There are many types of wool used in needle felting projects including natural wool and dyed wool from sheep and goats. Depending on the project you are doing will determine what type of wool you need. In all our kits we use wool tops or roving and some raw fleece. Generally wool and fibres fall into 4 main categories.
Batts/Carded wool – The fleece is washed, teased out, and carded into batts (large thick sheets of wool). The short fibres go in different directions and the wool can be broken off in handfuls, thin sheets, or a long strip.
Wool Tops/ Roving – This wool has been washed and combed into long strands of wool so, it usually looks sleek and silky just like our beautiful Shetland wool used in our kits. This natural, undyed British felting wool is a lovely medium to coarse needle felting wool. The image shows some of the coloured Shetland wool available.
Raw Fleece – Fleece is the unprocessed wool shorn off a sheep. It is usually unwashed, greasy, a bit smelly and tangled. This wool would need processing before use
Curly Locks – There are some breeds of sheep and goats have lovely curly locks. These are often used as hair for animals or fairies. The locks are very gently washed to keep the curls intaced.
You can also make your own curls. These were made using a wooden skewer and Blue faced Leicester lightening white wool. These were then used to make a Christmas fairy.
