Wet felting is an incredibly rewarding hobby, where you create felt out of processed wool fibers using water, soap, and the friction of your hands.
During this process, the wool fibers will expand, blend together, and take the shapes that you mold with your hands. Depending on your skill levels, you can create a versatile range of products with wet felting, from wool balls, toys, to bigger items like handbags or rugs.
So what is the best wool for wet felting? The best wool for wet felting is an all-natural 100% sheep’s wool. Wool batts which have been washed and carded but not combed are ideal, but wool roving, which has been carded, is also a good choice.
If you are new to the art of wet felting, below are our recommendations for the best wools for wet felting, as well as how you can select the right type of wool that will work best for your projects.
Wet Felting Wool – Buyer’s Guide
There are hundreds of types of sheep’s wool, and depending on your budget, you can select the type of wool that would work best with your next wet felting project.
The name of the wool is often the name of the breed of sheep that gives us this wool. The most popular wool for wet felting is merino wool, which comes in a wide range of colors and really easy to work with when wet felting.
There are other types of sheep’s wool – Shetland, Corriedale, or alpaca (though this is technically a fiber and not properly ‘wool’) – that are a bit more difficult to felt and will demand an experienced hand.
The most important thing you should note when buying wool for felting is to avoid buying synthetic wool or wool blends that are not 100% wool.
Felting is the process of breaking down wool into fibers and blending them together to create felt, and natural sheep wool does a much better job in breaking down and blending together. Wool blend or synthetic materials will not offer you the same results.
Sheep’s wool is sold in different stages of processing, from the moment the wool is removed from the sheep until it is washed, carded, combed, and dyed.
The most commonly sold for felting is wool roving – ropes of wool that have been thoroughly washed, carded and combed so that the fibers are neatly stacked in the same direction.
When felting with wool roving, remember to lay the fibers in a crisscrossing pattern so that they would blend together nicely to create a nice felt.
You can also buy batts, which are wool that has been washed and carded, but not combed so that the fibers are still jumbled.
Wool batts are ideal for felting because you don’t have to create the crisscrossing fiber patterns yourself. However, they are more difficult to come by as they are wool that’s in the earlier stage of processing.
The Best Wools for Wet Felting
Now that you understand which types of felt are best for your next wet felting project, let’s look at some great products you can try:
| Rank | Product | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Super Soft Merino Wool Fiber | Merino |
| 2. | Desert Breeze 100% Natural Wool Roving | Corriedale |
| 3. | Wistyria Editions Wool Roving Pack | Corriedale |
We have a full review of each below, so you can choose the very best for your needs. Happy felting!
1. Living Dreams Yarn Merino Wool Fiber
This 100% Merino wool is well-loved by felters because it is so soft and silky.
Merino is a popular type of wool for wet felting because the fibers blend together beautifully and easily. You just can’t go wrong with Merino.
This product is ethically sourced and environmentally-friendly. The color is dyed, but it still maintains the wool’s natural shine and softness. This wool is soft and very kind to the skin, perfect to make products that regularly touch your skin like a felted rug or accessories.
2. Desert Breeze 100% Natural Wool Roving
This 100% natural Corriedale sheep wool is so incredibly soft, thick, and beautiful. Corriedale is a New Zealand breed that gives thick wool fibers. This wool comes in a range of natural colors that are not dyed, thanks to its environmentally-friendly and cruelty-free process.
Corriedale wool has a nice crimp to it, making it really easy to felt. Roving is the last stage in wool processing, so this wool is sold as ropes of roving that have already been cleaned, carded, and combed.
Since the fibers are already combed to flow in one direction, make sure to mess up this pattern and crisscross the fibers during the felting process, so that the wool would blend together nicely.
3. Wistyria Editions Wool Roving Pack
The Wistyria Editions wool roving is a wise choice if you want to incorporate a lot of colors into your felted design.
The fibers are thick and luscious, and this wool is highly rated because it’s wonderfully soft and easy to felt. According to their website, all of their wool is 100% New Zealand Corriedale.
Each package comes with eight roving ropes sized 8 to 12 inches, each in a different color. So it’s perfect for making felted wool toys or smaller accessories.
The colors are dyed quite evenly and the roving still maintains its natural texture and crimp, which is ideal for those who are just starting out in the art of felting.
Up Next: What Is Roving Wool? – Buyer’s Guide
