Fall is officially here! It’s cool and blustery, and we’ve got cozy fabrics on our minds. What better way to welcome in the lovely changing leaves and chilly weather than with some beautiful recycled felt? Feltwerker, a Chicago fiber artist, offers beautiful recycled wool felt scraps that you can incorporate into your Fall and winter projects!

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 ”Fashioning Felt presents an extraordinary range of felt. From two-dimensional carpets to three-dimensional environments, each work reveals the virtuosity of both the material and the designers. The exhibition and book focus on felt that has been produced by traditional hand- or machine-felting processes; they exclude non-woven felt and techniques, in order to underscore the essential elements of feltmaking — wool fiber, agitation, moisture, and pressure.”

I fell for this Felt Ovoid Jacket and Empire Pant look. Isn’t this draped felt suit creative? 

Keep reading for more inspiration:

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I am inspired by this creative way to upcycle felt with these little tabletop cup cozies. Their goals for showcasing craft designs are admirable and charming:

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Ahem. My point, now that I’ve gotten around to it, is that I actually do craft with new wool, but I need to know where that wool has come from so that I can assure myself that the sheep were humanely raised as the happy, frolicsome beasts they’re meant to be (I assume–never having raised sheep myself, they could be fierce and blood-thirsty predators, for all I really know).

And one of the awesomest kinds of wool to craft with, especially if you’re not a spinner or a knitter, is wool roving (just don’t use superwash!). You can felt wet-felt wool roving to make your own felt, or you can welt-felt it around a form. A good project for a newbie is this one, in which we’re going to wet-felt some roving around a river rock. It will be hefty but soft, good for anything from a paperweight to a plaything:

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In my family, which includes two people who are preschoolers and two people who aren’t, one of our favorite family art activities is to make more creations for our little girls’ felt board. Felt is easy to cut, holds its shape well and doesn’t ravel, can be drawn on with permanent markers and glued with hot glue, and, if you work with wool felt or an acrylic felt made from recycled plastic bottles, it’s an eco-friendly craft material, as well.

Simple fun.

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Sewing Green (STC Craft | Melanie Falick Books) will be released March, 2009.

Here’s a sneak preview and a little bit more about the author.

White is not new to the craft scene.  Her first book, Warm Fuzzies — 30 Sweet Felted Projects was published in 2007.  Betz has a passion for wool felting and walks us step-by-step (patterns included in the back of book) on how to transform second-hand sweaters into some unique craft items.  Projects include a bonbon journal, messenger bag, scarves, a hand-puppet, and some delicious felted cupcake pin cushions.

White’s newest book, Sewing Green — 25 Projects Made With Repurposed & Organic Materials , is all about taking an existing item (think cashmere sweater found in a thrift-shop, or a dress shirt that’s been hanging in the back of a closet forever) and turning it into something ‘new’ and functional.  White will show us twenty-five projects that all start with re-purposed materials.  Cashmere sweaters are deconstructed, then re-constructed to become a warm and cozy blanket.  Men’s dress shirts are transformed into an apron AND a wallet.

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We are all guilty of recycling plastic bottles and thinking we have done our part.  In reality recycling is worthless if we don’t buy products made from recycled materials.  One of my favorite recycled craft supplies is Eco-fi Felt from Kunin Group that I used to make a Domo-Kun plush doll for my son.

Eco-fi Felt (formerly known as Eco-spun) is a polyester felt made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.  It takes 10 plastic bottles to make 1 pound of Eco-fi fiber.  As a frame of reference it takes 17 bottles to make enough fiber for a sweatshirt.  When you buy and use Eco-fi Felt you can feel relieved that you kept a bunch of plastic bottles out of the landfill and minimized depletion of natural resources.

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I started writing the Fabulous Fabrics series here in March, and I thought the six month mark would be a good time for a retrospective.

What I’ve liked best about doing this series is seeing the combination of creativity and passion that goes into what these fabric designers and manufacturers do.  If someone’s making organic fabric, it’s because they believe in it.  It’s not just because a market analysis told them they would make some money.  (In fact, I sometimes worry if they’re even making enough to live on, given the extra work they’re doing to source and use eco-friendly materials and fair trade practices.)  These folks really want to make a difference.

So here are the fabrics and shops I’ve covered so far in the Fabulous Fabrics series here on Crafting A Green World.  At one point I was afraid I would run out, but more and more come to my attention all the time.  So here’s the past, and I’ll see you next Tuesday to start in on the next six months!

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EcoSpun felt is made from post-consumer recycled PET plastic bottles. It’s sold in a 72″ width for $5.99 a yard with a minimum order of one yard.

PET, in case you were wondering, is polyethylene terephthalate. PET is the plastic used to make #1 bottles.

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Today, felt is a cheap material that comes in many colors. Mostly used for kids crafts and plushes, not all craft felt found in big box craft stores are 100% wool. Most are made of some synthetic fiber blend such as acrylic or polyester.

So what to do when you want to use felt in your projects and not use fiber made from plastic? There are several options to green your craft project and feel good about your materials:

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At the risk of being the antagonist, telling you what not to do with them seems reasonable, albeit not crafty. At least I get to make a bullet list…

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Debbie told us:

Another way to "go green" with knitting is to recycle yarn. I've been going to the thrift stores and buying wool sweaters to unravel for use in making hats and other warm clothing for charity. It does take some time to do, but it is strangely satisfying to unravel an entire sweater. There's a nice tutorial on how to do this at Neauveau Fiber Arts (among several other sites).

What a great tip - using existing resources to make something new. Plus, that link really does give a step by step! Then Sandra told us:

Recycle wool sweaters - I've done this for years…buy wool sweaters at thrift stores and, deliberately, felt them in the washer/dryer. I use the felted material to make laptop computer covers/holders, tea cozies, tea/hot pads and loads of other useful items.

There are some instructions on how to felt here, but the basic idea is that you put 100% wool sweaters into hot soapy water in the washing machine & repeat until you've got the texture you're looking for. The only thing we don't like about this is the hot water usage…it uses a lot more energy than cold water. Of course, hot water is necessary for felting, so if you're going to do it, make sure to adjust the water level appropriately and do multiple sweaters at once for efficiency.

See V's blog for the "Recycled Sweater Blanket Project" and even more detailed instructions on how to felt. She recommends:

Felt the sweaters in the washing machine by placing them in zippered pillow cases (i put 2-3 sweaters in each case) and washing them in hot water on high agitation for 4-8 minutes. Check the progress of the felting after 4 minutes and pull them out when they’re done. Don’t let them go through the spin cycle, or they’ll get all creased. I hosed them down in the shower and then chucked them in the dryer on high to get them nice and fluffy.

Great tips, ladies! Old wool sweaters have a second chance to live an extra long life.

Rebecca says: I would have never come up with these tips were it not for our readers. Please share your tips with us, and you just might see it on an upcoming Tip o' the Day!

Photo credit: E Journeys' Flickr