There are many varieties and preparations of fiber available for purchase. Most of it can be needle felted to some degree. Let’s take a look at wool preparations and a few breeds of sheep that needle felters gravitate toward.
Wool preparations
A wool preparation or “prep” is the physical form the wool appears in. Historically, it meant preparing wool for spinning. It is a process that goes something like this:
- Shear the fleece off the sheep
- Skirt the sheared fleece to remove tags (they contain dung), twigs or VM, and wool that is stained or not usable. The fleece might also be sorted since parts of it may be used for different purposes. For instance, areas of the shoulder, belly, and back leg might be coarser and shorter than the rest of the fleece.
- Scour (or wash) the fleece to remove the lanolin and release the dirt
- What happens next varies. The locks of the fleece might be picked to open them. Or the wool might be combed or carded. Some spinners prefer to dye it before spinning and some dye it after. It depends on the purpose and desired outcome.
Wool preps needle felters use
Here’s a photo of the typical wool preparations you’ll see or use when needle felting. I’ve included a description of each one below.
- Locks are pieces of fleece that have been washed but not carded or combed. Locks may be curly, crimped, wavy or straight. Think of them as wool fiber in its natural form. They may be sold dyed or in their natural color.
- Core wool is used to create a foundation or base for a needle felted piece. It is lower quality wool with short fibers. It is washed, usually undyed, carded wool that felts quickly and firmly. It can be purchased in batt or roving form and is meant to be covered up.
- A batt or carded wool has been run through a carding machine or hand carders that brush the fiber versus combing it. This causes the fibers to loosely intertwine in multiple directions resulting in a web-like sheet.
- Roving is a loosely carded fiber preparation that usually appears in a continuous long strip or rope. It can be wrapped in a coil or ball shape.
- Sliver (pronounced sly-ver) is a thin roving. It is sold in a continuous strand or rope. Like roving, it is often wrapped into a coil or ball shape.
- Combed top is a combed fiber preparation which attempts to align the fibers in the same direction. It appears long, smooth, and looks like hair that has been brushed.
- Prefelt is a flat sheet of fiber that has been partially felted. It’s more felted than a batt but less felted than a felt sheet. You can pull pieces off and they will have a feathery edge. It also has a fuzzy appearance when compared to a felt sheet.
- Felt Sheet is a dense, strong fabric that’s been felted and fulled (shrunk and tightened). It has a smooth finish and the texture of felt sheets sold in craft or material stores. It is difficult to pull apart. You generally have to cut it leaving a hard edge.
Sheep breeds commonly used by felters
Almost any wool will felt given the right amount of manipulation. Some wools feel like they will felt if you breathe on them. Others take a lot of effort. Both have a purpose in needle felting. For instance, if you want a smooth finish, pick a soft wool that felts quickly. If you are making a mane or tail, select something that has luster but does not felt easily. You don’t want that to felt solid. You want it to appear to be hair or fluffy fur.
This list contains breeds I reserve for topcoat or the final layers of a sculpture. They are all more expensive than core wool. For that reason, I save them for finishing. The exception to that is making thin arms and legs. I don’t use core wool on those because I want to avoid having it poke through the colored topcoat.
Here are a few breeds you’ll probably run into when purchasing wool for needle felting.
Merino is the most popular and easy to find fiber for felting. It takes dye beautifully so it is available in many, many colors. It is a very fine, soft wool with a staple length of approximately 2-5 inches. I purchase it in carded batts and combed top. It’s also wonderful for blending with other wools. I recommend using it for the final layer of wool on animals and for details. If you want to use it for long fur, you need to consider that it does felt with handling. It can look matted or overworked if not handled carefully. I work around that by blending it with a fiber that does not felt as easily.
Corriedale is another fiber that is easy to find and takes dye well. It is available in a lot of colors. Corriedale is a medium-soft wool (not as fine as Merino) with a 3-6 inch staple length. It has a clearly defined crimp which helps it felt. I especially like Ashford Corriedale roving as they offer a consistent, reliable color palette.
Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) takes a little longer to felt which makes it wonderful to blend with a quick felter like Merino. BFL is a fine wool with a staple length of about 3-6 inches. The locks are like springy spirals. They are a lot of fun to work with. BFL also has a beautiful luster or sheen. I use both locks and combed top BFL.
Shetland wool is soft and strong. It is a fine wool with a staple length of 2-4 ½ inches. It felts easily and the range of natural colors it appears in make it a wonderful choice for needle felted animal coats. I purchase it undyed as a roving or combed top.
Romney fiber is another one that varies but I’ve found it easy to felt. If you can get your hands on good quality Romney, it has a luster so high that it almost appears shiny. It has a staple length of 4-6 inches and is very strong. The Romney I’ve had is on the wiry side and great for fuzzy looking animals with shorter coats. I’ve found it available in a range of dyed colors which is always a plus.
Polwarth is a favorite of mine. It’s soft with lovely natural colors. It has a staple length of 3-7 inches with a defined crimp. The Polwarth wool I have is so beautiful that I tend to save it rather than use it. I really need to get over that!