Wet Felting - making felt cutouts

FELT CUT-OUT DESIGNS

Wet felting cut-out designs are fun to create. You need very little supplies and you can design your own. With just a little effort, you can make simple to very intricate projects.

What can you do with felt cut-out designs? You can make really neat wall hangings. You could make a quilt by piecing blocks together. Table runners, placemats, or anything else you can think of can be made with this flat wet felting technique.

The materials needed for this project are few and listed below.

• Raw carded animal fiber in two different colors (amount depends on the size of your project)

• Liquid dish soap

• Bumpy surfuce to full on (washboard, bubble wrap, etc)

• Hot water

• A design

• Freezer paper

• X-acto knife

• Scissors

DESIGNS

Can't thin of a design? Any coloring book will give you simple shapes to use. Trace your favorite animal and use it in your design. Stencils work, too. What about those designs you carve into pumpkins for halloween? Wouldn't they be cool?

Pick out several items, like leaves, flowers, diamonds, etc. and cut-out the shape on a piece of paper. Put the papers on your felt and move them around until you like what you see. Now you have made a design that is unique.

Below is a photo of a felt cutout that we designed.

You will need three layers of raw fiber. You sandwich one color between another color. It's best to have contrasting colors. That way your design will stand out better.

You wet felt and full the layers of fiber until you have a nice thick felt.

THE DESIGN

Once the felt is dry, you need to transfer the design to the felt. Then you carefully cut the design out of the top layer of felt.

FINISHING

Once the design is in your felt, you can make it into a wall hanging by sewing a tab onto it to hang it by. You can make several squares, sew them together, add a backing and make a baby quilt. Make it rectangle, add some edging and you have a placemat.

Our "Mastering Wet Felting: Cutouts and Inlays" DVD will teach you the cutout technique along with learning how to make felt inlays.

Wet felting cut-out designs are fun because you can make them uniquely you. You can match your home decor or make a wall hanging for each holiday. Whatever you do, we hope you enjoy using this technique.

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