• Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Blog
  • Prep-Ahead Meals Cookbooks
  • Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Gardening
  • Kid’s Activities
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Budgeting Tips
↑

Premeditated Leftovers™

Prep-Ahead Meals, Cooking Tips, and Frugal Living

  • Cookbooks
    • Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches
    • Prep-Ahead Meals From Scratch
  • Recipe Index
  • Members Area
    • Member Login
    • Join Us
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Garden
  • DIY
  • Kids
  • Budget

You are here: Home / Naturally Frugal Living / How To Make Felted Wool from Old Sweaters

How To Make Felted Wool from Old Sweaters

February 28, 2015 by Emily 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.
12656 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

How to Easily Make Felted Wool from Old Sweaters - This is a simple tutorial for felting wool sweaters in the washing machine to use in sewing and DIY projects.

Felting is a great way to repurpose old or damaged wool sweaters. Felted wool is such a versatile fabric to work with because it can be used for anything from fun crafts to clothing items. The felting process makes the wool fibers super dense which also allows you to cut it without having to worry about fraying. Instead you are left with clean lines much like you would see when cutting store bought felt. Often times no sewing is even necessary, or pieces can be adhered to each other with glue. Children or the most novice of sewers can especially appreciate that quality of felted wool. Yet another reason why it is so easy to work with!

Have I sparked your curiosity yet? Check out these other uses for felted wool:

  • Doll clothes
  • Felt board accessories
  • Cloth diaper covers
  • Purses or bags
  • Waldorf inspired crafts
  • Hats, gloves, or ear warmers
  • Decorative flowers
  • Potholders
  • Placemats
  • Hair bows
  • Holiday ornaments
  • Hot drink cozies

How to Felted Wool from Old Sweaters

To felt wool, it’s important to use 100% wool. You can take your chances with wool combinations, but I’ve never found the end result to turn out as well as just plain wool. Acrylic or cotton won’t react the same way to the felting process, so check clothing tags when in doubt. I can usually find wool sweaters in the men’s or women’s section of thrift stores for just a couple bucks. Men’s sizes will yield a lot of fabric too, so you can always count on getting a lot of projects out of one sweater.

Use 100% wool sweaters for felting

Felting wool sweaters at home is an inexpensive and easy process. You only need a few items to make felted wool.

Items Needed:

  • Wool sweaters
  • Your home washer and dryer
  • Detergent
  • Mesh delicates dryer bag

Directions:

Begin by placing each sweater into its own delicates bag and secure it closed. You want it to have as much space to agitate, so the larger the delicates bag the better. You can certainly felt without the bag, but the amount of wool that will slough off your sweaters is hard on your washer. So, this step is just to help maintain your appliances.

Use a mesh bag when felting wool sweaters in the washing machine

Next, add your detergent of choice to your washing machine. You’ll want to remove any funky smells prior to use.

Then, using a normal wash setting, adjust your wash temperature to HOT and set your water level so that the sweaters are completely submerged. Do not use too little or too much water. The agitation is a key player in the felting process.

Washer settings for felting wool sweaters

Once your wash cycle is complete you can remove the sweaters from the delicates bags and place them in your dryer on high heat. This is where you’ll see all the tiny wool pieces that could have ended up in your washer. Yikes!

This is why you should always use a mesh bag to felt wool sweaters

Run the sweaters in your dryer until they are completely dry. Check your lint trap periodically to clean out any more stray wool pieces.

Once you have completed the washing and drying steps you will notice that your sweaters have shrunk quite a bit. Check the fiber and stitching of your sweaters; it should look and feel tighter and dense. If this is the case, then your felting is complete! If this is not the case, run the sweaters through the process a second time.

Store your sweaters by laying them flat until you’re ready to use them. This will help prevent any wrinkling or indentations in the fabric.

felted wool projects

More Ways to Repurpose Old Sweaters

Upcycled Sweater Vase

DIY Sweater Ear Warmer

10 Ways to Reuse Old Sweaters

12656 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

Comments

  1. Suraiya says

    January 16, 2022 at 3:33 pm

    Thanks for sharing the info ! Shall try soon!

    Reply
  2. Adela says

    January 7, 2018 at 10:49 pm

    I just purchased 4 yards of wool at a yardage stir it was marked as 100% wool does it need to be washed and dried?

    Reply
  3. Alma says

    January 3, 2018 at 9:39 pm

    I have the same question. I no longer have a top load.
    Washer

    Reply
  4. Aleah says

    September 17, 2017 at 1:56 pm

    Do you need a top loading washing machine? I’ve always heard you have to do it in one of those for better agitation purposes, but these days almost everyone has front loading machines…

    Reply
  5. sherry says

    March 1, 2017 at 8:32 pm

    Good info! Q: I know what I’ve read, but could 85% wool and 15% other washed twice produce felt?

    Reply
  6. jan evans says

    February 23, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    same question as jilly

    Reply
    • Sophia says

      February 9, 2019 at 9:11 pm

      I’ve done it without a dryer and it felted well. You might have to run it through the washer more than once though.

      Reply
  7. jilly says

    February 18, 2016 at 11:56 am

    I don’t have a dryer, is this a necessary part of the process ?

    Thanks, Jilly.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches by Alea Milham

Search

Prep-Ahead Meals from Scratch Where to Buy

Recent Articles:

How to Make Homemade Air Freshener Spray

How to Make Homemade Air Freshener Spray

Tips for cleaning lunch boxes, snack gear, and back packs

End of School Year Cleaning Checklist

Easy Summer Cleaning Tips

Easy Summer Cleaning Tips

BROWSE:

  • Blog
  • Cookbooks
  • Recipe Index
  • Members Area

ABOUT:

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure

Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

Copyright ©2022, Premeditated Leftovers™. All Rights Reserved.
Design by Pixel Me Designs
12656 shares