Design Felt

Discount for large users

Design Felt is an exclusive product at the Meaningful Crafts. We can offer this felt with attractive discounts to professional bulk users such as upholsterers, stand builders and interior designers. Please contact us!

What is the difference between woollen felt TrueFelt and Design Felt?

Both are excellent quality and beautiful felts. However both have their own characteristics. Design Felt has a rougher surface compared to the TrueFelt. TrueFelt feels softer in and is ökotex certified, thus when making items such as toys and anything for babies we recommend using 100 % woolen felt TrueFelt. However for interior projects Design Felt is a perfect cheaper option with sturdy structure and a beautiful surface as well. Still in doubt? Order samples here for both qualities!

Front and Back side

Designfelt has a front and back side. This is because the felt is needled on a polyester “belt” that transports the wool. This makes the front side more open, and the back (under side) more closed in structure. This needling on a polyester belt is also why the felt contains up to 10% polyester; the polyester from the belt slightly enters the felt. The effect of this is that the front side looks more rough and the closed backside looks a bit more shiny.

Glueing

Designfelt can be glued with contact glue (for instance our contact glue). It is also possible to thermoform the felt by shaping it around a base shape and placing it in the microwave. Through the heat the shape will be made permanent which lends itself to a surprising set of new projects, such as hats, slippers and other thermoformed projects!

Thermoforming

By forming the Design needle felt around a mold and “baking” it in an oven or microwave, it can retain its shape. This special quality offers surprising new design options.

The DesignFelt and Mountain Sheep Needle Felt from Meervilt! are thermoformable. That is, these types of felt, after being heated in an electric oven or microwave, retain the shape in which you have brought them before.

Fixing the shape

The felt must be brought into the desired shape before baking. The felt will be fixed in this form by heating. Use yarn to secure the felt before and during the heating. This is the appropriate way to fix the shape during heating. Suitable yarn leaves no visible traces after heating and removal.

In addition to the yarn, you can use sufficient heat-resistant materials such as glass, ceramics, metal or suitable cardboard types to make a mold.

Only use metal needles or pins as a temporary aid when securing with yarn. If you use them during ‘baking’, there is a good chance that they do not yield enough and as a result stretch the felt and cause unwanted holes and undulations. Never use metal needles or pins in the microwave! They start to crackle and spark and burn the felt.

Temperatures and “baking time”

Set an electric oven at a temperature of 130º C for light colors and 150º C for dark colors. Light colors can fade or yellow when heated. The “baking time” is approx. 20 minutes.

In a microwave oven, the “baking time” with a power output of 850 watts is only about 5 minutes.

After heating, wait until the felt has cooled completely before removing the yarn and any mold. With some designs it may be necessary to take over the function of the yarn after cooling by gluing, for example with a glue gun.

Sharp creases in the felt can also be easily fixed with an iron without oven or microwave. Try the right temperature in advance on a small piece of felt.

Test your materials and method!

Before starting on a large and expensive workpiece, always make a test with the materials and colors that you want to process. Test the heat resistance of your mold and yarns and check whether the temperatures and times indicated above really work well for your felt color and other materials.

This manual is largely based on information from the felt manufacturer. We ourselves have not “baked” felt so often that we can say a lot about it from our own experience. So you will have to discover a lot yourself. Good luck with your experiments and keep us updated with the results!