diy blanket jacket/smock

[outdoory]

I have made loads of things over the years and fancy making a blanket smock.
Does anyone have any experience of, or suggestions about, creating a much thicker material to work with by giving a perfectly good wool blanket a seriously hot wash? Would it work or just ruin the material?
I seem to remember seeing waistcoat and fleece style jackets made of boiled wool a while ago.
Thanks.

 

[Toddy]

Depends on your blanket tbh. If it's Pure New Wool, which is actually a kind of trade name for wool that's been chemically treated, it won't shrink and felt for you. Well, it shouldn't.
The only way to be sure is to try it. Cut a sample, measure it carefully and mark one edge so you know which way any shrinkage happens, then wash it hot (in with the towels seems to be effective) and dry it (towels in the tumbler ) then measure it again and see what's happened to it.

A lot of wool blankets are a muddle of different quality wools, some are quite kempy (hair, rather than wool, makes it coarse, but still effective, just not agin your skin) and some are wool and whatever the mills had to hand as a mix.

I've shrunk some and they were beautiful, I shrunk another and ended up with a woolly brick
Take your chances basically.

Interested to see how you get on and welcome to the forum

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Would a felt not be a better material ?

Something like felt liners that laplanders use. They may be reindeer fur, not sure. They would be thinner but denser than wool and still insulate.

 

[Toddy]

Sorry to kind of hijack the thread outdoory, but feltmakers can buy ready prepped sheets of wool that will wash and work down to size for making garments and panels.
It's called needlepunch and it can be bought by the metre.
It's very soft, very reliable, and very stable when shrunk. Available in assorted widths too. Wingham woolworks sell it amongst others.

cheers,
Toddy