Hand-dyed merino on cotton voile, 1998

Nuno Felting

A close relative to wet felting, nuno-felting is made by incorporating woven fabric into the felt. The fabric I use most is fine woven cotton or silk, although other fabrics can be used. The main criteria are: is the fabric slippery, and is the wool sufficiently fine to travel right through the fabric?

• Pick fabrics by the 'puff test': hold the fibre up to your lips and puff a gentle breath through it. If it goes through easily, the fabric will most likely take the wool. Very slippery fabrics, particularly synthetics, are less likely to work.
• Fabric is cut to the size of the final item plus shrinkage - I usually allow 30-50% depending on fibre and fabric (fine fibre shrinks more). Sampling is essential.
• Fibre is laid onto the surface of the fabric and wrapped to the other side on all edges (see curved edges on the photo)
• Surface designs, fibres and yarn can be added at this stage as decoration
• Gaps in the surface will end up as ruched open areas 
• The fibre can be lightly needle felted onto the fabric to hold it in place (fabric allowing)
• It's best to make some kind of cover to protect the design while wetting out (see Sampling Slideshow)
• Wet process, fulling and finishing proceed as for plain felt.