Felted fleece rugs

I was lucky enough to be gifted some beautiful sheep fleece (thank you Riverside Cottage) and the first one I pulled out of the bag was partly felted - not ideal for spinning but perfect for creating a rug. I did a little bit of research, watched a couple of videos and got stuck in.

First job was to lay the rug out, skirt it and sew together any loose bits - this prep took a while but hopefully would save hours of work later. Next was to lay it upside down on a plastic sheet and cover with some strips of fleece I had already washed, dried and carded. Once covered, hot water and washing up liquid were applied and I gently rubbed to start the felting process. After a while, I could see the fleece matting together, so I rolled the entire thing up like a giant sausage roll and tied it together then the rolling began.

200 rolls later, I unrolled the sausage roll thingy and re-rolled it from the opposite end, then....another 200 rolls. It is a joyous feeling when you open up plastic sheet and find a felted rug within! Now to wash and rinse.

After washing and rinsing, I laid the rug out to dry - this took a few days. Using my dogs' brush, I spent a lovely afternoon brushing through the fleece to remove any remaining bits of straw and chuff.

I needed to needle felt a few bits of fleece into some empty spots on the fleece, and felted a neater, thin layer of fleece over the back to make it look pretty and there you go - one felted fleece rug!

It's terribly addictive - so far I've felted a Texel rug, a Cotswold rug and a Jacob fleece rug.

When I'm feeling confident enough in my work, I'll be selling some of these soft and fluffy beauties on my website.

Happy crafting!

Claire 🐏🐑🐑