Working with felt fabric,making felt crafts, sewing with felt

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Sewing with Felt Fabric

About Felt -	Felt is a "pressed" or "bonded" fabric. It is not woven together by threads. A large machine "presses" hundreds of little tiny fibers together. A combination of glue, steam, and pressure in a machine mats fibers together creating felt. Felt is dense but also flexible, it is not strong and has no elasticity, but can be made into a certain shape. Felt can be cut in any direction without unraveling at the edges. Felt can be made from natural colors of the original animal fiber used like white, black, grey, and brown. White felt can easily be dyed into bright or rich colors.
Uses for Felt -	Since felt is "pressed" together and not woven it can stretch out of shape and fall apart. Therefore, a single layer of felt is NOT a good idea for making clothes. HOWEVER, felt is a great fabric for making crafts, hats, and more.
Average cost -	Felt can be bought in "squares" or by the yard. Felt squares can be as inexpensive as .20 cents a square. Felt by the yard averages $2.00 - $20.00 a yard, depending on the quality of the felt.
Comments -	Felt is a great fabric to work with for beginners. However, a seam of felt fabric is very difficult to rip out because of the thickness. So be real careful when sewing with felt.

Here is a cute Christmas Frog. Every part of this except for the fur was made from felt.
	This is an adorable "foot pillow". One side is made from felt and the other from a light cotton or flannel.
The Philadelphia Flyers emblem was made from felt. Remember felt doesn't fray so this was simply drawn on paper, then pinned and cut out, and then sewn on the fabric by straight stitch.
	Felt does not "fray" at the ends when cut, as seen in this "felt flower pillow".

This photo on the left shows a 4" square of felt fabric.

The photo below shows the same 4" square of felt fabric, after I stretched it and pulled it. The hole appeared because the fibers were not woven, they were pressed, therefore, felt can easily be stretched out of place.

Felt is tiny pieces of fiber glued and bounded together, it is not woven like most fabrics.

Here are some recommended books for working with felt. Some of theses books requires no sewing. I have arranged these books by the easiest to the more difficult ones at the bottom. Some Books even teach you how to make felt.