How to Make Beads Out of a Sweater
A useful way to create material for other sewing and craft projects is to recycle old, unattractive or stained wool sweaters by felting them and making them into beads. Use felted sweater beads in numerous projects such as embellishing knit or felted scarves, hats and mittens, or string them together for trendy textural bracelets and necklaces. Deconstruct and make beads from sweaters of different colors and stockpile them for later use and fuzzy inspiration for months to come.
Things You'll Need
- Sweater
- Scissors
- Hot water
- Liquid dish soap
- Bowl
- Toweling
- Toothpick
- Skewers
Instructions
-
-
1
Turn the sweater inside out and inspect the knitted and sewn seams. Follow the longest seam to the bottom of the sweater.
-
2
Spread the seam apart and cut the small thread that holds the seam together. Follow and cut the thread up the sweater and around the arm.
-
-
3
Inspect the top of the arm of the sleeve and note the knot that leads to loops of yarn from the knitting machine.
-
4
Cut the knot and unravel the sleeve. Roll the yarn into a ball as you unravel it.
-
5
Begin again on the other side at the bottom of the sweater hem and unravel it the same way. Remove the other sleeve, then unravel the torso of the sweater.
-
6
Cut 10 pieces of yarn, each piece 4 inches long.
-
7
Pull apart each piece of yarn until you are left with a pile of fluffy fibers.
-
8
Take approximately one-half cup of fibers into the palm of your hand to make a small bead, more to make larger beads.
-
9
Roll the wool fluff in the palm of your hand to form a light, fluffy ball, resembling a cotton ball.
-
10
Prepare a bowl of hot water with a few drops of liquid dish soap. Run the water into the bowl so that it bubbles up a bit.
-
11
Dunk the ball into a bowl of hot water and allow the wool to soak up the water for a minute.
-
12
Remove the ball from the water and squeeze out extra water. Roll the ball between your hands to maintain a round shape. Do not apply pressure to the forming bead, but lightly roll it so the fibers begin to bond.
-
13
Continue to roll the forming bead between your hands and you will feel it become denser. Gradually add pressure as the bead hardens in your hand.
-
14
Rinse the completely hard bead in cold water. If it puffs up in the water, re-roll it to continue the felting process.
-
15
Stick a toothpick or skewer stick through the bead to string it later. You can also leave the bead hole-free and string it using a needle and thread.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Use various colors from the sweater in your bead to create a marbleized look.
Make fake rocks with gray sweater wool.
Have a felted bead making party at home to quickly whip up numerous beads out of scrap sweater wool. Use the beads to use later to embellish sweaters or other knit projects.
Purchase old wool sweaters from thrift shops very inexpensively to expand your bead color collection.
Do not rush the bead process. If you squeeze the bead too hard it will become lumpy.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Stephen Schauer/Digital Vision/Getty Images
