I’m an art education student and tried out wool felting in a recent conference. I thought it would be a really fun project to bring into the classroom, but the cost of wool (and certain allergies) can potentially limit that. I decided to give felting a try using reclaimed acrylic yarn. I picked up a large bundle of latchhook project yarn to give myself a lovely range of colors… I’m honestly happy with the results so far! I can’t wait to share this inexpensive and repurposing project with other students!
@@stephaniewilcox3497 that is excellent news. I love the fact that acrylic fibres needle felt just as well as wool and can then be accessed by more people :)
You are very welcome! Wool supply shops are now really upping their game on supplying fibres that can be used instead of wool so bamboo and nylon fibres would be great for you! 😃
13:35 here in the USA, acrylic is the most common yarn you find and then cotton is often available for a little more money. But I’ve been crocheting for nearly 15 years and I’ve never seen actual wool (which here is only used to describe the fibers from a sheep) or alpaca wool (the fur from an alpaca) sold in stores. You can buy them online but I’ve never seen them in stores.
That’s interesting to know - in the Uk we often use the term wool to describe yarn in general but we also have quite a lot of yarn made from sheep’s wool etc.
@@KoolKookyKreatures here I have never seen yarn, in person, out of sheep’s wool. ….not in any store I’ve been in,… acrylic and cotton seem to be the main go-tos here with acrylic coming in much more fun colors and a larger quantity for a significantly lesser price.
@@KoolKookyKreatures I went to a festival where someone was carding and spinning fibers into yarn and I was fascinated by it. I was at dollar tree one day and noticed the dog brushes looked a lot like her carding brushes. I went home and brushed out my acrylic yarn just to see if I could and have since added texture to my crocheted items by doing it. My intention was to try and learn to spin yarn by spinning the roving I made from carding the yarn, bc that was significantly cheaper than buying roving. I haven’t ever learned to spin yet bc most of my crafting is done on a school bus while I’m waiting for children and I can’t take a spinning wheel on a school bus but this is a small enough project I could take on a school bus. A random video popped up of someone needle felting and I’ve seen several before but this it occurred to me to search and see if I could do it with acrylic yarn and you answered my question! Thanks!!
Yes the dog brushes work really well! I also want to learn spinning this year. I have bought myself a drop spindle - just need to find the time to have a go! :). Have fun! :) ❤️
I upcycle sweaters into mittens and always have scraps. Have combed out some for art spinning, and always wondered about felting but unwilling to try with wool- I am vegetarian, but I also just despise the smell of it! This was very inspirational!
What a b8oody brilliant video. After hours and hours of watching looooong videos, I found this one and your channel. Whoop whoop! WOW is a great resource. Your information and how you present it is perfect. To the point. Excellent framing of the demo, fantastic. I have just started needle felting and this is a game changer for me. I will check out your other video, to see if you have any instructions on framing/armature? for animals, what type, what to use etc etc. Thank you so much for taking the time to make and post these videos, it is very much appreciated. x
Sorry - pressed post before I was ready and then it wouldn’t edit! :) I don’t have anything on armature but I intend to have loads more up in the coming year. :)
Awesome! I'm a newbie needle felter and still exploring techniques, and this is an awesome resource! My first batch of core wool ran a little overbudget, but I'm very familiar with poly-fil's general cheap accessibility, so I might try some of that and see which I like better! Acrylic yarn is also really easy to come by at dollar store craft sections, so I might pick some up on my next visit to one to try out. I also didn't know you could obtain felt from yarn, it makes sense in retrospect though, haha. Those will make some gorgeous easy and pleasing color variations without stabbing in all the different colors of felt separately! Brilliant! Thank you for all the amazing crafting ideas!
Thank you for your kind comments and you are so very welcome :). I realised that acrylic could be combed out when I was trying to create doll hair and then it made sense that it could be felted! I wish you good luck with your felting! It’s quite addictive 😀
Great video and you're pleasant to listen to. 😁 I'm recently new to needle felting and had no idea you could use acrylic fibers. It maybe also is a nice idea to use acrylic bits and pieces to add when wet felting. Thank you so much. 😀
Hi there! I’m so glad it was helpful to you. I have lots of Vegan friends and people with allergies and so I wanted to help them make a start with needle felting. You are very welcome :)
This is so good to know. I just started needle felting and have a huge stash of acrylic yarn begging to be used. I've been a knitter and crocheter for 10 or so years, but never seem to be able to get through that stash especially since half of it was bought when I got started crocheting and thought novelty and highly variegated yarns were just the best thing. Too bad so many of them look terrible in knit form. -_- I already want to sculpt a doll form for my daughters--I have so much unused beige yarn! I just feel excited for a medium that doesn't require me to work too fast (air dry clay, plaster, etc) or use my oven or find a kiln (clays). It's not easy for me to sculpt in general, nevermind with fiber, but you make me want to!
