Today, some felts are made wholly from synthetic fibers, in a dry needle-punch process. Pre-dyed synthetic fibers are used, and tiny , harpoon shaped needles are used to press the fibers into a tight construction.
If you look closely, you may see some of the miniature holes, which are mostly invisible to the casual viewer. Using synthetic fibers in a dry process, lets us make washable and colorfast felt in our Durafelt lines. Dry felting needle-felting :.
A needle felted fabric is a non-woven fabric made from webs or batts of fibres in which special barbed felting needles on an industrial felting machine are used. The barbs catch the scales on the fibre and push them through the layers of web, tangling them and binding them together. This needling action interlocks the fibres and hold the structure together much likes the wet felting process, and its popular for two-dimensional and three-dimensional felted work. With needle felting, any fibre will work even man-made fibre and hair.
All other wholly artificial felts are actually needle-felts. Manufacturing process:. A web or batts of fibre are transported by a feeding device between upper and lower hole-plates. The bearded needles periodically penetrate through the holes in the plates and through the batts. In every stroke, the barbs of the needle seized fibres and pull the fibres through the web creating fibre bundle. As the needle withdraws, the batt is released and moves a small step towards take-off rolls.
The level of web densification is among others a function of the number of punches per unit area of the web, the number of needles in the needle board. Attainable frequency of the needle board determines the performance of the machine. Kent Page Felted Fabric www. NancyEvBryk production of felt fabric - madehow. Joseph, M. Essentials of Textiles. California State University, Northridge.
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Got it. Toggle navigation Fibre2Fashion. Between and , hats made with beaver fur felt were among the most popular exports from the New World, and the beaver pelt trade alone made it possible for the British and French to establish rudimentary colonies throughout what is now the inland American-Canadian border region. Commonly called beaverkins, hatmakers produced beaver fur felt hats in a variety of distinct shapes including the immediately recognizable tophat.
The beaver felt industry nearly drove North American beavers to extinction, and it was only a sudden change in style preferences that allowed their survival. While some hatmakers still make beaver felt hats to this day, most accessory manufacturers have switched to more ethical fibers like wool. With the invention of acrylic fabric in the early 20th century, the international felt industry believed that it had found a cheaper alternative to natural fibers.
As a result, high-quality felt remains made with natural fibers like wool, and consumers generally associate acrylic or rayon felt with lower-tier products. Felt never truly regained the popularity it lost in the West when beaver hats went out of style, but plenty of cultures around the world continue to use felt for ancestral purposes entirely unfazed by the aftereffects of this ultimately temporary style craze. The felt production process varies slightly depending on whether it contains wool, acrylic, or another textile fiber.
In the case of wool, raw fibers are derived from the coats of wool-bearing animals, and in the case of acrylic, fibers are made by dissolving a polymer in various artificial chemicals and spinning the resulting substance. Once textile manufacturers have acquired the desired fibers, they combine them into a mass using a cylindrical device studded with steel nails. Next, a carding machine cards these fibers into a loose web with standardized spaces between fibers.
A machine known as a cross-lapper or a vlamir then combines multiple webs together to make a roll, and four of these rolls are layered on top of each other to make a batt.
To harden these batts of felted material, felt manufacturers expose the batts to heat and moisture, and then the final shrinking process is accomplished with a combination of heat, pressure, and moisture. Most felt manufacturers use sulfuric acid during the final stages of the felt production process, and they neutralize this acid with soda ash and warm water once the matt has reached its ideal size.
Finally, an industrial machine uses rollers to smooth out any irregularities in the finished felt fabric. Felt manufacturers are now free to dye, cut, or form the felt to complete consumer products. They may also choose to sell unaltered felt in bulk sheets.
Today, textile manufacturers primarily use felt to produce hats and other insulative substances such as boot linings. Thicker and harder than woven or knitted wool, felt provides an excellent barrier against cold temperatures, and this woolen material is not scratchy against the skin.
As most children and parents know, felt is also a popular crafting material, and you can use your imagination to make practically anything with felt. Most felt designed for crafting, however, is acrylic, which is less comfortable against the skin and more harmful to the environment than woolen felt.
Therefore, the majority of woolen felt was manufactured in Australia, though in some cases, Australian sheep farmers ship their raw wool to China for finishing. Genuine wool felt is reasonably expensive, but it is usually around the same price as other wool textiles. Felt made with acrylic or other synthetic fibers is less expensive, but it does not have the same beneficial attributes as wool felt. Over the centuries, textile artisans have developed quite a few different types of woolen or fur felt.
Clement discovered that the combination of moisture from perspiration and ground dampness coupled with pressure from his feet matted these tow fibers together and produced a cloth. After becoming bishop he set up groups of workers to develop felting operations.
Clement became the patron saint for hatmakers, who extensively utilize felt to this day. Today, hats are associated with felt, but it is generally presumed that all felt is made of wool. Originally, early hat-making felt was produced using animal fur generally beaver fur.
The fur was matted with other fibers—including wool—using heat, pressure, and moisture. The finest hats were of beaver, and men's fine hats were often referred to as beavers. Beaver felt hats were made in the late Middle Ages and were much coveted. However, by the end of the fourteenth century many hatmakers produced them in the Low Countries thus driving down the price. The North American continent was home to many of the beaver skins used in European hatmakers' creations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
North American Indians' second-hand skins, replete with perspiration, felted most successfully and were in extraordinary demand for hatmaking in both the New and Old Worlds. The beaver hat was surpassed in popularity in the second half of the nineteenth century by the black silk hat, sometimes finished to resemble beaver and referred to as beaver-finished silk. The steps included in making felt have changed little over time.
Felted fabric is produced using heat, moisture, and pressure to mat and interlock the fibers. In the Middle Ages the hatmaker separated the fur from the hide by hand and applied pressure and warm water to the fabric to shrink it manually.
While machinery is used today to accomplish many of these tasks, the processing requirements remain unchanged. One exception is that until the late nineteenth century mercury was used in the processing of felt for hatmaking.
Mercury was discovered to have debilitating effects on the hatter causing a type of poisoning that led to tremors, hallucinations, and other psychotic symptoms. The term mad hatter is associated with the hatmaker because of the psychosis that stemmed from the mercury poisoning. Hats of wool felt remain quite popular and are primarily worn in the winter months. The use of felt has enlarged over the past century.
Crafts enthusiasts use it for all types of projects. Many teachers find it to be an easy fabric for children to handle because once it is cut the edges do not unravel as do woven fabrics.
Industrial applications for felt have burgeoned, and felt is found in cars as well as production machinery.
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