it cuts really well in my sizzix machine and you can buy it in a whole rainbow of colours and shades.
Then you have polyester felt, often considers the cheapest and lowest quality type of felt, but I actually thinkit gets too bad a rep sometimes. It is true you can go to craft shops and pick up some polyester felt for €0,40 a sheet, it is thin, will fuzz up quickly and stretch out of shape, but you can also buy better quality polyester felt too.
For instance I buy my polyester felt from Jan Sikkes and it is lovely and thick, not as soft as wool blend felt but the real winner for me is that it washes great! No shrinkage, no wrinkles, no fuzz etc. I use this polyester felt on all my fleece cushion covers.
So those are the main types of felt, which one you use really depends on the project and how much you want to spend!
Coming up later this week, how to cut delicate shapes out from felt easily.
[…] Different types of felt and when to use them […]