Newbie from the wet &wild Pacific Northwest!

[claudia]

So...I am a big fan of lalabug designs and viewed a tutorial she made to create a needle felted mushroom.  It had a single wire armature but otherwise was freeform.  I immediately thought this process could be used to make hats for dolls...which I sew for and repaint...cgdesigns.  I ordered supplies from etsy and was really excited about the craft.  Unfortunately, what started out on a 2" diameter form quickly became a tiny hat!  I'm now exploring ways to ensure the end product fits my doll.  I saw an interesting article that combined needle and wet felting but even that shrunk.  So...looking forward to conversing with you all!

[MTRuth]

Hi Claudia! Where in the Pacific NW are you? I am in NW Montana but visit La Conner, WA often. You reminded me of a "bowl" I tried to make from wool yarn and needle felting when I first began in the fiber arts many moons ago. I ended up putting it in the washing machine and it shrunk way down and looked like a doll hat. That is how I made my first ever needle felted doll.


This is a terrible photo of him. 

I don't needle felt much anymore but it's always interesting to see how wool reacts and it nearly always shrinks. There is a formula for shrinkage for wet felting so you will know what size to start with to end up the correct size after shrinkage. Feel free to ask questions and share your work.

[tracey]

Hi Claudia welcome to the forum.

I like the doll Ruth!

[claudia]

We live between Bellingham and Burlington...not far from LA Conner! So, where is this shrinkage formula located?

[lyn]

Welcome to the forum Claudia!

[MTRuth]

Here's a thread about shrinkage: feltandfiberstudio.proboards.com/thread/1348/shrinkage

We stay in Burlington when we go to La Conner. I take classes at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center. A wonderful place

[claudia]

So, is 30% the typical shrinkage amount? So, if I want the finished diameter to be 2.25", I would add 30% (which equates to just over .5"), making my original template 2.75"?

[MTRuth]

30% is used as a typical shrinkage but every wool is different and how much wool you use makes a big difference too. Make a sample like what you are going to do and then measure the difference between the two. That will give you your shrinkage amount.

As Galina says in the thread that I gave in the link above, for 30% shrinkage, you multiply your finished diameter by 1.43.

2.25 x 1.43 = 3.22

So you would need the template to be 3.25" approximately.

[Shepherdess]

I did some we felted hats for my daughters doll when she was younger. They can shrink a little more because you are not making them very thick. Doing samples will help you figure out how think you need to make them. If you make the a little big you can make them smaller with needles. It's an easy way to make some fine adjustments.

[zed]

Hi Claudia, welcome to the forum

I love that story, Ruth!