Nuno felting with linen fabric

[sdoyle]

I have a lovely purple linen shawl I got at a thrift store that is a pretty open weave that I’d like to embellish with wool but am afraid to start - has anyone felted wool into linen?

[lyn]

How thick is the linen? I'd say if it were a fine cloth then go ahead but if it's thick it could be a challenge!

[sdoyle]

It's pretty thin and sheer - just curious as I haven't seen any pieces of nuno with linen - I have tried with scrim - cheesecloth - without any trouble but since I don't want to sample since it is a good size as is for a shawl figured I'd ask if anyone has tried it. Thanks

[MTRuth]

It should work if the weave is open. Perhaps you could just try a small corner with the wool you had planned for the entire piece to see how it will work? I have used flax (linen fiber) as embellishments and it gets very crinkly with shrinkage. But it's a great effect.

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

Mandy Nash, in her book Making Felt Bags, when discussing Nuno Felt for surface decoration says "Natural fabrics, such as silk, cotton, linen and viscose with an open weave, work best....." Personally, I have tried with a hand woven loose weave linen fabric and it worked in places. Where the threads were thick and stiff they would not stick because the stiff yarn wouldn't bend when the wool trying to hold them was shrinking. The parts of the fabric where the threads were thin and softer did stick well. Linen gets more pliable and soft the more you wash and work it, so it might be an idea to put your fabric through several washes - perhaps hand washing giving the fabric a good rub between your knuckles (like we used to have to before washing machines became ubiquitous). I think it will make it more likely that your scarf will work. Try it, in the worst case you could just end up with a piece of fabric and a separate felt scarf - I've done that several times!