Felt is a form of fabric that is used for making craft. Sheets of craft felt can be cut, stitched, glued, or painted to create craft projects and costumes. Craft felt is suitable for children of all ages and is ideal for making puppets and collage. It is available in single sheets or great value multipacks, and in a wide range of colours.

Another type of craft felt that is used in making a wide range of attractive crafts and especially used in toy and bear making is Foss Felt. Foss felt is 100% polyester and is available in five types:

• Classic craft felt: It is a smooth felt.
• Glitter craft felt: It is similar to classic felt, but has glitter pieces woven through it.
• Plush craft felt: It has a long nap and is used for toy making.
• Shaggy craft felt: It has the longest nap and is ideal for teddy bears.
• Adhesive backed craft felt: This type of felt is adhesive backed ready for you to cut out the shapes you want or sold in number and letter shapes.

Yet another type of craft felt is Wonder Felt. Wonder Felt is an economical and multi-purpose fabric that is used for many projects.  Some common uses are sound proofing, wadding underlay, protecting furniture when moving, backing for fabric art wall hangings, home decorating, wadding in quilts and back in chair pads. Wonder felt also makes a perfect storage box liner to protect delicate items.

One way to embellish craft felts is by using the craft of Needle Felting. Needle felting is the process of interlocking wool fibres. The barbs of the felting needle catch the fibre of the wool and cause it to tangle. And, by undertaking an up and down stabbing motion, the fibres tangle, resulting in fine designs. This process does not use any water, hence the name dry felting. Using this process you can create flat pieces or three dimensional pieces.

Felting needles are not flat and smooth like knitting or sewing needles and thus felting a craft may be practiced by older children with adult supervision. However, just like a sewing machine, felting needles can break and can be easily replaced as individual needles or in the multi-needle tools.

For more information on craft felt, wet felting, and dry felting, log on to www. craft4less.com.au.

Craft Felt: Types and their Uses