Felt Jackets

[Risclean]

Has anyone ever had a coat or jacket made from felt? Or has anyone made a garment from felt? I saw some listed on a webshop and it occured to me that it could be a useful material for making a jacket.

 

[mr dazzler]

I got a blanket from a removal's man wholeft it behind. Its sort of felt (recycled shreded and compressed mixed fibres but also reinforced with lines of stitching). It has that purplish/gray color you get from fluff left in a tumble drier. I often thought it could make something usefuyl
If the artist josef beuys was to be believed, in wartime the russian's used felt to make clothing and boots they also used goose fat on it as well for insulation in -40 dgre temparature's Isnt the chinease kapok jacket's made of felt as well? Good thing with felt is that it can be moulded while wet, but its also not very strong (hence why my blanket was reinforced?)

 

[Sleepy Weasel]

Call me Mr Thicky but isn't felt wool compressed and heated? So a felt jacket would be a sort of Swanndri type jacket with all the insultation and the fireproof qualities you'de expect from a wool garment.

I also remember something about the Russians having felt clothing and boots during the second world war for use in the Russian winter campaign, it didn't freeze like leather.

I also saw an advert recently for a boiled wool jacket(men's) from Gap, maybe they're muscling in to the bushcraft clothing market.

 

[sharp88]

I got a blanket from a removal's man wholeft it behind. Its sort of felt (recycled shreded and compressed mixed fibres but also reinforced with lines of stitching). It has that purplish/gray color you get from fluff left in a tumble drier. I often thought it could make something usefuyl
If the artist josef beuys was to be believed, in wartime the russian's used felt to make clothing and boots they also used goose fat on it as well for insulation in -40 dgre temparature's Isnt the chinease kapok jacket's made of felt as well? Good thing with felt is that it can be moulded while wet, but its also not very strong (hence why my blanket was reinforced?)

Kapok is a kind of cotton like plant I think, that grows in Africa and Asia. I might have misread, but I dont think its anything to do with felt. Its kind of like a poor man's goose down if you like.

 

[addyb]

Kapok is also what used to be used for life jackets. The Luftwaffe's bomber corps used kapok almost exclusively while the vaunted, elite Bf.109 pilots were blessed with a more modern CO2 inflating garment. (Not that anyone needs to know that)

But yeah, getting back to felt....as far as I know, yes it is just heated compressed wool.

Unless anyone knows otherwise???

 

[sallyinwales]

Felt can be immensly strong, I mostly make hats with it, starting with the fleece, but I beleive in Mongolia and other steppe lands felt coats and yurts are still made in a way that probably goes back thousands of years.You can make seamless garments using felt, and because you start with layers of raw fibre you can add thickness and warmth where you need it.

Wonderful stuff, very versatile

 

[sallyinwales]

But yeah, getting back to felt....as far as I know, yes it is just heated compressed wool.

Unless anyone knows otherwise???

Sort of, you layer fibres then use friction and pressure to tangle the fibres into a consolidates mass. Compression is part of the process, but the friction is more important. You use warm soapy water usually to help open up the scales on eth wool to make the entangling as thorough as possible.

If you have a look at my website, there is a step by step photo guide to how I make the pointy hats, the principle is similar for any felt garment

 

[addyb]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

[Risclean]

I knew felt is wool, but it's not a material you see used for clothing often. I was wondering if there's any reason why it's not more common used. Here's a shop that sells felt, doesn't say how much it costs though.

Sally, does fulling knitted hats and jerseys make them shrink at all?

 

[spamel]

I remember seeing a programme years ago when some Mongolians were making a new fely liner for their yurt/ger. They had a sheet of canvas, they threw the wool on in little clumps until the whole sheet was covered and then wet it with water, not soaking, just sprinkling the water on. Then, the wrapped the whole thing up by rolling it round and round a log, like a swiss roll. They tied the whole thing tight around the log and fixed horses to either end and they dragged it around like a big roller! This was compressing the wool and in the end they had a good thick felt to line a ger with. So simple, but so effective.

 

[bushyboo]

I remember having a donkey jacket many years ago dont know if they were made of felt but was definitely a felt like material you know the things i mean with the pvc on the shoulder's, just a thought

 

[sallyinwales]

I knew felt is wool, but it's not a material you see used for clothing often. I was wondering if there's any reason why it's not more common used. Here's a shop that sells felt, doesn't say how much it costs though.

Sally, does fulling knitted hats and jerseys make them shrink at all?

Yep, thats the whole idea, you shrink and tighten the knit so the garment is more windproof and denser which helps it resist the weather. Some extant medieval and Tudor fulled caps are so felted that you can hardly tell they were originally knitted.

 

[Risclean]

Presumably that means a garnment would have to be slightly oversize if it was going to be fulled.

 

[BuxusSempervirens]

Hello

There is a felt suit by the German artist Joseph Beuys in the Tate Modern. Or at least, it was there the last few times I've been:

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=26293

I've also seen his work "The Pack" there a couple of years ago, which has lots of sledges coming out of a VW van. The sledges are loaded with rolls of felt as part of a "survival kit" - fascinating:

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/beuys/room6.shtm

In the Luftwaffe in 1944, he was thrown from his crashing plane in the Crimea and saved by nomadic tartars, who covered him in fat and wrapped him in felt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Beuys

I don't suppose his life-jacket was much help.

Cheerio!

 

[bushyboo]

Just done a check on a donkey jacket they still make them and are made out of melton fabric that is a thick felt http://www.taylorsdirect.co.uk/definition.htm dunno if this helps in anyway but kept me busy for 5 mins

 

[Doc]

Is 'loden' cloth a type of felt? It is wool but does not look like it is woven.

 

[bushyboo]

my earlier link gives a description of loden cloth too

 

[mr dazzler]

So I suposse that dachstien's miten's are a type of fuller shrunken felt even though they are knitted first?

 

[sallyinwales]

Presumably that means a garnment would have to be slightly oversize if it was going to be fulled.

Yep, its exactly the same as accidentally overwashing a favourite jumper. It always comes out too small if it starts the right size.

I'll probably do a felt garment making workshop if the Traditional Skills Weekend I'm planning for next year gets off the ground, sounds like there might be some interest in having a go at felting with garments in mind

 

[mr dazzler]

Yep, its exactly the same as accidentally overwashing a favourite jumper. It always comes out too small if it starts the right size.

Years ago my gran knitted me a fantastic heavy wollen sweater which I wore constantly. Then one day it went into the machine and somehow got boil washed then it went from a 42 inch chest down to about a 18 inch mini version that would fit a toddler BUT I noticed that the knit went extremely thick and dense like felt and as you said about the old hats the stitches had began to disappear.
How would you calculate how much bigger to knit to shrink down to a predetremined size