nuno felting - silk fabric down first or the wool?

[magzie]

When laying out your nuno felt project - does it really matter if you lay your silk fabric down first and then your wool on top or is it better the other way around? As far as the wool migrating through the fabric is one layout better than the other? Thank you for your thoughts!

[MTRuth]

I usually lay the silk down first and then add the wool. I wet it down and then flip it over and rub first from the silk side to encourage migration of wool fiber through the silk.

[wolgelukkig]

I do the same as Ruth as it is hard to get the silk over the wool without destroying the design.

[Stargazer]

When I learned how to nuno-felt dresses I was taught to lay the silk on last. First the wool then any embellishments, and the silk above to secure the embellishment. We also did that for the areas that didn't have any embellishments. We'd wet the wool first though before we put down the silk to prevent the fluffy wool fly everywhere. Worked like a charm. 

[magzie]

Thank you so much ladies

[zed]

It depnds what I'm making. If I'm making a scarf with just wisps or fibre in certain places, then I put the fabric down first. If I'm making something like a piece for a purse or book cover, I do the wool layout first and put the fabric on top.

[Shepherdess]

I do the silk first then the wool then flip it and wrap teh wool around the raw edges and then rub that side first. I have a hard time working upside down when making a pattern.

[ekandror]

So I am a pro at making any kind of fiber eat the fabric up till you wont see it anymore. The only time that I succeeded is when i laid fabric on top of somewhat pre felted merino 17 microns. Don’t toss. Just roll gently. I have laid fabric down first couple of times and it just gets eaten up.

[MTRuth]

You can shave the surface a little bit so that you see the fabric more. Nuno is usually a more gentle process than regular felting.

[lomahfelt]

I do both ways...depends on the project...mostly silk on top of wetted down wool though... a couple of tips: 1) if you have wet wool throw a piece of net over it then press all over with a towel to remove excess water...this way you will have a nice smooth surface to work over, but the silk wont stick, so if you lay it in wrong place you can easily move it...great if doing a large garment. 2) I find rubbing the silk surface way faster for fibre migration...and with margilan I need to rub the silk surface or the wool does not go through...because the margilan is so shiny I think. Other tip as above...more fibre migration when tossed - you may loose a lot of your surface to fluff