Hats in Progress

This is about stage 5 in the hat felting project. The wool was fluffed and stacked in 7 layers (photo from yesterday), a piece of vinyl laid on, then 7 more layers. The vinyl keeps the center of the hat from felting to itself as the wool is worked.

We then ladled on hot water that contained either Fels Naptha or Dawn dish washing soap, pressed the layers together until all was thoroughly wet and sudsy. We "massaged" the fibers until they began to lock together and continued to the correct level of felting.

At this point we had a half moon shaped wad of sopping wet wool that was felted together all around the edges. We cut the straight bottom edge so we could put a hand inside, removed the piece of vinyl, and continued working the wool, now from inside and outside the hat.

Next was to lay the "hat" over a bowl or pan of the right size and shape to form the desired hat style. Working the wool with circular motion, we kept felting and shaping until done. At this point we had a hat shape with a very irregular flat brim.

Then we rinsed the soap out as well as possible, put the hat back on the mold to dry, which takes several days. When it is dry, we will trim the brims to whatever width we want and do any other embellishing or finishing touches.

I opted to just make a flat piece because I never wear hats, and I will use my piece to make a bag.

It was a fun class!