Nuno-Felted Scarf

This week's blog was written by Ammi Brooks of Ammi's Art.

I found a beautiful skirt at the thrift store and knew it would make a great scarf. The fabric needs to be a natural fabric like cotton or silk or even rayon. The lighter the better. Heavy fabric takes long to felt and full.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of it before I cut it up. If the skirt is straight or ruffled I can lay it out evenly. In this case the skirt had many different seams. To get it to work I needed to cut it and then sew it together so the ends were alike. I used the seams as a guide for the black wool roving. One side had a finished seam so I didn’t felt that side. The other side I used the black roving to cover the rough edge. 

Below is the full layout on bubble wrap. The close-up shows the black wool roving with silk accents. 

After I covered the seams with the roving I made a few more placements of roving on the fabric. Placement of the roving makes a big difference in how the fabric ruffles. The more space between the wool the more blousy the ruffle is. The closer the wool strips the tighter the gathers. 

After I laid out the wool on one side I covered it with another piece of bubble wrap and turned it over pinching the side with clips so it wouldn’t slide. 

I take the bubble wrap off and place the wool roving over the seams where the wool is on the other side. Next, I wet it down.

I like to use a bar of olive oil soap in a bowl with water to rub gently on the surface. After I have gently rubbed the wool on one side I put on the bubble wrap and turn it over. I continue to rub the wool on the other side pressing harder. Because the wool is on both sides the wool fibers tangle together in the middle and felt faster. At this time some artists will roll up the scarf to press the fibers together. Since there is very little wool coverage I don’t see the need. I rubbed harder and harder and the wool begins to shrink and “full”. 

Here is the final result! This scarf sold the day it came to the store.