What is Craft Felt?
What is craft felt?
Felt is a non-woven textile, traditionally manufactured from wool or other animal hair by a process called "felting", where the wool fibres are attached together using a process of friction and lubrication. The scaly and twisted nature of the wool fibres allows them to attach to one another (rather like tying knots) when they are wetted and rubbed together forming a mat of fibres.
There are many varities of felt, from the very thick and rigid to the thin, colourful, dyed fabrics ideally suited for use in arts and craft hobbies: hence the term "craft felt". The thicker felts are often referred to as "engineering" felt or "hat" felt.
Craft Felt Care Instructions
The felt can be dry cleaned but unfortunately, due to the high wool content of our felt and the fact that the colour dies used conform to EN71 & BS5665 Parts 1 & 2 our felt is not suited to washing. If left in bright sunlit areas colour fading may occur over time.
What is the difference between craft felt & display felt?
Craft felt is suitable for costumes, fashion, soft toys, educational and hobby uses. It is available by the metre, adhesive-backed by the metre, cut into squares and as adhesive-backed, cut squares.
Display felt is flame retardant and so ideal for display and exhibition purposes, such as notice-boards. It is available by the metre and adhesive-backed by the metre.
Is all felt made from wool?
Felt is traditionally made from wool or a blend of wool and other animal hair because the scaly and irregular fibres are ideally suited to the felting process. Many modern felts include some synthetic fibres such as viscose or acrylic, primarily to reduce cost. Indeed, you can now find cheap felts made from 100% synthetic fibre though these can have quite different characteristics and feel to a traditional woollen, craft felt.
Is craft felt manufactured in the UK?
Sadly there are no large-scale manufacturers of traditional wool felt left in the UK. Most craft felt available in the UK is imported either from continental Europe or the States, with traditional wool felt manufacturers still existing in Spain, Germany and Italy.
What is colour-full-felt?
Colour-full-felt craft felt is imported from continental Europe and is a 30:70 wool-synthetic blend, retaining the soft, durable, flexible features of a traditional wool felt whilst remaining affordable. The texture and performance of a wool or wool-blend craft felt are quite different to that of a 100% synthetic product.
Our felt is 1mm thick.
The Craft Felt range is manufactured to comply with the Toy Trade Standards EN71, BS5665 Parts 1 & 2.
The Display Felt range is manufactured to comply with BS476 Part 7 Class 1 & BS476 Part 6 Class 0 to meet flame retardant standards.