I’m so pleased that you found it useful :). I also knit and crochet so I like to use up leftovers in other ways. Needle felting is great as you can work at your own pace - you don’t need water or soap, it’s not messy ( although it can get a bit fluffy!) and it’s something you can do all year round :). I do wet felting too and o prefer to do that through the warmer months so that it can dry out naturally.
Hi I wanted to know your opinion, I wanted to ask did you use acrylic yarn for needle feeding? I have never infiltrated anything yet and in the future I really want to try with acrylics and I wanted to know your experience for this you can give me some information. ?? Is acrylic yarn ok for the Ago insult?thanks
I’m sure it could be used to needle felt on bookmarks - I haven’t tried it on soap and not sure that it would work as wet felting is required for that process. I have read that you need at least 25% of wool fibres for wet felting to occuf. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for this video! ❤ I'm on a tight budget but I do have a lot of yarn for crocheting laying around so this is perfect! Keep up the good work!
Just what I wanted to know! I’ve bought lots and lots of yarn via eBay for latch hooking. I look for wool but often some acrylic gets included in the box. I think even short cut lengths intended for latching could work for felting. I shall try! Thank you!
Thank you so much for this. I’ve recently gotten into loom weaving and have been searching high and low for vegan roving. I was hitting a brick wall until I found this video so thank you!
You are very welcome! :) Glad it has been useful to you. I did look weaving a long time ago and I have been hoping to get back into it. You have just reminded me - thank you! 😀
Hi there - yes I’m sure that would be possible. I would test a piece that won’t be seen first or make a small sample of the same yarn you used for the amigurumi and test on that. I hope it works out well for you 🥰❤️
I have never tried. When I learnt how to wet felt I was taught that only wool or wool blend mixes would successfully wet felt. The reason is that there are micro barbs on wool that bind together and interlock. These barbs are not on acrylic fibres - they are smooth. I think an acrylic/wool blend would work. Maybe if you tried acrylic wet felting you would get some kind of tangling going on but I think the effort of getting to that stage would take a long time. Hope that is helpful to you 🙂
@KoolKookyKreatures I understand that principle, but it's interesting that acrylic will felt and tangle with needle felting. But yes, may be too slippery to do anything with water and soap.
@@janellej1 I think the barbs on the needles do a lot to get the acrylic to felt and yes it is interesting that it works one way and not greatly in wet felting 🙂
You can use almost any yarn to needle felt with. I have an allergy to wool and can only use acrylic yarn. But keep in mind the cheaper the yarn the more work you will have to put into it cleaning and brushing it out.
Oh yes absolutely! I regularly use some of my wool yarn to brush out and needle felt. I was just putting forward to the idea to people who can’t - for whatever reason - use wool fibres 🥰
I have been carding balls of wool that I already have, but none of it is chunky, yours turned out really pretty in colour, I'm a newbie and haven't made anything decent yet lol... Thank you for sharing the research you did x
It’s a great way to use up odds and ends of acrylic yarn too :). There are also lots of choices for acrylic tops now at places like World of Wool but using up something you already have is always a bonus :)
Hi there! Mine is a pet brush (I bought it only for my wool carding!) and it works very well :) You can buy wool carders if you card a lot of fibres but this was a cheaper - albeit smaller- option. Hope that is helpful 🙂
I’m an art education student and tried out wool felting in a recent conference. I thought it would be a really fun project to bring into the classroom, but the cost of wool (and certain allergies) can potentially limit that. I decided to give felting a try using reclaimed acrylic yarn. I picked up a large bundle of latchhook project yarn to give myself a lovely range of colors… I’m honestly happy with the results so far! I can’t wait to share this inexpensive and repurposing project with other students!
@@stephaniewilcox3497 that is excellent news. I love the fact that acrylic fibres needle felt just as well as wool and can then be accessed by more people :)
Thank you so much!! I have a severe allergy to wool so I have avoided needle felting. I am so happy acrylic can be felted too!!
You are very welcome! Wool supply shops are now really upping their game on supplying fibres that can be used instead of wool so bamboo and nylon fibres would be great for you! 😃
This is fantastic...I have SO MUCH acrylic yarn in both my classrooms...now I can do something cool with my students like felted landscapes!
That is excellent news - your students will absolutely love making felted landscapes. I did some with my school craft club :) 🥰
13:35 here in the USA, acrylic is the most common yarn you find and then cotton is often available for a little more money. But I’ve been crocheting for nearly 15 years and I’ve never seen actual wool (which here is only used to describe the fibers from a sheep) or alpaca wool (the fur from an alpaca) sold in stores. You can buy them online but I’ve never seen them in stores.
