The Ancient Art of Felting Makes a Comeback

A Lovely Bouquet Of Icelandic Felted Doo-dads

Felt is the oldest natural fabric known to mankind, predating knitting and weaving. Archaeologists have unearthed fragments of felt dating back to the Bronze Age in stone burial chambers in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, and in Turkey ancient felt artifacts date back to 6500 B.C. 

Many cultures have legends as to the origins of felt making. One folk legend (erroneously) attributes the first felting to St. Clement ("Patron Saint of Hatters") who, it’s said, padded his sandals with sheep’s wool to aid him in his escape from his pursuers. 

When he finally arrived at his destination he removed his sandals and found that the wool had felted into socks around his feet due to the heat, friction and perspiration. 

A Mongolian Yurt Made of Felt

Nowhere in the world has the art of felt making flourished as it has in “The Felt Belt”, the areas in and around Central Asia. Traditional felt making continues to this day in places such as Nepal (in traditional handicrafts like slippers and handbags) and Mongolia (through traditional felted yurt building).  

Because the craft of felting had lost popularity in the West for so long, we often think of “felt” as the cheap material sold at craft stores for kids. 

Needle Felted Cat Toy Balls at Etsy Retailer ArtSincerely

Thanks to the revival of the handicraft movement in recent years (helped in large part by Etsy) the craft of felt making, using both traditional and modern methods, is making a comeback.

Felt is made when animal hair fibers, usually sheep’s wool, are caused to permanently entangle forming a dense fabric.  Usually this is achieved by layering combed wool in a desired shape, wetting with soap and water, then agitating by rubbing, rolling or pounding. 

This Year's New Stocking with Felted Gingerbread Man

While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can be of any color, and made into any shape or size.

Icelandic Design’s Newari accessories use traditionally hand felted appliqués to decorate our stockings, hats and gloves hand knit in Nepal. 

You can see the fascinating process in the following video.

While this video does not depict our product being made, the methods used for our accessories hand-felted in Kathmandu are identical.

Note: our wool is imported from New Zealand (not the Netherlands as in the video).

See some of Icelandic's new felted gifts here.