Felted Wool?

roselln2

Why is this a bad thing? I mean, aside from any shrinking. My husband threw one of our wool covers in the wash and then dryer. Sigh... It didn't shrink much at all and seems to still be doing its job (I handwashed it and lanolized it to try to save it). Quite honestly, I can't tell which one it was of the three that we have, so the damage couldn't be that bad.

Dr.Loretta

I have washed and dried wool once and it didn't felt. Sometimes it takes more than one cycle to see full felting.

Felting can make it not at all able to stretch, which makes it incredibly difficult to put on a child.

roselln2

Ah, very true, Dr.L. But it doesn't necessarily affect its ability to absorb and hold moisture in, or does it? I would think a touch of felting could be a good thing because it could make a closer knit that could help prevent any moisture from getting out. Am I wrong?

flyer23

roselln2:

Ah, very true, Dr.L. But it doesn't necessarily affect its ability to absorb and hold moisture in, or does it? I would think a touch of felting could be a good thing because it could make a closer knit that could help prevent any moisture from getting out. Am I wrong?

No, you're not wrong. In fact, I usually lightly felt sweaters before I sew them into covers, for that very reason.

But it CAN change the sizing. Sometimes dramatically. (Especially if you use hot water.) Hence why I felt before I sew. I've also overfelted before, and then even though the covers were the right size, they were so stiff and not-stretchy that they were hard to get on over DS's diapers -- think about the difference between putting on a pair of jeans vs. putting on a pair of sweatpants.

MsCatra

Thanks for this topic, as I was wondering how felted wool affected the cover.  I have a really cute pattern for a felted wool wrap that I'm hoping I can bribe the extremely talented mom of a good friend of mine to make!

Dr.Loretta

Yes, a touch of felting is perfectly fine. Full, "I can't stretch this bad boy at all" felting is what's bad.

lynn97

Great thread, guys! I, too, had been wondering about this as I'm getting ready to upcycle a couple sweaters. I pre-felted them but hopefully they'll still be good.