That’s interesting to know - in the Uk we often use the term wool to describe yarn in general but we also have quite a lot of yarn made from sheep’s wool etc.
@@KoolKookyKreatures here I have never seen yarn, in person, out of sheep’s wool. ….not in any store I’ve been in,… acrylic and cotton seem to be the main go-tos here with acrylic coming in much more fun colors and a larger quantity for a significantly lesser price.
2:55 yes I am a crafter and I am a scrap saver and so this is wonderful!! I can do this from scraps that would have otherwise been thrown away!!
It’s a great way to use up scraps for sure :) 🥰
@@KoolKookyKreatures I went to a festival where someone was carding and spinning fibers into yarn and I was fascinated by it.
I was at dollar tree one day and noticed the dog brushes looked a lot like her carding brushes.
I went home and brushed out my acrylic yarn just to see if I could and have since added texture to my crocheted items by doing it.
My intention was to try and learn to spin yarn by spinning the roving I made from carding the yarn, bc that was significantly cheaper than buying roving.
I haven’t ever learned to spin yet bc most of my crafting is done on a school bus while I’m waiting for children and I can’t take a spinning wheel on a school bus but this is a small enough project I could take on a school bus.
A random video popped up of someone needle felting and I’ve seen several before but this it occurred to me to search and see if I could do it with acrylic yarn and you answered my question! Thanks!!
Yes the dog brushes work really well! I also want to learn spinning this year. I have bought myself a drop spindle - just need to find the time to have a go! :).
Have fun! :) ❤️
@@KoolKookyKreatures I have also bought myself a drop spindle but my heart and the wood worker in me still wants t build a spinning wheel.
I upcycle sweaters into mittens and always have scraps. Have combed out some for art spinning, and always wondered about felting but unwilling to try with wool- I am vegetarian, but I also just despise the smell of it! This was very inspirational!
Wonderful! So pleased you found it useful 🥰
Thankyou so much for this x have loads of this acrylic stuffing and have just realised, it felts so much quicker than wool xx
You are very welcome :). It makes great core felt :) x
What a b8oody brilliant video. After hours and hours of watching looooong videos, I found this one and your channel. Whoop whoop! WOW is a great resource. Your information and how you present it is perfect. To the point. Excellent framing of the demo, fantastic. I have just started needle felting and this is a game changer for me. I will check out your other video, to see if you have any instructions on framing/armature? for animals, what type, what to use etc etc. Thank you so much for taking the time to make and post these videos, it is very much appreciated. x
Hi and thank you so much! I’m really pleased that it has been helpful to you :)
Sorry - pressed post before I was ready and then it wouldn’t edit! :) I don’t have anything on armature but I intend to have loads more up in the coming year. :)
Awesome! I'm a newbie needle felter and still exploring techniques, and this is an awesome resource! My first batch of core wool ran a little overbudget, but I'm very familiar with poly-fil's general cheap accessibility, so I might try some of that and see which I like better! Acrylic yarn is also really easy to come by at dollar store craft sections, so I might pick some up on my next visit to one to try out.
I also didn't know you could obtain felt from yarn, it makes sense in retrospect though, haha. Those will make some gorgeous easy and pleasing color variations without stabbing in all the different colors of felt separately! Brilliant! Thank you for all the amazing crafting ideas!
Thank you for your kind comments and you are so very welcome :). I realised that acrylic could be combed out when I was trying to create doll hair and then it made sense that it could be felted! I wish you good luck with your felting! It’s quite addictive 😀
Great video and you're pleasant to listen to. 😁 I'm recently new to needle felting and had no idea you could use acrylic fibers. It maybe also is a nice idea to use acrylic bits and pieces to add when wet felting. Thank you so much. 😀
Hi there! I’m so glad it was helpful to you. I have lots of Vegan friends and people with allergies and so I wanted to help them make a start with needle felting. You are very welcome :)
This is so good to know. I just started needle felting and have a huge stash of acrylic yarn begging to be used. I've been a knitter and crocheter for 10 or so years, but never seem to be able to get through that stash especially since half of it was bought when I got started crocheting and thought novelty and highly variegated yarns were just the best thing. Too bad so many of them look terrible in knit form. -_- I already want to sculpt a doll form for my daughters--I have so much unused beige yarn!
I just feel excited for a medium that doesn't require me to work too fast (air dry clay, plaster, etc) or use my oven or find a kiln (clays).
It's not easy for me to sculpt in general, nevermind with fiber, but you make me want to!
