The sheep would need to walk very far to find enough to eat and of course, the shepherd would need to walk with them. But the leather of his sandals would be dry and the dust would work its way under the straps. This would make them rub against his feet, making them sore and blistered. If you have ever had a blister you will know how painful and annoying they are. You would not want to have to keep walking for several more hours with blistered feet, would you?
Humans are inventive, and they like to find solutions to their problems. Maybe the shepherd tried using some of the precious water from his water-skin to wash the dust from his sandals; maybe he tried to stuff some of the grass the sheep were eating under the straps. When he sat down to take off his sandals, he would have found, not the handful of loose fibres that he had packed around his feet that morning, but a single piece of fabric!
Now, it could be that all of the stories about the discovery of felt are true; people did not have such easy methods of communication in ancient times as we do today, so perhaps felt was discovered by several different people or peoples. What we do know is that felt has been important to many cultures.
Archaeologists have discovered examples of felt dating back to ancient times in several parts of the world. Translated by Patricia Sparks. Loveland, Colo. Pufpaff, Suzanne, ed. Hastings, Mich. The Land of Felt As in the past, felt plays an integral part in the lives of Eurasian nomads, who live in lightweight felt tents, known in the West by their Turkish name, yurts, but called gers in Mongolia. Modern Felt The development of felting machines in the mids increased the uses of felt as both a consumer and an industrial material.
The Land of Felt From about B. Bibliography Felt Burkett, Mary E. Gordan, Beverly. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, Free Patterns to Make Felt Fruit. By Cyndee Kromminga. Felt Christmas Stockings. Wool Felting. By Kate Miller-Wilson. By Kristin McCarthy. Free Felt Crafts. How to Make a Fish Costume. One of the major benefits of rayon felt is the ability to shape this textile into various insulative products, but like all synthetic textile fibers, rayon is a non-biodegradable pollutant.
Pressed felt is the most common type of felt, and it is also the oldest. Produced by combining textile fibers into a mat using water, heat, and pressure, this type of felt is usually sold in sheets and shaped into various consumer, industrial, and medical items.
Artisans use specialized needles to make needled felt figurines and other three-dimensional products. This type of felt is not insulative or used for industrial purposes, and instead, most needled felt products are decorative in nature.
Woven felt is a type of felt fabric that textile manufacturers produce by applying heat, water, and pressure to pre-woven fabrics. The result is a matted, highly insulative fabric that can be much thinner than pressed felt. The only potential environmental issues associated with these types of felt regard land use and proper animal stewardship. In the modern era, harvesting animals for fur is considered to be cruel and barbaric, and in some cases, wool production can involve animal cruelty and cause pollution or soil erosion.
Natural fibers are, however, invariably better for the environment than synthetic textiles. Both acrylic and rayon production involve the use of toxic, caustic chemicals that can harm textile workers. Only rarely do textile manufacturers dispose of these chemicals properly, and in most cases, they pollute surrounding ecosystems.
Acrylic and rayon felt are not washed as commonly as other synthetic textiles, but these synthetic felt fabrics can still contribute to microfiber pollution while in use.
As non-biodegradable fabrics, acrylic and rayon felt fill up landfills or contribute to plastic pollution when discarded.
Wool felt fabrics may be eligible for Woolmark certification, which is a certifying agency that ensures wool products were produced using safe, sustainable, and cruelty-free processes. Certain fur felt fabrics produced in the European Union may be eligible for WelFur certification, which ensures that fur products were produced responsibly.
These organizations certify natural fabrics that were produced using organic, sustainable processes, and they even certify certain types of recycled synthetic textiles. About the author:. Sewport Support Team is the founder and CEO of Sewport - an online marketplace connecting brands and manufacturers, former founder of various clothing manufacturing services. He is passionate about e-commerce, marketing and production digitisation.
Connect with Boris on LinkedIn. Did you know we helped over brands find garment manufacturers and specialists and we can help you too Table of contents What is felt fabric?
History of felt The beaver hat trade Felt fabric today How is felt fabric made? How is felt fabric used? As mentioned, the process of creating felt can be pretty labour intensive.
It involves various steps of blending the fibres, matting the material, shrinking and steam-pressing. However, the most straightforward method is simply to apply heat and moisture. This causes the mix of fibres to merge and blend together. You can even do this yourself at home to any wool or knitted products. Wool felt is one of the oldest known textiles. The location of its origin is debated, with many cultures having their own origin legends for the process.
However, it is thought to have been created over years ago in Asia. The method is still practised by Nomadic peoples in Asia. They make tents, rugs and clothing, including traditional yurts and more tourist oriented items such as decorative slippers.
One commonly told origin story is that during the Middle Ages, men lined their sandals with wool for comfort.
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