About Needle Felting

A 66″ wide FeltLOOM was added to East Valley Alpacas / The Fiber Factory mid-2010. The FeltLOOM is an amazing machine that can turn your fiber into high quality felt sheets or yardage ranging from extremely thin to moderate thickness. 

Needle felting is a process of repeatedly piercing fiber with special needles which have barbs on them.  The needles cause the fibers to become tangled, eventually creating felt.  The FeltLOOM at East Valley Alpacas / The Fiber Factory has 792 needles that the fiber passes through multiple times. 

Felt can be unstructured (no fabric layer) or structured (fused onto fabric during the felting process).  Structured felt can have fiber on one side of the material or on both sides.  Unstructured sheets can be up to approximately 60″x 90″ long.  Structured sheets are based on the width of material used (36″, 45″, or 54″).

Felt is made from carded fiber (batts or roving), and any felt intended for use next to the skin is always dehaired.  Dehairing the fiber makes a huge difference in the softness of the final product.  Roving makes very interesting small items, but for consistent large pieces, batts are preferrable.  Batts can be made of varying thicknesses, to accomplish the desired end product.  Felt pieces can be used for scarves, blankets, and rugs, and felt yardage can be cut and sewn into garments.  The only limit is your imagination!