Working with felt

One of the questions I'm most often asked is if it's difficult to embroider on felt. Actually, wool felt is my first choice for 99% of all embroidery I do. I love wool felt. Felt has no raw edges and does not unravel. I don't usually embroider wool using a hoop, as the wool is sturdy enough not to. I also draw my designs right on the felt with a disappearing ink marker. After stitching I use a wet paper towel or washcloth and blot out the marker. Then let air dry.

If you are putting your finished project on an item that will be washed please prewash your wool felt. I've never washed 100% wool, but I'm sure it will shrink quite a bit. I have washed wool-blend felt by soaking it in warm water, squeezing out the excess, and drying it in a dryer. The more wool in the blend the more shrinkage will occur.

Are you allergic to wool? So is Alice over at futuregirl.com. She only uses acrylic felt. For a great tutorial on hand sewing felt (wool, blend, acrylic, etc.) stop over and visit Alice.

There is no shortage of felt embroidery projects at Flickr. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. 'Strawberry Sundae' wall art, 2. Holiday wool felt ornament, 3. Embroidered Daisy Pouch, 4. Embroidery Envelope, 5. owl for paperbag swag swap, 6. Wooly Reindeer, 7. pincushion_01_o, 8. Daisy Detail, 9. swap2, 10. Scribble Pin Tuffet, 11. Piney Slim, 12. Intuition, 1997, 13. Islands of Green - another view two, 14. Freeform Embroidery on Felted Cloche View 1, 15. hand embroidered, 16. happyrat