Thermo Felt

I have had three wonderful people testing the thermo felt for me and I have been playing with it as well. So much potential for experimenting for shapes and moulding - hope you enjoy reading what we have all done.

Thermo Felt

Thermoformable wool felt is made from wool and polyester (90% wool-10% polyester). It can be used as a wonderful felt for backgrounds and stitching but it contains enough polyester to enable it to be moldable. Thermo Felt can be permanently shaped and creased under heat. It will retain the shape you create before you apply heat. You can stitch it and shape it first and then apply the heat. This is a very new fabric for those of us who just love to experiment. The possibilities of 3D is exciting.
Comes in large 50cm x 50cm squares (fat quarter) 2mm thick

We have 20 colours in stock  - $8.50 each or any 10 for $66.00
See all the colours here - http://www.thethreadstudio.com/catalogue/fab/thermo/text.htm

To activate Thermo Felt

All you need is HEAT

*immerse it in boiling water

*steam it with a steam iron

*bake it wet in the oven at 90C for about 30 minutes

Before you do anything else – soak it in boiling water first to open up the fibres. It makes it nice and soft if you plan to stitch on it and it has that wonderful sheepy smell. Let it dry and then shape and/or stitch as desired.

Don’t expose the felt to an open flame and be very careful when handling the felt when it is hot.

Pleating

Try pleating or creasing the Thermo Felt. Fold the fabric concertina style (or tuck into a ready made pleater) and with the folds pointing vertically, press a steam iron over the top, flip it over and heat the other side. Make sure you use lots of steam. I have quite a powerful steam iron.

Try stitching lines first before you steam.

Shibori

Cate Whitehead tested it and says

I have done some playing so far - with steam. I used the method I've been using mostly for my shibori-ied scarves, knowing that the polyester content should respond to steam.

I've also tried shaping little offcuts with steam and tentatively tried the microwave. It's a really interesting material isn't it? Lots of fun and I think I like the sculptural possibilities the most.

I use good old rubber bands and steamed them for 10 minutes. I use glass mosaic beads (the flat-bottomed ones - they're just the ticket) 

 You can also try immersing the whole piece in some boiling water

Moulding

Helen Beaven tested it and says

The purple and black are Merino/Alpaca/Silk blends that I machine needlefelted. The orange is hand-dyed muslin strips.

There didn't seem to be any change in colour (or burning) after 20 minutes in the oven. I used ceramic baking beans to help weigh it down.

Even before the cooking, the felt was holding the shape of the container quite well. 

 Shaping and Moulding

Felicity Griffin Clark tested it and wrote these notes

Hand dyed cotton scrim, needlefelted with silk and wool fibre layered and stitched with silk thread on a sari silk loom end. Microwaved for 8 minutes

Felt dyed with ink and fabric paint sandwiched between silk satin and silk organza from the same dye bath, Stitched with silk thread. Cooked in the oven for 20 minutes

Machine needlefelted with cotton scrim, silk and wool fibres and silk organza. Formed then stitched with silk thread. Cooked in the oven for 20 minutes

 Felt slashed with craft knife, then layered with silk and synthetic organza. Overlaid with tuile and machined. Burnt back with heat gun and cooked in the oven for 20 minutes. Rubbed with Shiva Paintstiks.

OR – You can simply use it as a felt – wonderful for working on

Remember – play and experiment because there will be lots more to discover

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mail@thethreadstudio.com 

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