Why Work With Felt?

Why work with felt over traditional fabrics like cotton? Well, firstly, felt doesn't fray. It DOES pill, but that's really only a big problem if you buy strictly acrylic felt. But I'm talking about wool and wool blend felts.

Secondly I don't need to hem it. Hemming skirts and shirts and dresses is the bane of my existence, especially considering the tiny pieces of clothing that I make.

Which brings me to point number three: I can completely hand sew it. All of my dolls, their clothing, and their hair are 100 percent handsewn. Hand sewing isn't just an aesthetic choice for me. It's satisfying, it has benefited my mental health, and it has benefited my dexterity.

Number four: texture reasons! I love the way wool blend felt feels in my hands. It's soft and sort of stretchy. It's very forgiving of any mistakes. It's easy and satisfying to sew through. It's just an all-around great fabric choice!

Point five is I just like the way it looks. Wool blend felt can be bought in a plethora of colors and patterns on Etsy and elsewhere around the internet. It sews and looks well whether you use expensive thread or cheaper embroidery floss. Decorative stitches stand out amazingly against it. Best of all, it's completely suitable for beginners and experts with sewing alike. For beginners there's tons of free first projects using felt you can find all over the web, like making baby shoes, garlands, and dolls. For experts, there's more advanced projects that can be bought at Etsy.

Now for the big negative: of all the great things felt is, resilient is not one of them. Because it pills and dirties so easily, felt is best used for projects that aren't going to be handled very much, like for decorations and art dolls.

Despite this, I love felt and have a couple of doll patterns for sale on my Etsy shop utilizing wool blend felt to make completely hand stitched dolls. You should check them out and let me know in the comments what you like about felt.

My Etsy shop: https://luparisdolls.etsy.com