Last Sunday I taught two folks how to make Nuno/Laminated felt scarves at Rae’s Yarn Boutique. We used silk gauze, 60 inches long (not quite 2 meters) and about 6″ wide, maybe (15cm).

Rae and I had prepared about ten silk pieces by dyeing them in different colors, Friday. This meant that each base piece the students could choose from, was a different color.

Gwen chose a blue/purple/turquoise, upon which she applied merino wool in blues/turquoise. Carol chose bright sunny green with champagne-colored wool/alpaca fiber. (Click photo to see this image at 800 pixels wide, to see the detail. The blue scarf is crunched up to show the transparency of the bottom layer.)

We placed bubble wrap on the table, then we applied a very thin layer of loose fibers on the wrap in a shape just larger than the fabric. We then placed the fabric on the fibers, and applied another layer of fiber. It was sort of a silk sandwich, with wool as the “bread.”

We sprinkled warm detergent-water on the sandwiches, then applied another layer of bubble wrap on top (with a tight roll of bubbles at the center), and rolled and rolled and rolled the bubble/fiber/silk bundle, trying to stay relatively even with our application of pressure.

After somewhere between 80 and 200 rolls, the fibers had stuck together and to the silk enough that we could remove the bubble wrap and work with just the scarf/wool mixture. We dropped the wet bundle on the table over and over, trying to shock the fibers more, and force the fibers through the fabric layer in the middle as much as possible.

At some point, we just sort of scrunched up the bundle and semi-gently rubbed the whole crumpled wet thing between our hands. Finally, we sort of smoothed out the scarves on the table, rubbing any spot that had not yet adhered as well as other places. A bit of a fresh water rinse and a roll in a dry towel, and they were nearly dry to the touch.

You just can not tell from photos how drapey and fine these scarves are when finished. We used such a small amount of wool, it just added fuzzy softness on the surface but did not interfere with the hand of the fabric.

This sort of “laminated felt” can be cut and sewn on a machine or by hand, and it can handle more stress on its seams than standard, wool-only felt. It is really luxury stuff!

The first photo here is the table with two finished but slightly damp scarves. Next is Carol wearing her scarf, which clearly goes well with what she wore that day. Third is Melinda (she works for Rae) wearing Carol’s scarf. You can see how the color of her blouse can be seen through the translucent fabric of the scarf, and you can see how flexible the final product is. Nice, huh?

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