History
The earliest archaeological evidence shows the use of felt in Central Asia in Neolithic times. Beautiful & sophisticated felt hangings were excavated from a burial tomb in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, preserved by the permafrost & dating from around 600BC.
Feltmaking
Felt is made from sheep’s wool. However not every breed produces suitable felting wool. If you are thinking of buying a fleece pull off a tuft of wool & start to roll it in the palm of your hand, spit on it & roll round & round. If it starts to contract into a tight mass you can be sure it felts. Some will just stay rough, open & fluffy. Avoid the fleece of Suffolk black-faced sheep!
Best UK breeds are Blue-faced Leicester & Cotswold. Many others mainly kept by smallholders, such as Gotland, black Welsh Mountain, Balwen, & Shetland are also suitable.
Traditions
Felt has traditionally been used for many of the essentials of daily life: for living in yurts, & clothing hats, coats, slippers, also for bags, rugs & horse covers. To see examples of traditional felt visit the Horniman, or British Museum.

Pastoral felt
My own approach to feltmaking draws on the pastoral origins of felt - rooted in nomadic cultures, inter-dependent with animals. I like the things I make to look & feel ‘animal’, to retain a connection with their source yet have a life of their own.

I try to allow the actual process of making felt to have a direct bearing on the end result - responding to the physical material as well as more abstract thoughts & ideas.
I’ve been making felt for over 20 years and have worked on big things such as boats & yurts (see my work page) but lately I’ve changed scale and seen the possibilities of smallness.

I work on ideas that can take shape outside in the woods & fields, promoting awareness of environmental issues and sharing a love of the natural world.

How to make Felt - Search Press
by Anne Belgrave
My book is widely used in schools and I´ve been teaching, exhibiting & selling for many years.

Today
In the UK there has been a new interest in felt since Mary Burkett, President of the International Felt makers Association, put on an inspirational exhibition of felt collected from around the world. www.feltmakers.com
Wool miles
Merino is mainly imported from Australia & South Africa although there are a few breeders in this country. This fleece felts very easily & is often used by feltmakers. But I prefer to use the local breeds, as I enjoy all the different qualities of their various fleeces, so why clock up wool miles when the good stuff is right here on our doorstep?