How do I felt in the tumble dryer?
Here’s a quick refresher of the basics of felting…
To start the adventures with tumble dryer felting, you need a crochet piece to felt. You can use a spare swatch from your stash, or make one (we used the purse project from page 83). Choose any wool or alpaca yarn, or a blend of the two fibres. Using a hook suitable for the yarn weight, make 10 treble stitches and work six rows. The piece should be vaguely square.
Now assemble everything you need. Just like wet felting, you’ll need some water in a sink or bowl (a bowl makes it easier to transport the wet fabrics to the tumble dryer). You also need an old pillowcase or pouch made of cotton fabric, plus some old cotton bath towels (two big towels or three small towels).
Step 1 Take the fabric and make sure it’s finished – weave in the ends and work any seaming that needs to be done. Always make a note of the yarn and hook you used, and the piece’s measurements, so you can reproduce the results and compare the before and after sizes.
Step 2 Place some water in the bowl or sink. Since you’re going to put the piece in a hot tumble dryer, the water can be cold.
Step 3 Add a mild soap or detergent to the water – we used a small pump of a gentle hand soap.
Step 4 Create a little lather by swishing the water and soap around with your hand.
Step 5 Place the piece in the water – it will naturally want to float so hold it under the surface for around a minute or squeeze the water into the fabric. When you let go, the piece will still float, but the majority of it should sit under the water by itself.
Step 6 Let the piece soak for five minutes so the fibres have time to become fully saturated with water, though you don’t want to let the dye to run.
Step 7 Lift the piece out of the water and let the excess drip off into the bowl – but don’t throw the soapy water away. Place the piece in an old pillowcase or pouch made of cotton fabric (cotton won’t felt in the tumble dryer). Put the old, dry towels underneath the pouch if you need to absorb drips.
Step 8 Fold over the top of the old pillowcase or pouch and secure with a safety pin.
Step 9 Place the pillowcase or pouch into the tumble dryer. Take the old towels and make them wet with just water (you don’t need soap). Squeeze the towels a little so they’re not dripping. Place the wet towels into the tumble dryer as well – these will add agitation to the felting mix and help to rub the fibres together. Make sure the dryer is on its highest heat setting. Set the timer for around 90 minutes, than press the start button and set another timer for 20 minutes. Turn over for what to do next…