I’m so pleased that you found it useful :). I also knit and crochet so I like to use up leftovers in other ways. Needle felting is great as you can work at your own pace - you don’t need water or soap, it’s not messy ( although it can get a bit fluffy!) and it’s something you can do all year round :). I do wet felting too and o prefer to do that through the warmer months so that it can dry out naturally.
Hi I wanted to know your opinion, I wanted to ask did you use acrylic yarn for needle feeding? I have never infiltrated anything yet and in the future I really want to try with acrylics and I wanted to know your experience for this you can give me some information. ?? Is acrylic yarn ok for the Ago insult?thanks
Hi there. I did use acrylic yarn for needle felting with and it worked really well :)
hi this is so amazing could this be used on soap? maybe bookmarks ?
I’m sure it could be used to needle felt on bookmarks - I haven’t tried it on soap and not sure that it would work as wet felting is required for that process. I have read that you need at least 25% of wool fibres for wet felting to occuf. Hope that helps!
@@KoolKookyKreatures thankyou for your quick reply. I'm going to give it a try. will let you know how it goes
@@deborahbrown8004 please do :). I hope it all works well for you :) 🥰
Thank you so much for this video! ❤ I'm on a tight budget but I do have a lot of yarn for crocheting laying around so this is perfect! Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much and glad you enjoyed it :) x🥰
Just what I wanted to know! I’ve bought lots and lots of yarn via eBay for latch hooking. I look for wool but often some acrylic gets included in the box. I think even short cut lengths intended for latching could work for felting. I shall try! Thank you!
You are very welcome :) I’m glad you have found it useful :)
Thank you so much for this.
I’ve recently gotten into loom weaving and have been searching high and low for vegan roving. I was hitting a brick wall until I found this video so thank you!
You are very welcome! :) Glad it has been useful to you. I did look weaving a long time ago and I have been hoping to get back into it. You have just reminded me - thank you! 😀
I made some amigurumi cats and I was wondering if I could felt bits of white on them. They represent two of our beloved cats one who has passed.
Hi there - yes I’m sure that would be possible. I would test a piece that won’t be seen first or make a small sample of the same yarn you used for the amigurumi and test on that. I hope it works out well for you 🥰❤️
Thanks so much.. it's hard to find wool felting here, and this is so helpful. I have polyester filler, is that the same as acrylic please?
You are very welcome and yes polyester filler works in the same way :) 😀
Thanks so much for your prompt answer 🙂
You are very welcome 😊
Question, have you ever tried wet felting with your carded acrylic?
I have never tried. When I learnt how to wet felt I was taught that only wool or wool blend mixes would successfully wet felt. The reason is that there are micro barbs on wool that bind together and interlock. These barbs are not on acrylic fibres - they are smooth. I think an acrylic/wool blend would work. Maybe if you tried acrylic wet felting you would get some kind of tangling going on but I think the effort of getting to that stage would take a long time. Hope that is helpful to you 🙂
@KoolKookyKreatures I understand that principle, but it's interesting that acrylic will felt and tangle with needle felting. But yes, may be too slippery to do anything with water and soap.
@@janellej1 I think the barbs on the needles do a lot to get the acrylic to felt and yes it is interesting that it works one way and not greatly in wet felting 🙂
You can use almost any yarn to needle felt with. I have an allergy to wool and can only use acrylic yarn. But keep in mind the cheaper the yarn the more work you will have to put into it cleaning and brushing it out.
Oh yes absolutely! I regularly use some of my wool yarn to brush out and needle felt. I was just putting forward to the idea to people who can’t - for whatever reason - use wool fibres 🥰
I have been carding balls of wool that I already have, but none of it is chunky, yours turned out really pretty in colour, I'm a newbie and haven't made anything decent yet lol... Thank you for sharing the research you did x
Thank you and you are very welcome :) x
What was the little poking tool that you used?
It is a clover needle felting took with three needles :)
Brilliant, thank you xx
You are very welcome - glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you
You are welcome :)
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I didn't realize how easy it could be
It’s a great way to use up odds and ends of acrylic yarn too :). There are also lots of choices for acrylic tops now at places like World of Wool but using up something you already have is always a bonus :)
Do you have to use the poly-fill or can you just use the acrylic yarn?
Hi there! Acrylic yarn or acrylic fibres are fine to use on their own :)
Thank you!!
is that brush specially made for this purpose or is it a pet brush?
Hi there! Mine is a pet brush (I bought it only for my wool carding!) and it works very well :)
You can buy wool carders if you card a lot of fibres but this was a cheaper - albeit smaller- option. Hope that is helpful 🙂
15:43 5 minutes ?! I’ve been stabbing this stupid ball for 37 mins and still don’t have anything that’s staying together very well. 🤦♀️🤦♀️
Sorry that it’s not working out for you. I have always had good results with the acrylic fibres.