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Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Carol from Pittsburgh — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:54:12 GMT

Gini,

Thank you lots for all your information-- I've learned so much from you about wool!

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Spudgrandma — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:58:14 GMT

Thanks gini, cleared that up as much as can be when dealing with me LOL

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

gini — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:51:35 GMT

some of the clothing weight felted wool is still very pliable, it is obviously thicker than cotton, but is "limp" and has great drape.

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

gini — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:47:08 GMT

spud, felting kinks up the threads and makes it thicker, so yes it is stiffer than what you started with. if you felt a very thick wool to begin with, then it will be stiffer, but this is a relative term. the fibers are still the same thickness and because of the way they shrink up, there is a lot of "air space" between the threads. the wools we work with as quilters are mostly clothing weight or a little thicker. the boiled wool you are thinking about is made from a much heavier wool. i have a boiled wool sweater and the cloth is aver a 1/4 inch thick. it kinda like wearing a really thick densely knitted sweater. i use it for a winter coat a lot of the season. the wool pants that hunters wear are even thicker. the thicker the wool, the stiffer it gets after felting, but this stiffness is from the cloth being thicker, it still feels like wool. a felted lambswool will be very soft, but could be "stiff" if it is knitted or woven heavily before felting. am i being clear enough? stiffness and the hand feel are two different things. you can felt a scratchy wool and it will be just as scratchy after felting as it was before, but it's stiffness depends on how thick it was to begin with.

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Spudgrandma — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:15:57 GMT

gini:
once it is felted it has shrunk all it is going to shrink.

gini, I thought when wool was felted it made it stiff, so I guess I'm am confused - not a new state for me lol

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Spudgrandma — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:13:07 GMT

Carol from Pittsburgh:

Here's one of the tartans. It's Gunn Ancient.

Carol, it is very pretty. I cannot wait to see your finished product. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Kinsey — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:52:28 GMT

Definitely. :D I've been really excited about it. My clan has been traced way way back. I'm just having issues getting the pattern as I want it. I keep changing my mind. I had thought about placing the clan name down one side...but I'm not sure I'd like the end result. So, it's still very much a work in progress. I'm looking forward to seeing yours as well :D

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Carol from Pittsburgh — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:46:03 GMT

Kinsey, Please be sure to post a photo of your clan quilt when it's done. I'd love to see it.

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Kinsey — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:26:14 GMT

How neat. I'm working on a clan quilt as well (although mine if for myself and I plan to have it ready in time for a trip to Scotland). As mentioned above it will shrink (generally). So I prewash. However, I've only used it in the place of batting when wanting a really warm quilt. I've not tried to use it as a top. When I use it as backing, I always still line it so it still ends up being on the inside of the quilt

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Carol from Pittsburgh — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 20:05:25 GMT

Gini, Thank you so much! You explained it all very well. I don't know yet if I'm going to wash it first. After I design the quilt, I'll see how much fabric I'll need. I only have 2 yds of one of the tartans. The other tartan hasn't arrived yet, but it's going to be 2 yds, too. If I have a lot left over, I'll test wash it and see what happens. If my design needs most of the 2 yds of each fabric, I'm not going to even test wash a piece of it. I really appreciate everyone's help here.

Here's one of the tartans. It's Gunn Ancient.

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

gini — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 04:31:27 GMT

carol, i get my wool from the thrift shops, mostly. i deconstruct the clothes and throw them in the washer and dryer. i have felted all kinds of wool. thick wool, thin wool, the wool from different kinds of sheepish animals. i have felted patterned and plain. wool shrinks a lot. if you are planning on not felting it first, the quilt will need to be treated like wool clothes and dry-cleaned. once it is felted it has shrunk all it is going to shrink.

the fibers of wool are kinky. as i understand it, when you felt the wool. water relaxes the fiber, and allows it to kink back up the way it naturally would. felting makes the wool cloth become much more dense. this is a relative term. the fibers, even though they have wound themselves into a gazillion little knots after felting, are still not as tightly woven as cotton. i'm not explaining this well. think about the size of the threads used in woolen clothes. even the finest wool thread will not be as thin as cotton. this leaves much more space for the needle and it is very easy to sew. i liken it to cutting through hot butter, as compared to sewing on cotton. your hand needle will meet little to no resistance. the sewing machine goes through this like a breeze. it's because of all those teensy little empty spaces of air warming up, that make wool a warm cloth

so you really need to decide is you want to make a quilt that needs to be dry-cleaned, not a big deal, or have the ability to be washed with water. the wool will look the same, just be more dense and depending on the wool, it can be very noticeable or not. cut a small piece out of it, maybe 6 inches square and felt it to see how much it is going to shrink on you and whether you like it. don't be afraid of it.

let me know if this answers your questions? if you have any more, i'll see if i can answer them.

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Carol from Pittsburgh — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:55:27 GMT

gini:

gini:
patti, woo shrinks a lot.

see, it shrinks so much, it even loses letters

LOL !!!

Does the wool look the same after it's washed? I'm nervous about this again now. Thinking about it, it may need to be washed just to get the scent out of it. This is expensive fabric and I really don't want to take any chances with it. The wool you have used, and washed, did it have a pattern in it or was it a solid fabric? I don't have mine yet so I really don't know what it's like, other than the picture that I saw online.

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

gini — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:59:45 GMT

gini:
patti, woo shrinks a lot.

see, it shrinks so much, it even loses letters

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

gini — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:58:53 GMT

patti, woo shrinks a lot. i prewash/felt all my wool before i use it.

i love quilting on wool. i've done a couple of purses, a quilt and a wall hanging. i use my DM and didn't do anything different. i have also used an old sweater in place of batting. it sews up beautifully.

Re: Quilting Wool Fabric

Spudgrandma — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:33:49 GMT

Hi Stephie, it is nice to meet you. Thanks for sharing the link.